Horizon Forbidden West Pandas Get Upgraded

It’s easy to watch the gameplay of the Horizon Zero Dawn games and be captivated by the majestic cyborg fauna that inhabits their vast world. Robots are the focus of these games, so you’d be forgiven for just keeping an eye on them. But may I suggest you look away from time to time? Far below the clouds of Tallnecks or the fearsome robot-StegosaurusIt’s your responsibility to find the best friend you’ll ever need: panda.

Both Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden Horizon in the West characteristic of pandas in their region of origin. They search, do panda things with their cute panda tails and little bandit masked faces. In the context of the game, they exist to be hunted. Specifics: You need a panda harness to craft a quiver so you can carry more arrows. Later upgrades require all sorts of random herringbones and pelican guts, but the earliest upgrades basically only require raccoon parts. And this makes me sad.

Take a look, for all the technological advancements that exist in Forbidden Horizon in the Westthe highlight for me was Guerrilla Games somehow made the pandas cuter.

Let’s see the progress:

I won’t break down exactly what makes these new pandas all the more lovable, but I don’t think anyone could leave this game without thinking the same thing. Like, just open your eyes.

Many non-robotic creatures in Western Forbidden cannot interact for long. The birds jumped and flew away, and the lobsters buried themselves in the sand, never to be seen again. But the pandas? You can spend some quality time with these friends.

Image: Sony’s Guerrilla Game / Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Their AI consists of a simple model: They leave Aloy at a leisurely pace before feeling tired and cold in one spot for a few seconds. If you keep this in mind, they are easily attracted and guided, allowing you to guide a particular panda far and wide.

Take, for example, my best friend Jerry.

Image: Sony’s Guerrilla Game / Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

I found Jerry chilling down my spine in a quarry near the original town of Chainscrape. Around him were the Chargers, who seemed to pay little attention to him, and he and them. However, the Chargers didn’t interest me much, so I had to take them off before I met my new best friend.

God, we went everywhere together. All over that quarry. And a little outside the quarry, too! At one point, I decided that Jerry might want to go on an underwater journey, so I herded him to a nearby raft along the riverbank. Here, we posed for a photo and took it on the same day. Just me and Jerry.

Image: Sony’s Guerrilla Game / Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

After about 30 minutes, I decided it was time to end things with Jerry. We had our fun, but I had a long job ahead of me, and he was for the raccoon stuff. There was no way he could join me on my long journey into the Western Forbidden, which is rife with its various dangers.

But then I suddenly realized: He can join me on my journey …in a way.

So I turned Jerry into a quivering arrow.