Highlights

  • Aloy's spear is currently the only true melee weapon in the Horizon series, but its lack of versatility in melee combat is a major drawback.
  • As the machines in Horizon Forbidden West become more challenging, there is a need for an overhaul of the series' melee combat to improve Aloy's close-quarters fighting abilities.
  • The sequel to Forbidden West could introduce more melee weapons or a hybrid weapon system that allows Aloy's ranged weapons to double as melee weapons.

One consistently overlooked feature in Guerrilla Games' Horizon series is its melee combat. In Horizon Zero Dawn, Aloy's spear was introduced as a means for Horizon melee combat, but it came with only two attacks — a light attack and a heavy attack. As players progressed through the game, they could upgrade the spear to perform stealth attacks and Override machines, but that was about it. Thankfully, the spear was vastly improved in Horizon Forbidden West, allowing players to perform several simple combo attacks, but its melee combat still wound up feeling a bit lackluster overall.

It makes sense that Guerrilla would put more time and effort into ensuring Horizon's ranged combat was fun and engaging, as Aloy's bow is her bread and butter. However, Horizon Forbidden West's bolder, more cutthroat machines proved the need for an overhaul of the series' melee combat, as players would often find themselves trapped within extremely close quarters of their enemies. As such, it may be time for Guerrilla to examine the future of Horizon's spear and melee combat as it develops the sequel to Forbidden West.

Horizon Forbidden West Open World
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Horizon's Spear Is Currently the Series' Only True Melee Weapon

Currently, Aloy's spear is the Horizon series' only true melee weapon. In Horizon Zero Dawn, it could perform a variety of functions, including executing stealth attacks on unaware machines and Overriding them, but it was hardly useful for direct melee combat. Thanks to Forbidden West, it became much more potent, but its lack of versatility in melee combat still managed to shine through. Forbidden West's machines were notably more difficult to defeat than Zero Dawn's, as all but the flying machines attempted to remain as close to Aloy as possible at all times, thereby increasing the demand for the spear. Still, the spear alone may not be enough to continue appeasing melee combat enthusiasts.

How Forbidden West's Sequel Can Improve the Series' Melee Combat

Forbidden West's Sequel Could Add More Melee Weapons

While it could be argued that Aloy doesn't need more melee weapons simply because she is highly proficient in ranged combat, if Guerrilla keeps up the trend of making the series' machines an even greater threat in Forbidden West's sequel, it may need to consider adding more melee weapons to Aloy's arsenal anyway. Adding more melee weapons to the game may not necessarily improve the series' melee combat on its own, but it might, at the very least, pave the way for those improvements, as new melee weapons would likely introduce new mechanics as well. Apart from adding brand-new weapons to Horizon, however, something could also be done with the series' current weapons.

Forbidden West's Sequel Could Introduce Hybrid Weapon Types

Aloy has a wide variety of ranged weapons at her disposal, especially now with the new weapons that Forbidden West introduced. This makes her ranged arsenal rather versatile, and it should remain so. However, there are also already ten different weapon types in Forbidden West, so adding more in a sequel might be overkill. As such, it may be better to introduce a hybrid weapon system in Forbidden West's sequel, essentially allowing her ranged weapons to double as melee weapons. This would prevent her library of weapon types from becoming too cumbersome for players to manage while simultaneously revamping the series' melee combat and fulfilling the ongoing requests of fans.

Whether Guerrilla plans to do something significant to the melee combat in Forbidden West's sequel remains to be seen, but the developer will probably give some attention to it, simply due to feedback from fans. Thankfully, it's likely only going to get better from here. Forbidden West's melee improvements show the developer's commitment to ensuring every aspect of a Horizon game gets some love, but introducing new hybrid weapon types and/or adding more melee weapons in a Forbidden West sequel might be the best route to take regardless.