Unlike its predecessor, Horizon Forbidden West demands more of its players, as those looking to thoroughly loot mechanical enemies must now tear off their parts before killing them. Unfortunately, this is not always easy in Horizon, as it can be quite challenging to shoot specific points in an enemy’s body as it moves. Fortunately, Guerilla Games, the series developers, added an Easy Loot option that can be turned on to bypass this new game mechanic. Those that wish to enable this option will be able to focus on simply bringing down their enemies, as they will be able to get all parts without having to shoot them off.
While Horizon Zero Dawn allowed players to tear off parts from enemies when it came to looting them, it was hardly relevant, as they would always drop roughly the same amount of components. The most useful aspect about shooting parts off enemies was often to neutralize some of their strengths, such as the Stalkers’ radar which disabled their ability to locate Aloy. Additionally, players could also tear off enemy weapons, such as the Thunderjaw’s Disc Launcher, to pick it up and use it against enemies.
The sequel doubles down on shooting off enemy parts as a game mechanic, as the standard difficulty now requires players to do so to harvest those components. This means that players seeking to get the most out of killing enemies in Horizon Forbidden West will have to skillfully target the parts they want to loot before killing the beast. This inherently makes the game more difficult when compared to its predecessor, but those struggling with it may be happy to know there is a way to change this.
How to Change Loot Options in Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Forbidden West offers players discriminate difficulty settings that empower player input regarding the aspects of the game they want to see become harder or more accessible. The game allows players to choose their general difficulty settings from Story, Easy, Normal, Hard, or Very Hard; or players can select Custom and tweak things such as concentration duration or how many hit points enemy machines have in Horizon Forbidden West. These options will allow players to customize their experience, providing a tailored difficulty according to their preferences.
To access these options, players will have to press the Options button while in-game, then select Settings. In the General tab, players will see the standard Difficulty options, followed by the various aspects it dictates: the way loot works, the damage Aloy receives, how much health enemies have, the duration of concentration, and the automatization of concentration and health regain. By turning on Easy Loot, players will no longer need to shoot off specific parts from enemies, as simply killing them will provide Aloy with everything they can potentially drop, which can be very useful for those struggling with their aiming skills in Horizon Forbidden West.
Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.
