Horizon Forbidden West now lets Aloy grab loot while on the go

The latest Horizon Forbidden West patch has a tiny quality-of-life change that adds up to a big relief. Developer Guerilla Games released two patches in one update, 1.10 and 1.11. They’re full of lots of little tweaks, like bug fixes, repairs to broken quest chains, and making sure the right actions lead to proper in-game consequences. But one recent change that isn’t explicitly noted in the patch notes is that players now have the option to disable Aloy’s pickup animations.

As Aloy moves through the Forbidden West, she needs to pick up a lot of materials to craft essential supplies. You’ll be grabbing handfuls of fiberzest, ridgewood, and an endless stream of berries. This isn’t particularly strenuous if you’re just picking up a plant or two, but after the third dozen time you stop for some resources, it starts to grate just a little bit.

Luckily, now players can go to the general menu and turn off pickup animations. Aloy can now go on a leisurely jog through the world and vacuum up supplies as she goes. This doesn’t apply to rare items or certain drops from enemies; you will still need to stop to loot robots and hold down the triangle button to pick up more important items. Also, if Aloy has to stop and try to find something in salvage or a chest, she will still need to manually go through the motions.

It’s always nice to see small-scale improvements like this; they add up over the course of a big open world game. Whether it’s the ability to toggle an animation, or the chance to have a cuter racoon running around, it’s good to see a developer open to change.