Alongside the three existing skill trees is the new Traveller category that look set to streamline certain parts of the game. You can unlock the Mounted Pickup skill, which is pretty self explanatory, the ability to scrap items yourself and turn them into Shards, instead of having to visit a vendor each time, increase the chances of finding rare gear, and so on. It can culminate in the ability to perform a Dismount Strike, with Aloy leaping from the back of her mount to deal a lot of damage to an enemy.
Talking to him is a fine opportunity to see that Guerrilla have tried to make their conversations look more dynamic and engaging. As one of my main complaints of the main game, it’s great to see them address this going forward, perhaps aided by the narrower scope of this expansion – that said, it’s still aiming to be at least 15 hours, with tons of new side quests alongside the main narrative threads. It’s a shame, but entirely understandable that this added polish and refinement is only applicable for the new expansion.
One thing to try and get people to engage more with the side quests are improved rewards, so that you can earn new weapons, gear upgrades and new outfits from completing quests as opposed to simply buying them. Additionally, where certain activities return from the original game, they’ve been given a new twist wherever possible. Encountering a Tallneck in this region doesn’t see Aloy simply trying to climb up to its top, but tasks her with trying to salvage the derelict of a fallen machine that’s being torn apart by machines reclaiming its carcass. You’ll have to defeat or avoid those robots to reach the Tallneck’s head, but once you get there, you’ll need to have found parts to get it working again before you can trigger its region revealing pulse.
