The new year is upon us and it's already time for a friendly public service announcement. Yesterday (January 10), a number of images apparently taken from a leaked copy of the PlayStation 4 version of Horizon Forbidden West began making the rounds online.
In a report from VGC, sources said that aside from some missing art assets, the leaked version of the build is authentic and contains all of the core content planned for the sequel's final release - meaning that spoilers could soon follow.
Images have been sighted on Twitter that appear to be from the leaked version of the game. While these have since been removed due to "a report from the copyright holder", it might be wise to start taking measures to avoid spoilers ahead of the game's official launch on February 18.
When Horizon Forbidden West does launch next month it will see a number of notable improvements over its predecessor. Guerrilla has revealed that series protagonist Aloy is set to come with a number of new tricks up her sleeve. These include the likes of a far more open free climbing system, new tools and gadgets for traversing the landscape such as the Shieldwing and Pullcaster, and an overhauled skill tree.
In addition to changes to Aloy herself, Guerrilla has also spoken further about the steps it's taken to improve the franchise's world design. According to statements made by Lead Living World Designer at Guerrilla, Espen Sogn, the sequel's new team is working on different aspects of the game's world design to bring the PlayStation exclusive to life.
While Forbidden West has devoted a whole department to making the game's tribes, settlements and NPCs feel authentic and alive, it hasn't spared on the sequel's mechanical wildlife either - with comments from Guerrilla suggesting that the game's machine creatures will use ideas that weren't possible in the first game.
So, to experience Forbidden West's new features, world design, and mechanical beasts first-hand, make sure to stay wary on social media, deploy those mute words, and scroll with caution. For more on Forbidden West, make sure to check out this piece detailing more on Horizon Call of the Mountain - a new game set in the Horizon universe and coming exclusively to PSVR 2.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.