Horizon Forbidden West’s Latest Update Makes It Easier For People Afraid Of Deep Water

Horizon Forbidden West has just received its latest update, Patch 1.21, which adds in support for the Burning Shores expansion, and a thalassophobia mode.

Guerrilla Games released Horizon Forbidden West Patch 1.21 yesterday, a PS5-exclusive update, which more prominently adds in support for Burning Shores which launches today (April 19). Aside from that though, it’s also added in a range of new accessibility features, notably a thalassophobia mode (thanks, Eurogamer). For those who might not know, thalassophobia is the fear of deep bodies of water like the ocean or a large lake.

This mode does a couple of things that should help anyone that does suffer from thalassophobia. According to Guerrilla, “This feature aims to ease thalassophobia symptoms by improving underwater ambient visibility,” which in practice translates to water looking a bit less murky, with objects in the distance looking a bit sharper. The other aspect of the feature that should help is that Aloy will be able to breathe indefinitely, “regardless of story progression.”

A number of other accessibility features were also added with this update too. You’ll now be able to increase waypoint and quest icon sizes, and there’s a new navigation assist that has been added into Focus mode that points you towards the current objection or any waypoints you’ve set. There is an auto camera option that follows your movement too.

Other visual accessibility options include new colorblind options, a HUD vignette at the edges of the screen to increase contact and improve HUD visibility, and the Large and Extra Large options for subtitle sizes are bigger too. Lastly, an auto pickup option has been added that automatically collects items without the need to press any buttons.