Citation needed for you, too. Goes both ways. There is more evidence to support what I said though. If you look up reviews on Steam and MC, threads on Reddit, here, other forums... critical reviews... these are all common critiques.
Should it have been? There is no should here. Cloud it have been? Yes. Do some people wish it had been? Clearly.
With considered environmental and encounter design they could have fully retained the combat pacing.
Monster Hunter Rise has a free climbing style mechanic with it's wall running, and that is worked in perfectly with the combat flow. This game could have kepted the same style of climbing it has but had it free climbing and kept the same combat flow in a similar way.
You cannot ask for a citation on a lack of substantial criticism. You're the one claiming the game was widely criticized for it, so you're the one with the burden of proving that such criticism was not only present, but widespread. Looking at how well the original did, and the numbers and hype the new one is generating, I would say most like their current design philosophies.
Regardless, by the looks of it, this game does have much expanded climbing, only limited to edges Aloy can grab rather than any and all surfaces.
An action-packed look at Aloy’s upcoming adventure, featuring new gameplay mechanics, machines, and more.
blog.playstation.com
Not to mention big upgrades to her Focus, which now shows areas that allow free-climbing and gives her the ability to override more machines for mounts or combat.
In my view, you can do climbing in an open-world in two ways.
BOTW did it by having (almost) all surfaces climbable. It was done in order to show the player's progress by the increasing stamina allowing for further climbing, and by doubling down on the theme of freedom. It worked well in the sandbox game they've made. However, the simple fact that not every single surface was climbable indicates an admission by the devs that such a feature breaks the design of more linear areas and puzzles. So, just like you can point out to Horizon being criticized by not having it, I can point out instances where people where disappointed in the new direction Zelda took, and to the fact that BOTW broke its own rules when they became inconvenient.
The other way is by having climbing be more of a puzzle during exploration. In the older Assassin's Creed games, you needed to pay attention to your surroundings to see how you could climb somewhere. Forbidden West seems to be doing that, and I frankly prefer it to the modern AC method of putting your face up against any vertical surface and pushing up on the stick. This is especially important when you consider how complex the environments in Horizon are, compared to the fairly simple and straightforward sandbox in BOTW, which lends itself well to that type of gameplay but is much less impressive.
