Horizon Forbidden West sees Aloy traverse harsh and dangerous environments in search of Gaia’s secondary functions, in hopes of restoring the planet’s topographic system, rebalancing the biosphere, and saving it. life on Earth. Although our story is set 1,000 years in the future, players will discover and recognize many iconic locations from our real world today.
DISCLAIMER: Please note that this behind-the-scenes feature contains plot spoilers and many gameplay elements of Horizon Forbidden West. To get the most out of this in-depth article, we strongly recommend that you complete the quest The Sea of Sands before reading.
During the quest The Sea of Sands, Aloy ventures into the arid Stillsands Desert in search of Poseidon, one of Gaia’s side functions. The desert seems deserted at first, however, hidden beneath the sands are the submerged ruins known as Dunehollow, formerly Las Vegas.
Aloy was responsible for putting pieces of data together a millennium earlier by a businessman named Stanley Chen and reactivating the city’s long-forgotten water system to gain access to Poseidon.
Create Vegas Ruins
Guerrilla mission designer Samantha Schoonen led the development of this mission, The Sea of Sands, from start to finish. To bring this vision to life, she did a lot of research on Vegas’ iconic Strip.
“We looked at casinos and came up with crazy ideas for buildings in the distant future in Vegas,” says Schoonen. “I also drew a lot of inspiration from our concept art, and we thought about things like the broken coaster area, the ruins of a pirate ship and a rooftop pool – we did it. worked a lot with his art department to envision what would work, although of course not everything made it to the final match. “
Designing this epic quest line was a lengthy, iterative and collaborative process, says Samantha. “For main missions, we always start with a story summary provided by our Narrator team,” she said. “Based on that brief, we write a design document that contains all the information, like story rhythm, mission goals, world map of the area to provide an overview of the process. and the location of the mission as well as a detailed description of these areas.
“We then sketched the space. I use the reference image in the game to get an idea of the level design and its own space, the contours. But it’s hard to get the scale of the place while working only in 2D, so as soon as possible I create a 3D layout in our Decima Engine. Then we keep iterating the flow and level design until everyone is satisfied. “
An underground challenge
“Building a water-use mission is always a challenge,” says Schoonen. “I remember how difficult it was to build the Waterlogged mission for Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wilds, and of course, Las Vegas would be so much bigger! We worked closely with various teams such as technology, visual effects and lighting to ensure we had the systems in place for the underwater missions to work. We wanted to control where the water would be, as well as the airbags and visibility that had to be adjusted.
“We also worked closely with the core designers, who are responsible for swimming mechanics. This will be the first mission where players can dive to previously unreachable depths. “
Core system designer Lennart Hoting has been working on several aspects of mobility, including swimming and diving, which are new in Horizon Forbidden West. “We are looking for new heights and depths to explore and new types of natural beauty to showcase,” says Hoting. “Since the underwater world is inherently fascinating and mysterious, it feels like a natural extension to traveling through long unknown locations, such as Las Vegas. We consciously turned away from any oppressive tone of underwater gameplay and focused on fast and agile movement, with enemy encounters centered around stealth to increase more stress.
“In the early stages of development, we studied what aspects of water could create interesting challenges in the game while increasing immersion. The stream of water soon came to mind. Aloy will sometimes encounter strong currents that push her away from where she wants to be. You can try to sprint through them, but the best way to get through is to use the speed bars underwater. Aloy can grab these and eject them to gain a short speed that can propel her straight through. “
Create tension in tight spaces
When Aloy obtains the Diving Mask, which gives her limitless air underwater, she plunges into the wreckage of Vegas. “Our original routes for traversing were too long, so we decided to have a single elevator shaft to go up or down,” says Schoonen. “This axis must not be too large due to the image on the ground, nor should it be too small for the player to move in or the elevator to be able to operate after completing the mission.
“Once Aloy swam down the elevator, she entered the Casino space and finally into the lobby. I really want the player to immediately let off guard against Tideripper before becoming aware of the size of the space as a grand opening. “
There are some pretty dangerous machines in the waters west of the Forbidden City, including Burrowers, Snapmaws, and giant Tiderippers. “Aloy has no way to attack while swimming, so she has to be smart and stealthy to get past enemies,” Hoting added. “The best way to stay out of sight is to use smoke bombs or hide in kelp. These trees grow so densely that they prevent unknown machines from spotting you, and also give you a chance to see out while hiding inside. This creates a moment of tactical cat-and-mouse gameplay.”
Samantha continues in this underground location. “The underground dome is a dangerous place filled with machines, so we added some structures for players to hide in as they move between hiding spots,” she said. “The machines are on patrol, changing whenever a button is activated. We then place machines along the player’s route to their next location to create an ever-present threat.
“Many areas have gone through various iterations, as building entrances, nodes and drains need to be out of sight but not impossible to identify. Real-world Las Vegas gets its water from the Nevada Hoover Dam, so we wanted to convey something similar to the three-dimensional map that players encounter early in the mission.
“We were very much inspired by Vegas and wanted to make the mission worthwhile. By incorporating many elements, such as tracking, combat, stealth, and mini-puzzles, players will have a lot of variety in gameplay to create a new feeling. It is certainly difficult to add enough elements that do not rely on combat and puzzles, but mainly on physics. That’s why we also added some airbag spaces where players can move around and interact with the environment. “
Tideripper test
After Aloy successfully crosses the Snapmaw-infested waters and activates Stanley Chen’s ancient water management system, the water will drain out of the city. Suddenly, the scale of the dome and the buildings inside became apparent. Aloy must navigate them in a more traditional way by climbing, gliding and running, with the dome becoming a large arena for a great battle.
Remember that Tideripper mentioned earlier? With most of the water now withdrawn from Dunehollow, Aloy will still need to deal with this challenging machine before reaching Poseidon.
Samantha Schoonen explains how the arena for this battle was created. “We worked together with the combat team because this space needs several elements to function,” she said. “Tideripper needs a body of water to emerge, so we built something like a beach where it can refill its Clear Water Colors. The arena also needs to be quite deep so that players don’t accidentally leave the area. In the end, it needs a flat space for the Tideripper to move around and, of course, grapple points to give Aloy a quick getaway – although some of those have to be destroyed for an additional challenge. ! “
A beautiful view
After defeating Tideripper and obtaining Poseidon, Las Vegas truly comes to life. Enchanting holograms illuminate the sky with ghostly outlines of buildings that have long since collapsed; memory of a forgotten city.
“Getting Vegas visually brilliant has always been part of the narrative vision for this mission,” Schoonen said with a smile. “Poseidon has taken over the water and electricity supply in Vegas connected to the holograms. After Aloy fights the AI, the system reboots completely and the original holograms take their place lighting up the night sky. The end of the mission is a big collaboration; teams like concept art, cinematography, environmental art, visual effects and lighting all worked together to create that beautiful moment. I just put them in the right place and make sure they show up at the right time.
“We all put a lot of love into the construction of this area. I’m amazed how well this quest was received and I’m glad to hear that the community had a great time playing in this underwater world! “
As for her own favorite moment, Samantha Schoonen finds this hard to choose. “For a designer, a game never ends,” she says. “I will have to look back ten years from now to have a clear perspective because I played through it so often during development. I think that’s the whole journey of building this quest; that’s my favorite part. “
And for Lennart, he said, “I really enjoy seeing that many players enjoy the underwater parts of the game and some even say this is their favorite part. The response to the Sea of Sands quest, and the love for unique characters like Morlund that you meet along the way, are especially great; It’s one of my favorite quests. While some players are still nervous about diving, the Diving Mask seems to actually turn these pieces into something players enjoy. Reading that people were able to overcome their fears and enjoy the diving experience was amazing.”
There is much more to explore in and around Vegas after the quest Sea of Sands, which now has a settlement called Hidden Ember; We definitely encourage you to go back and do a special quest with Morlund, talk to Porguf in Camp Nowhere, or deliver the Ornaments to Stemmur, and wonder about the Old Ones holidays as they light up the sky. Vegas heaven. of the many stories behind the Vegas ruins, you can check out our recent live stream with Samantha here (we’re live every Thursday at 4pm CEST, www.twitch.tv/guerrilla).
