Horizon Forbidden West: How to Break Sunken Barriers Underwater

Horizon Forbidden West has arrived, bringing a number of new traversal features for exploring the world, including the ability to explore vast underwater caves and an improved free-climbing system for scaling up cliff faces and the crumbling ruins of buildings. One of the obstacles Aloy will come across on her adventure is Sunken Barriers found underwater. If you’re struggling to figure out what to do with Horizon Forbidden West Sunken Barriers, this guide will explain everything you need to know.

What Are Sunken Barriers?

Sunken Barriers or Rock Barriers — as your Focus refers to them — are piles of rocks that Aloy can destroy in order to gain access to a collectible or caches of crafting materials and other resources.

When scanned with Aloy’s Focus, the following description is provided:

“Loosely piled rocks, obstructing access. Can be cleared with prying force.”

Sunken Barrier locations are marked on your map with a rectangular-shaped icon with what looks like an eye in the center of it, shown in the screenshot below.

Breaking Sunken Barriers in Horizon Forbidden West

Why Can’t I Destroy a Sunken Barrier?

During our time in Horizon Forbidden West, we did find a couple of Sunken Barriers that, at first glance, appeared to be unbreakable.

This isn’t actually the case. Instead, you’ll have to get to the other side of the sunken barrier and you’ll then be able to destroy it.

As such, make sure you’re fully exploring your surroundings to find your way to the other side of the barrier.

That’s everything you need to know on how to break Sunken Barriers underwater in Horizon Forbidden West. For more tips, tricks and guides, head over to our wiki or see more of our coverage on the game below.