Horizon Forbidden West features a rich RPG element to explore and master, and you’ll need to stay on top of it if you don’t want to get annihilated by your robo-enemies. It isn’t exactly on the difficulty scale of FromSoftware’s Elden Ring, also releasing in February, but asks you to earn lots of XP to prepare for story missions’ level requirements. No worries, we’re here to help you get there quickly – just keep reading to learn some tricks to put together experience points and level up fast in Horizon Forbidden West.
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What content you shouldn’t focus on
Horizon Forbidden West includes plenty of mission types, some of them being more challenging and longer than others. Side missions are complex and often kickstart other missions once completed, offering entire narrative arcs just like main quests, and Errands similarly task you with bringing down giant beasts every now and then. These side activities are amazing and well-crafted, actually much better than Zero Dawn’s, but they’re definitely not your best choice if you want to level up fast in Forbidden West – they are pretty long and often offer rewards that don’t match the effort put in.
How to level up fast in Horizon Forbidden West
On the other hand, you have side activities that are quick to complete and quite straightforward, as they don’t require much combat. Among these, you’ll find Cauldrons, which offer fun and rewarding platform sections. Also, Relic Ruins are puzzles you need to complete using your mind more than brute force, and carefully studying the environment. These are easily the best side activity in the game, as you can read in our Horizon Forbidden West review.
Since it doesn’t feature combat, and it’s quicker and offers better rewards compared to the effort required for completion, this kind of non-violent activity is the best way to gather experience points as you progress through the main story – Relic Ruins put 5,000 XP on the table, Cauldrons are in at around 8-15,000 XP and also allow you to Override bigger and meaner machines. It’s also important to note that you shouldn’t always skip combat during traversal or when offered the ability to stealth kill enemies, as these encounters are a good way to gather XP, too.
Story mission level requirements
It’s worth mentioning that we were able to proceed through the main quest with no particular issue while even 3 or 4 levels below those missions’ requirements. This means that experience points and levels are important in the latest game from Guerrilla Games, for sure, but also that you don’t have to worry too much it so long as you’re reasonably close to the requirement. Should this prove too tough for you, don’t forget to read our Horizon Forbidden West tips and tricks.
Written by Paolo Sirio on behalf of GLHF.
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