Horizon Forbidden West - Best tips and tricks

Horizon Forbidden West is out now, and the hype is at an all-time high. Developed by Guerilla Games, the futuristic RPG features a unique storyline with breathtaking visuals as you enjoy intense gameplay.

Sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, the new release takes players along for Aloy's journey as she fights to prevent a mysterious plague that threatens humanity. The massive open-world gameplay offers so much for players to explore and features many different ways to customize the gameplay to your liking.

The early stages of the game can be a bit challenging, so let us help you along the way with a simple guide. Here are the best tips and tricks to get your storyline up and running.

Best tips and tricks for Horizon Forbidden West

It was a full two-year wait for Horizon Forbidden West after the previous title, Horizon Zero Dawn was released in February of 2017. As mentioned this title is a much larger open-world, and it features so many new places to explore as the journey takes place in a completely new land.

To help you get through the initial stages of gameplay, follow along for some overall gameplay guidance and direction. Here are some of the best tips and tricks to help you fully immerse yourself in the title.

Get familiar with the lore

A good place to start in any series is right at the beginning, to allow yourself to appreciate the entire story. Horizon Forbidden West is the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, and while the storylines are not completely related, it certainly helps to understand Aloy's journey.

Horizon Zero Dawn is also a terrific game in its own right, so playing through it first is a good way to warm up for Horizon Forbidden West.

Spend your Skill Points wisely

Horizon Forbidden West features a skill tree with six categories for players to browse through. In total, there are over 160 different skills available to choose from, allowing you to customize the gameplay to your style.

Skills are unlocked by spending Skill Points which you earn from playing the title. Skills only cost one point in the early onset but get more expensive as the story progresses, here are our best ten skills to buy in the early onset of the game.

Loot everything you can

Gathering materials is a very important part of gameplay, and materials are plentiful throughout virtually anywhere you go. You'll need these materials to purchase items from merchants, as well as to craft traps or potions which can be of serious help.

In addition to the raw materials found throughout the Horizon Forbidden West world, there will also be chests all across the land featuring some special items for you to unlock. You should also get into the habit of looting any machine or human enemy you kill, as they often carry useful items for further gameplay.

Utilize campfires to your benefit

All throughout the open-world map, you will notice tons of campfires, and they certainly serve a purpose. These campfires can be used for a manual save, in case you should need to close the game quickly and have not had as recent of an autosave.

They also can be used as checkpoints to simply hop over and save progress should you be attempting something difficult nearby. Campfires also allow players to fast travel for free, as opposed to spending a Fast Travel Pack, which you otherwise would need to do.

Make good use of your Focus

Focus is the control that lets you detail and examine your surrounding area. The Focus control will allow you to send out a quick pulse to scan your surroundings and also highlight areas connected to new features.

Locations that are highlighted yellow mean you'll be able to utilize the new free-climb mechanics to scale the surface. Another time Focus will come up clutch for you is when fighting machines, as they Dash and Sway more than human foes.

• Read more: Horizon Forbidden West - Install size and pre-load

Featured image courtesy of Guerilla Games.