Horizon Forbidden West update makes Aloy talk less, fixes lots of bugs too

Horizon Forbidden West might bring back the robotic dinosaurs, but the sequel also comes with a new set of things that need fixing. Updates are par for the course in today’s gaming world, and a new patch for Forbidden West just dropped.

As detailed on Reddit (see the complete list below and be aware of potential spoilers), patch 1.06 brings a sweeping number of bug fixes to the game. There’s one particular change that some fans are glad to see: “Aloy will not mention her stash quite as often as before.” One of the game’s chief criticisms is how frequently Aloy comments during exploration and puzzle-solving, so this is a step in assuaging some of those gripes.

Other changes are arranged by quests, graphics, performance, and other categories. Both mainline and side quests received lots of fixes to make sure you aren’t blocked from progressing. Glitches during Reach for the Stars, Death’s Door, and Seeds of the Past are included. Strange sights like pop-in and blurry textures have also been addressed. Developer Guerrilla Games previously said it was “working vigilantly” on visual issues like this, and it’s not done yet. Also included in the Reddit post was a list of problems the team is still investigating, such as additional graphical hiccups and quest breaks.

Horizon Forbidden West Version 1.06 Patch Notes

Main Quests

• Fixed an issue in main quest Reach for the Stars where Varl could become stuck swimming, which resulted in a missing prompt to [Examine the Machine Carcass] at the Glinthawk sighting site, thus blocking further progression.
• Fixed an issue in main quest Reach for the Stars where Varl would visibly teleport after the Focus scanning tutorial.
• Fixed an issue in main quest Reach for the Stars where Aloy could become stuck in a falling animation when she grabbed a collapsing climbing point and used the Pullcaster on a Grapple Point at the same time.
• Fixed an issue in main quest Reach for the Stars where there was a sudden change in sunlight when Aloy was traversing a certain spot inside the shuttle tower.
• Fixed an issue in main quest Death’s Door where reloading from a certain save would cause the Firegleam explosion to replay.
• Fixed an issue in main quest The Dying Lands where Aloy and her companions would get snowed on while inside the cauldron.
• Fixed an issue in main quest The Broken Sky where Kotallo could sometimes become distracted and stray from the task at hand, which could block further progression.
• Fixed an issue in main quest The Broken Sky where Aloy would be placed in an unintended pose when reloading a certain save.
• Fixed an issue in main quest The Kulrut where an objective marker was leading towards a blocked path.
• Fixed an issue in main quest Seeds of the Past where Alva could sometimes not reach the console, blocking progression.
• Fixed an issue in main quest Seeds of the Past where reloading the save after killing the machines outside of test station Elm would spawn Aloy stuck in the floor.
• Fixed an issue in main quest Singularity where reloading a certain save would cause a certain line of dialogue to play again incorrectly.

Side Quests

• Fixed an issue in side quest The Blood Choke where Atekka would not move into position when needed, thus blocking progression.
• Fixed an issue in side quest The Promontory where reloading from a save after the “Investigate the bridge” objective would place the player in Plainsong.
• Tempered the vigilance of machines in side quest The Wound in the Sand, so that they no longer enter a suspicious state immediately upon reloading from a certain save.
• Fixed an issue in side quest A Tribe Apart where reloading a save created after opening the metal flower at Riverwatch would cause the vines to respawn.

World Activities

• Fixed an infinite black screen that would occur after stashing the Champion’s Spear and then starting any Tutorial or Challenge in Chainscrape Melee Pit, or a fixed loadout challenge in the Arena.
• Fixed an issue in Cauldron Mu where a platform at the end of the cauldron could stream in late, trapping the player underneath.
• Fixed an issue in salvage contract The Stillsands: Pristine Bellowback where the incorrect machine corpse was spawned when reloading from save after defeating the machine.
• Fixed an issue in Machine Strike where the player was no longer able to attack after selecting to repeat the instructions regarding unit combat power.
• Fixed an issue in Machine Strike where the compass would appear on screen after the player retried a match they lost.
• Fixed an issue where a wild loading screen could pop up while in the Arena menu after returning from a challenge.
• Fixed an issue where scavenger machines would not appear after killing other types of machines in certain habitats.
• Fixed an issue with dome views where the icons would not display correctly after reloading a save.
• Fixed an issue in Salvage Contract: The Lost Supplies where the quest could not be turned in under certain circumstances.
• Fixed an issue with the track The World on Her Shoulders repeating if the player used fast-travel after climbing a Signal Tower. Please note that this is not fixed for players who already encountered this issue, we are investigating a separate fix for this.

UI/UX

• Removed haptic feedback when standing next to a campfire and when fast-traveling if the Vibration Intensity sliders are set to 0.
• Fixed an issue where a Vista image would appear in front of a Black Box collectible in the menu.

Graphics

• Fixed multiple instances of objects in the world visibly popping between different levels of detail.
• Fixed an issue in Photo Mode where parts of Aloy’s outfit and body would become blurry in certain poses.
• Improved visual differentiation of the attack and move indicators in Machine Strike.
• Fixed a cosmetic issue with underwater cubemap.
• Fixed an issue where a blurry artifact was visible around the Heavy Crossbow when using it in combat.
• Fixed several instances of the camera jittering and behaving in an unintentional way.
• Several craftable quest items had the incorrect model in the workbench interface; those have now been replaced with the final assets.
• Fixed an issue with Parallax Mapped Foam by removing variable height scale in favor of a constant value; when original dynamic input value got too high it started separating the parallax layers. To fix the nasty separation of the layers at glancing angles the height scale is set by a bit of fresnel-based logic.
• Fixed several instances of NPCs in settlements not displaying the correct level of detail when playing the PS4 version of the game.
• Fixed an issue in the Chainscrape tavern where moving the camera in a certain spot would cause sudden changes in lighting.
• Improved noise reduction on screen space ambient occlusion.
• Reduced the intensity of the vignette screen effect when activating Valor Surges, and when Aloy was at low health.

Performance and Stability

• Multiple crash fixes.
• Fixed multiple assets that would pop in or stream in visibly during cinematics.
• Fixed several unintentional loading screens/black screens that would trigger in specific points.

Other

• Aloy will not mention her stash quite as often as before.
• Multiple localization fixes and text alignment corrections.
• Multiple visual and audio improvements to cinematics.
• Fixed an issue where Aloy would freeze in a specific pose when switching weapons during a charged heavy melee attack.
• Fixed an issue where remapping the controls for Primary Fire to R1 would prevent the player from throwing rocks.
• The spear impact when using Strike From Above was missing a sound effect that has now been added.
• Fixed an issue where the player would lose control of Aloy if sprinting and sliding into the water at a specific spot in the ruins north of Landfall.
• Fixed an issue with the camera during the end credits.
• Fixed several instances of the mount behaving erratically in specific locations while riding on roads.