PlayStation is revisiting one of the biggest PS4 exclusives with Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, an update that, while definitely unnecessary, could still end up being the definitive version of the game. Originally released in 2017, Horizon Zero Dawn staked a claim as an open-world adventure that beat The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild by a total of three days. It served double duty as a PS4 tech demo, with a lush, vibrant world that showed what the console was capable of without needing to sacrifice stable performance.
Over seven years later, Horizon Zero Dawn still looks better than many games released today, but it’s naturally lost its position on the cutting edge of graphics. Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is bumping the game’s visuals back up to take advantage of how much hardware has changed, building on advancements first made in its sequel Horizon Forbidden West. The end result may not be as exciting as a new Horizon game would be, but those who haven’t yet embarked upon the adventure might never have a better time to do so.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Release Date
When Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Will Be Available
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is set for release on October 31, 2024, a little over a month after the game’s announcement trailer was showcased at the PlayStation State of Play broadcast held on September 24. The Halloween release might seem like an odd choice for a game that has nothing to do with ghouls, goblins, or frightful nights, but it gets the remaster in ahead of both the holiday season and another title related to the Horizon IP. Two weeks later, LEGO Horizon Adventures will also launch, delivering a blockier, family-friendly take on Aloy’s adventures.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Platforms & Price
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Offers An Upgrade Path
Unsurprisingly, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is coming to the PS5, but it’s also releasing simultaneously on PC. On the latter platform, it will be available on both Steam and the Epic Games Storefront. For those purchasing Horizon Zero Dawn for the first time, the game will cost $49.99, a price that includes the game’s expansion, The Frozen Wilds.
Horizon Zero Dawn
save files will be compatible with
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered.
Anyone who already owns either Horizon Zero Dawn or Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition can get a big discount on an upgrade to Remastered, which knocks the price down to an additional $9.99. It’s more than the free PS5 upgrade for the game that offers significantly less impressive improvements but still much cheaper than buying the remaster separately, following the same model as The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered‘s upgrade path. Considering that the game has received plenty of steep discounts and even been given away for free in the past, the upgrade price goes down a lot smoother.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Changes
Graphical Upgrades & Accessibility Tweaks
Horizon Zero Dawn might not have aged enough to receive any changes that result in a truly overhauled experience, but some of the improvements are significant. The biggest differences should be notable during story scenes, starting with upgraded character models and extending to re-recorded conversations and mocap. This should help add some life to conversations that felt a bit stiff in the original game, hopefully getting over more of the uncanny valley hump.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
is being handled by Nixxes, who principally work on ports of Sony games and previously brought both
Horizon
games to PC.
The free PS5 upgrade for the original version already took care of any resolution and framerate deficiencies, boosting the game to 60 FPS and maintaining the checkerboard 4K resolution that the PS4 Pro managed. On PC, Nvidia DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3.1 are joining the party as improved scaling solutions, hopefully making it easier to balance clarity and framerate despite the graphical improvements. Sony’s new proprietary scaling solution, PSSR, should give the PS5 Pro a similar edge, although it hasn’t yet been specifically mentioned in conjunction with Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered.
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Other visual tweaks come in the form of shader and texture improvements, and the footage shown so far exhibits apparent lighting differences in some scenes without breaking too far away from the original look. On PS5, fast travel should make full use of the SSD to now be “lightning-fast.” Other PS5-oriented features are the use of 3D Audio and Dolby Atmos, including overall sound design reworks, and the DualSense controller’s haptic trigger feedback, which can add resistance to make something like pulling a bow or pulling Aloy up onto a surface pack a bigger punch.
A number of Horizon Forbidden West‘s accessibility improvements are making the jump to Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, with the game’s PlayStation Blog announcement post mentioning “remappable controls, haptic cues, and various assist toggles.” There’s no mention of other changes to the features of the game, so it should otherwise be a generally identical experience aside from the graphics and performance changes.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Story & Gameplay
Nothing’s Changing On The Narrative Front
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting that transforms America into a new tribal society where mechanical creatures roam the land. The protagonist Aloy ventures forth on a quest to find out more about the world that came before, determine her own identity, and hopefully save society from an emerging threat that’s making machines more hostile than before.
The gameplay of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered follows a standard open-world cadence, with quests strewn throughout a large explorable area and towers (in this case, large giraffe-like machines) that reveal information about their surroundings. Combat focuses on simple weapons like a bow and arrow, but different types of ammunition and weak points on machines add a layer of strategy into the mix.
Horizon Zero Dawn was released to general acclaim in 2017, so Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered should still be a great experience unless something goes horribly wrong. For better or worse, remasters have become an increasingly large part of PlayStation’s release strategy, and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered continues that tradition in perfectly consistent fashion.
Source: PlayStation Blog
