While much feels familiar, there are plenty of new controls in Horizon Forbidden West. To master all the weapons, tools, and traps at Aloy’s disposal, you’ll want to make sure you can quickly check each button input. We’ve put together a Horizon Forbidden West controls guide below which you can use as easy reference for inputs at any time.
Horizon Forbidden West controls guide

© Guerrilla Games
The Horizon Forbidden West controls shown above and tabled below apply to controlling Aloy on foot. We’ve also included images of the controls while mounted and swimming below, so scroll down if you’re looking for them
Action |
Control |
Move |
Left Analog Stick |
Look (control camera) |
Right Analog Stick |
Jump |
X |
Crouch / Activate Shieldwing / Toggle Quick Swap Target |
Square |
Dodge / Deactivate Shieldwing / Swan Dive |
O |
Use / Focus Tag Part / Equip Pullcaster (while aiming) |
Triangle |
Weapon Wheel |
L1 |
Melee / Valor Surge / Weapon technique (while aiming) |
R1 |
Aim |
L2 |
Heavy Melee / Focus Tag / Pry Open / Fire weapon (while aiming) |
R2 |
Heal / Refill Pouch |
D-Pad Up |
Swap Tool / Weapon Technique / Override Mode Shift Left or Right |
D-Pad Left / Right |
Toggle Spring |
L3 (Click in left stick) |
Focus Activate / Activate Concentration (while aiming) |
R3 (Click in right stick) |
Show HUD |
Swipe Touchpad up |
Open Menu |
Touchpad |
Pause |
Options Button |
Those are Aloy’s key controls while out on foot, but you’ll also need to master her riding and swimming controls as you explore more of the Forbidden West. There are only a few key controls to learn in each case, so we’ve included the images detailing each below for easy reference.
Horizon Forbidden West swimming controls

© Guerrilla Games
The key Horizon Forbidden West controls to note when swimming are that you can swim up with X, and swim down with square.
Horizon Forbidden West mounted controls

© Guerrilla Games
The Horizon Forbidden West controls to note when riding are that you can brake with Circle, Mount or Dismount with Square, and speed up with. Not that races include a few unique controls such as recovery on R2, and look before on L3.
Those are the full Horizon Forbidden West controls for PS4 and PS5. Feel free to check back here anytime you need to refer to the input for each action.