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Horizon: Forbidden West Open blocked paths

 

Horizon: Forbidden West Open blocked paths

As soon as you've played a little bit in Horizon: Forbidden West and the game world opens up for you, of course, you want to explore as much as possible, only to realize that you can't go everywhere after all. At times you are faced with what is called a "blocked path" that you cannot cross. In this article, we will therefore explain to you what you have to do in order to be able to walk these "blocked paths".


What are blocked paths?

Already in the first region of Horizon: Forbidden West you come across markings that you cannot (yet) get past. If you look at these on the map, they are each referred to as "Blocked Path". What exactly these are and how you unlock them is not clear.


There are two different types of Blocked Paths in Horizon: Forbidden West - the Metal Flower (left) and the FireGlimmer (right). The metal flower is connected to light green tendrils that block individual paths. The Firemica appears to be some sort of red mushroom culture that grows on rocks and walls.


How do I open a blocked path?

Even if said paths may still be blocked, they will not always be so for you. To open the blocked paths you need the special equipment corresponding to the two categories.


There is various special equipment in the game, each of which has a different use. Last but not least, the shield wing serves as a glider and the diving mask, with which you can breathe underwater.


However, for the two types of blocked paths you need the following two special equipment :


Open the fire mica with the "lighter".

To get rid of the fire mica a "lighter" is needed. You get this by playing the main story and completing the main mission "Gate of Death". After this, the igniter automatically expands your melee weapon.


If you have the igniter then you can approach the reddish fire glimmers in the world and once it is shown to you press the R2 button. Aloy then rams her spear into the fire mica, igniting it. Now you should take some distance because it will explode in a few seconds and blast a hole in the overgrown wall. If you get too close, Aloy can get hurt himself.


Open the metal flower with the "vine cutter".

On the other hand, if you also want to open the many metal flowers in the forbidden west, you need the special equipment "vine cutter". Like the "Lighter", you will automatically receive the "Vine Cutter" by playing the main story and completing the main mission "Seeds of the Past".


In order to free the path blocked by the metal flower and its tendrils, you must first hit the metal flower with three melee attacks before you then interact with the flower with R1 and install your tendril cutter module. If you do that, Aloy rams her staff into the metal flower and it, and the tendrils connected to it dissolve.


Blocked Path - These rewards await behind it

Opening blocked paths sometimes not only opens up new paths for you but also useful rewards are waiting for you: Usually, these are crafting materials that you need to produce ammunition or to improve weapons and/or outfits.


Apart from the usual crafting materials, collectibles such as flight recorders may also be hidden behind them. You also need the lighter and the vine cutter to be able to solve most of the relic ruins, which are paved with blocked paths.


All in all, you should invest a certain amount of playing time in the main story at the beginning, until you at least have the lighter and the tendril cutter, so that you can pursue more activities in the open game world and find rich loot from now on.

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