Horizon Forbidden West for beginners can feel overwhelming at first. The game drops players into a massive open world filled with mechanical creatures, hidden secrets, and challenging combat encounters. But here’s the good news: with the right approach, new players can hit the ground running and enjoy everything this action RPG has to offer.
This guide covers the essential tips every beginner needs. From understanding Aloy’s story to mastering combat, exploring efficiently, and building the right skills, these strategies will help players survive and thrive in the Forbidden West.
Key Takeaways
- Horizon Forbidden West for beginners becomes manageable by using Aloy’s Focus device to scan machines and reveal weak points before combat.
- Unlock Tallnecks early to reveal large map sections and avoid hours of aimless wandering in the open world.
- Prioritize the Concentration skill and a Valor Surge like Ranged Master to make combat significantly easier for new players.
- Gather every resource you find—plants, animal parts, and machine components—since inventory space is generous and materials become valuable later.
- Complete side quests as they appear rather than rushing the main story, as they unlock valuable gear and provide meaningful context.
- Focus skill points on two or three skill trees instead of spreading them thin to unlock powerful passive bonuses faster.
Understanding the Story and Setting
Horizon Forbidden West continues Aloy’s journey from the first game, Horizon Zero Dawn. Players don’t need to finish the original to enjoy this sequel, but knowing the basics helps.
Aloy is a skilled hunter living in a post-apocalyptic world. Humans now live in tribal societies, while robotic machines roam the wilderness. These machines range from small, docile creatures to massive predators that can kill players in seconds.
The Forbidden West refers to the dangerous western territories of this world. Aloy travels here to stop a mysterious plague that’s destroying the land. Along the way, she encounters new tribes, ancient ruins, and deadlier machines than ever before.
For beginners playing Horizon Forbidden West, the game includes a helpful recap feature. This summary covers key events from the first game. Players should watch this before starting, it takes only a few minutes and provides important context.
The story unfolds through main quests and side missions. Side quests aren’t filler here. They often reveal character backstories, unlock valuable gear, and provide meaningful context for the main plot. New players should complete side quests as they appear rather than rushing through the main story.
Mastering Combat Basics
Combat in Horizon Forbidden West rewards patience and strategy over button-mashing. Beginners should focus on a few core principles to survive early encounters.
Use Your Focus Often
Aloy’s Focus device scans machines to reveal their weak points and components. Every machine has specific vulnerabilities. Some take extra damage from fire, others from shock or frost. Scanning before attacking saves time and resources.
The Focus also highlights detachable components. Shooting off a machine’s weapon lets Aloy pick it up and use it against enemies. This tactic works especially well against larger machines.
Master the Bow
Bows are the primary weapon in Horizon Forbidden West for beginners and veterans alike. The game features several bow types, each with different ammo and uses:
- Hunter bows deal solid damage at medium range
- Sharpshot bows excel at long-range precision shots
- Warrior bows work best for close-range rapid fire
Players should practice hitting weak points consistently. Concentration mode slows time briefly, making precision shots easier. Use it freely, it recharges quickly.
Don’t Ignore Melee Combat
While ranged combat dominates, melee attacks have their place. Light attacks build up combos, while heavy attacks deal significant damage. The Resonator Blast technique charges Aloy’s spear, then transfers energy to enemies for explosive follow-up damage.
Dodging matters more than blocking for most encounters. Rolling through attacks at the right moment gives Aloy brief invincibility frames. Practice this timing early, it becomes essential against tougher machines.
Exploring the Open World Effectively
The Forbidden West is huge. Beginners can easily get lost or overwhelmed without a plan. These exploration tips help players make the most of their time.
Unlock Tallnecks First
Tallnecks are massive, giraffe-like machines that walk set paths. Climbing and overriding them reveals large portions of the map, including machine sites, settlements, and points of interest. Prioritizing Tallnecks early saves hours of aimless wandering.
Visit Shelters and Campfires
Shelters serve as fast travel points and safe zones. Campfires allow manual saving and fast travel. Horizon Forbidden West for beginners becomes much easier once players establish a network of unlocked travel points.
Fast travel requires travel packs initially. Players can craft these or buy an unlimited fast travel pack later. Until then, conserve travel packs for longer journeys.
Check Every Ruin and Cave
Hidden locations contain valuable loot, including rare crafting materials and unique weapons. The game doesn’t always mark these spots clearly. Players who explore thoroughly find better gear faster than those who stick only to marked objectives.
Use Mounts
Overriding certain machines lets Aloy ride them. Mounts make traveling across the map much faster. The Charger is available early and works well for basic transportation. Later, players can unlock flying mounts that transform exploration entirely.
Managing Resources and Crafting
Resource management separates struggling players from successful ones. Horizon Forbidden West uses crafting for ammo, potions, upgrades, and more. Beginners need smart habits from the start.
Gather Everything
Players should collect every plant, animal part, and machine component they find. Inventory space is generous, and resources that seem useless early often become valuable later. Ridge-Wood and Metal Shards appear constantly, grab them all.
Craft Ammo Before Fights
Running out of arrows mid-battle gets players killed. Smart hunters craft ammo before engaging machines, not during combat. Keep at least 30-50 arrows of each type in stock. The weapon wheel allows quick crafting, but gathering materials takes time.
Upgrade Pouches Early
Pouch upgrades increase carrying capacity for ammo, resources, and potions. These upgrades require animal parts from hunting. Players should hunt small game regularly, foxes, boars, and rabbits provide common upgrade materials.
Sell Excess Items Wisely
Merchants buy most items, but some components shouldn’t be sold. Machine hearts and rare parts often appear in upgrade requirements. Check weapon and outfit upgrade paths before selling valuable components.
For beginners in Horizon Forbidden West, the stash system helps manage overflow. Items beyond carrying capacity go to stashes at settlements. Players can retrieve these anytime, so nothing truly gets lost.
Choosing the Right Skills Early On
Horizon Forbidden West features six skill trees with dozens of abilities. New players can easily waste skill points on situational abilities. These recommendations help beginners build a strong foundation.
Prioritize Concentration and Valor Surge
Concentration extends the slow-motion aiming window. Upgrading this skill makes hitting weak points much easier. It’s arguably the most valuable early investment.
Valor Surges are powerful special abilities that charge during combat. Unlock at least one early, Ranged Master boosts bow damage significantly, making it ideal for beginners.
Invest in Survival Skills
The Survivor tree contains healing and resource abilities. Low Health Regen provides passive healing when Aloy’s health drops critically low. Plant Forager increases yields from gathering, speeding up crafting significantly.
Avoid Spreading Points Too Thin
Focusing on two or three skill trees works better than unlocking one ability from each. Deep investment unlocks powerful passive bonuses and synergies. Players can always branch out later once core skills are maxed.
Horizon Forbidden West for beginners becomes more forgiving with the right skill choices. Combat feels smoother, resources accumulate faster, and tough encounters become manageable.
