Horizon Forbidden West Update Adds Pride Flag Face Paint

A new patch now available for Horizon Forbidden West adds a Pride Flag-inspired face paint for Aloy and fixes a number of bugs, including one that was launching players into the sky after completing a specific gauntlet run.

As detailed on Reddit, patch 1.18 is mostly bug fixes for various quests and activities, alongside a few audio and visual fixes, for developer Guerilla’s open-world sci-fi adventure. The addition of the Mark of Pride face paint is it in terms of new content, and can be acquired from Face Painters in Scalding Spear, Thornmarsh, and the Bulwark.

There are a small handful of gameplay changes as well. Level 3 of the Toughened Valor Surge skill has had its melee damage resistance reduced from 50% to 35%, Dreadwing enemies are now more likely to attack when in a forested area, and the Plant Forager skill now works on Medicinal Waterweed.

The rest of the patch notes are dedicated to bug fixes, like one that was sending players flying into the sky upon completion of the Cliffs of the Cry Gauntlet Run. Other fixes include resolving an issue were a players completion rate would be stuck at 99.42% after completing every Rebel Camp, eliminating an issue that could cause a “non-functional and low-resolution” Thunderjaw to spawn near Fall’s Edge, and camera issues when using a Blastsling weapon or activating Concentration zoom.

Despite launching in February of this year, Guerilla has been consistent when it comes to improving Horizon Forbidden West. A patch last month added a VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) mode and a new “balanced” 40fps graphics setting, with a June update adding New Game+, an Ultra Hard difficulty option, additional trophies, and more.

Horizon Forbidden West Patch 1.18 Notes

NEW FEATURES

• Introduced “Mark of Pride” Pride Flag Face Paint.

Aloy wearing the “Mark of Pride” Face Paint

FIXES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Main Quests

• Fixed an issue in Main Quest “Faro’s Tomb“ where the Hunter Merchant could be missing in Thebes.
• Fixed floating weapons in the cinematic following the “Talk to the Tenakth Marshal” mission objective of Main Quest “The Embassy”.
• Fixed an issue in Main Quest “The Kulrut” where Hekarro was practicing his pantomime skills and got blocked behind an invisible wall.
• Fixed issues related to players not being able to enter or exit The Base.
• Fixed an issue where a Kotallo callout could play inside The Base without Kotallo being present.

Side Quests

• We now keep Riverhymn’s settlement icon on the map after completing Side Quest “The Roots that Bind“.
• Fixed an issue where Porguf would not provide the option to start the Errand Quest “Broken Locks”.
• Fixed an issue in Side Quest “The Deluge” where players could ride their ground mount through a lake.
• Fixed an issue in Side Quest “Signal Spike” where the player could be unable to progress after the “Search the Canyon for the Source of the Signal” objective.
• Fixed an issue in Chainscrape where, before completing Side Quest “The Bristlebacks”, the Herbalist would have an icon above their head but will not be interactable.

World Activities

• Fixed an issue in Salvage Contracts “Mine Launchers” where progression could become blocked when the player sets Custom Difficulty Settings for Easy Loot.
• Fixed an issue in which after completing all Salvage Contracts in New Game Plus, the player could obtain the Oseram Artificer outfit twice.
• Fixed an issue in Rebel Camp “Devil’s Grasp” where the objective “Search the Command Center” could become blocked after restarting from save.
• Fixed an issue in Rebel Camp “The Hive” where the objective “Destroy the Weapon Caches” would not update after destroying all the caches.
• Fixed an issue in Rebel Camp “Breached Rock” where the Rebel Champion would not have the Bunker Key in its loot if the player left the camp after killing the rebels.
• Fixed an issue in Cauldron CHI where a puzzle room had distracting shadow flickering.
• Fixed an issue in Machine Strike where the health of a piece with the Sweep Skill could go to 255 instead of dying.
• Fixed an issue where players remained stuck at 99.42% completion after completing all Rebel Camps.
• We are blasting off again no more! Fixed an issue in Gauntlet Run “Cliffs of the Cry” where upon completing the race, the player would launch into the sky.
• Fixed an issue where the player was unable to complete “Relics From Ruins” in New Game+ due to already having the Ancestor’s Return weapon from a previous playthrough.
• Fixed an issue in Sunken Cavern “The Shining Wastes” where the player would get stuck if they investigate an Oseram corpse while swimming.
• Fixed an inaccessible Supply Cache located in Las Vegas that was placed under the ground.
• Fixed an inaccessible Supply Cache located northeast of Rebel Outpost “Stillsands South” that was placed under the ground.

Datapoints

• Fixed an issue where Audio Datapoints were getting aborted on specific player actions.
• Fixed an issue where Audio Datapoint 37 could not be collected due to Veter being noninteractive.

Machines

• Arrows ready? We made the Dreadwing more likely to attack when fighting in a forested area.
• Additional VFX for Tremortusk’s “Shatter Swing” and Thunderjaw’s “Laser Blast” attacks.
• Fixed an issue near Fall’s Edge where a non-functional and low-resolution Thunderjaw could spawn in.
• Fixed an issue where the “Stalker Primary Nerve” was listed as a Loot for the Ravager’s Antenna.
• Fixed an issue where setting a Job for the Stalker Primary Nerve put the waypoint in Ravager areas instead of Stalker Areas.
• Fixed an issue where Behemoth and Apex Behemoth list “Bellowback Primary Nerve” as loot instead of “Behemoth Primary Nerve.”
• Fixed an area in Sheerside Climb where the player is unable to fly away on a flying mount.
• Fixed an issue where Apex Shellsnapper Hearts were listed under “Valuables to Sell” despite being used for upgrades.
• Fixed an issue where the job system will not direct the player to Apex machine parts.

Weapons

• Fixed a camera issue where, when aiming with a Blastsling weapon and rotating the camera, the projectile parable would jitter.
• Fixed a camera issue where activating Concentration zoom during a normal zoom would have a jarring snap back.
• Fixed an issue where the Hunter Bow could not be upgraded in New Game+.
• Fixed an issue for Light Arrows of Level 4 Carja’s Bane which had an incorrect amount of Tear damage.
• Fixed an issue where upgrade Level 3 of the Rain of Sparks warrior bow switches perks from “critical hit chance” to “multiple enemy damage”, and then back to “critical hit chance” at Level 4.

Skills

• Fixed an issue where the player could not use Melee Combat after fast traveling from a crawl space.
• Level 3 of the Toughened Valor Surge has Melee Damage Resistance reduced from 50% to 35%.
• Plant Forager now works on Medicinal Waterweed.

UI/UX

• Fixed “Pickup Animation” to reset to “On” in Settings when the “Reset” action is pressed.
• Fixed an issue where the Job description in the Jobs menu in Quest Log always displays Level 1 regardless of the actual level of the Job.
• Fixed an issue where the Custom Marker was not visible in the 3D space if the waypoint was marked on the location of an inactive quest.
• Fixed an issue with the subtitles being out-of-sync in the opening title sequence.
• Fixed an issue in the Machine Catalogue where unscanned machines can be viewed when they are adjacent to scanned machines.

Performance and Stability

• Made improvements to TAA for PS5 Resolution Mode and PS4.
• Fixed several instances of Aloy’s armor model jittering when playing in Balanced Mode.
• Fixed an issue where geometry appears low resolution when skipping the opening title sequence.

Photo mode

• Introduced “Mark of Pride” Pride Flag Face Paint.

Other

• Fixed an issue where starting the game via Activity Cards could start a new game in New Game Plus, instead of starting the selected activity.
• Fixed an issue where the “Auto Heal” setting does not fully heal Aloy after leaving combat for a short time.
• Fixed issues where the player ended up underneath the terrain or got stuck inside geometry.