Guerilla Games will be taking a different approach with their upcoming open world Playstation 4 exclusive, Horizon: Zero Dawn. The Killzone series was by and large a linear experience, and later entries created an emphasis on competitive multiplayer, but Horizon: Zero Dawn will be doing none of those things. In an interview with
GamesRadar, studio art director Jan Bart Van Beek laid out some details that players can expect when they get their hands on the game.
"The whole world is explorable. Every mountaintop is accessible, every river you can go through, every valley" says Jan. Horizon: Zero Dawn is striving to be as open and accessible as possible, featuring a "full climbing and traversal system…you can climb up mountains, climb into trees, swim through rivers".
The freedom of traversal is also going to tie into the game's combat mechanics. Players will be able play through the game and defeat enemies with three primary play-styles, stealth, firepower and hunting, or even all three if that's what the player chooses to do. Most of the fighting in the game will done with the bow, whose effectiveness can be enhanced by crafting different ammunition types like exploding arrows.
Jan goes on to mention that the game's role playing mechanics are "focused on the more natural progression of harvesting stuff from robots", a cyclical process that sees the player defeat a monster, harvest its resources and use the resources to create new armor, weapons and ammo. A tried and true method in role playing mechanics, and we are sure to see more in the near future.