Horizon Forbidden West guide: Blocked Path (Missing Tool Needed)

Blocked Path (Missing Tool Needed) icons on your Horizon Forbidden West map can appear long before there’s anything you can do about them. In this Horizon Forbidden West Blocked Path (Missing Tool Needed), we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the catchall term that refers to three different items and three different tools.

Anomalous Growth / Firegleam / Igniter

Image: Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

The image above is among the first weird items that Horizon Forbidden West labeled as Blocked Path (Missing Tool Needed) on our map. Hold R3 to scan one, and your Bluetooth Focus calls it …

Anomalous Growth
Hybridized crystalline and fungal growth of unknown origin. Invulnerable to impact. Special gear required to clear.

As the Focus’ text implies, there is nothing you can do about these things early in the game.

Many hours later, during the “Death’s Door” Main Quest (level 10), you’ll craft the Igniter upgrade to your spear, which allows you to “detonate Firegleam and clear their obstructions.” The Firegleam icons on your map once labeled as Blocked Path (Missing Tool Needed) now say Firegleam.

All you need to do is approach them, and the game will give you the Ignite Firegleam prompt. Press Triangle, plunge your spear in, and retrieve the better-than-average loot behind them.

Metal Flower / Vine Cutter

Image: Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

The screenshot above shows a Metal Flower in Horizon Forbidden West, which is labeled as Blocked Path (Missing Tool Needed) on our map at first. Hold R3 to scan one, and your Focus calls it …

Metal Flower
A metal flower sprouting organic vines. Invulnerable to impact. Special gear required to clear.

Many hours later, during the “Seeds of the Past” Main Quest (level 24), you’ll receive the Vine Cutter upgrade to your spear, which allows you to “dissolve a Metal Flower’s vines.” The Metal Flower icons on your map once labeled as Blocked Path (Missing Tool Needed) now say Metal Flower.

Now you can approach a Metal Flower, and melee attack it until the flower opens. Then interact with the flower to “Install Vine Cutter Module,” and the blue-green vines surrounding it dissolve.

Diving Mask / Sunken Caverns

Image: Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Within your first few minutes in The Daunt, you can discover the third and final kind of Blocked Path (Missing Tool Needed) area on your map. Explore the area enough, and you’ll discover that Aloy can’t swim well enough to finish Sunken Cavern: Daunt East.

Many hours later, during the “The Sea of Sands” Main Quest (level 22), you’ll receive the Diving Mask, which is “special breathing apparatus that enables diving to extreme depths.” Now you can swim like a Jedi in any Sunken Cavern you find.