Horizon Forbidden West gameplay reveal: robot war elephants and floaty umbrellas

Should you find yourself overcome with the fierce desire to battle a robotic elephant, Horizon Forbidden West—scheduled for release at some point this year, on PlayStation 4 and 5—has been made with you in mind.

The gameplay reveal, which was part of Sony’s State of Play event, lasted fourteen minutes, and in that time Aloy, the game’s fearless heroine, showed off an array of new tricks and toys.

Chief among them is the diving mask, which allows her to plunge beneath the waves and dwell there, amid the cold and kelpy depths, like a mermaid. We also saw her unleash a nifty grappling hook, which hoists her to far-off ledges as though she were mere moments from donning a rubber hood and joining up with Bruce Wayne.

My favourite has to be what is referred to as the “shield wing,” which is in fact a holographic umbrella, which allows Aloy to waft on the wind—giving her a doughty dash of Mary Poppins: just what the post-apocalypse needs.

Toward the end of the video, Aloy battles a robotic war elephant—a glowing, brushed-chrome update of the mûmakil that we saw in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, with their crow’s nests of archers.

When the battle is over, she and an ally gaze at a sky that looks utterly pissed off: coughing up enflamed bolts of lightning and swelling with windswept murk. Winds in the east, mist coming in.

There has still been no release date given, only that Horizon Forbidden West is scheduled for release on PS5 and PS4 at some point this year, and is looking practically perfect in every way.