Estimated reading time: 14 minutes
Legacy of the Machine Hunter
Sony continues to remaster its greatest gems, and 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn is undoubtedly one of them. A breathtaking and original post-apocalyptic world full of robo-dinosaurs and primitive tribes that offers an apt self-reflection for humanity itself in its story. But does this remaster bring substantial improvements, or is it enough to stick with the complete 2020 edition containing the original title? We take a look at all the new features this new version brings in our review.
Horizon is one of my favorite modern PlayStation franchises (the first installment was born “only” on PS4). The second installment, Forbidden West, was a fantastic evolution. At the same time, the Burning Shores expansion set all fans of the series up perfectly for the likely final third installment. It’s incredible how far the series has come, from the “tame” narrative of “outcast” Aloy, who never knew her mother, to an adventure of almost cosmic proportions. At the end of Horizon Forbidden West, we find out that a terrible unspecified horror is approaching Earth, and Aloy and her friends must stop it in the presumably upcoming third installment.
Perhaps that’s why I was looking forward to the remaster of the more intimate first installment. To revisit (for the fourth time, in my case) the fantastic story of the birth of the heroine Aloy, and to discover, unsurprisingly, that the gameplay has actually not aged at all over the years. And the story? Not only does it remain incredibly timeless, but it also holds up a mirror to today’s society. While the storyline about the fall of human civilization is contrasted with the problems of the indigenous tribes of the post-apocalyptic 31st century, you gradually learn not only that humanity won’t just change, but also that the sins of “the old ones” are a threat in the future.
The World That Was
If you haven’t had the pleasure of this franchise yet (by the way, aren’t you ashamed of yourself?) Horizon Zero Dawn is set in a post-apocalyptic future where human error has wiped out all life on Earth. For mysterious reasons, however, something has survived, but in the ruins of the old world, in addition to animals and humans, who gather in primitive tribes or early cities, there are also robotic animals resembling various dinosaurs. In the skin of Aloy, who is labeled a “curse” from birth, and the local tribe labels her an outcast because she is so-called “motherless,” and these are sacred to the Nora tribe, we will not only experience the post-apocalyptic present of the 31st century but also explore and uncover a past whose sins, unfortunately, affect the present world.
But it’s not just a story
At first glance, Horizon Zero Dawn brought the familiar gameplay of an action-adventure game with open-world RPG elements, but the game excelled not only in its stunning depiction of an Earth slowly recovering from a major disaster, but also in all that lives within it. The main attraction was the robodinosaurs and the thrilling battles with them, in which you had to “peel each enemy like an onion” for individual pieces of armor, weapons, and components hidden underneath. In this review, however, we won’t focus on gameplay or story, but rather on Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered’s visual and technical innovations, of which there are few.
Beyond Simple Remastering
You’ll notice the nicer graphics immediately, but there are a surprisingly large number of partial changes to the visuals. Perhaps the most obvious is the wholly redesigned flora. In addition to better textures, the various vegetation has received improved shadows, geometry, and interaction with the environment, whether wind or character movement. The attached screenshots are all about their density. Still, when playing, you’ll be surprised by the vibrancy and realism that are on par with the second episode of Forbidden West. The latter has become something of a benchmark of quality for Nixxes, the studio behind the remaster, and they’ve tried to get as close to it as possible. Denser vegetation, more realistic lighting, richer clouds, or more detailed textures. These are all among the many differences you’ll notice at first glance.
A Living, Breathing World
However, the developers have often gone straight into the world modifications as well. For example, they’ve looked at the original concept art, and now, thanks to more usable power, they’ve brought some locations closer to the original ideas of the Guerrilla Games developers with whom they worked closely on the remaster. The same was done for the towns and settlements. In places that seemed empty or unnatural, more objects and details were added, but there was also an increase in the number of NPC characters. They don’t just stand up, they take on a life of their own, which is a major change for the better for Meridian, the largest city in Zero Dawn.
Take a closer look at the comparison screenshots in our article, where we compare the pre-release Remaster with the original. You’ll notice that several objects look different or are replaced with entirely different ones. In fact, the developers have been given a library of textures, materials, and objects from Forbidden West to replace the original ones from Zero Dawn. Many of these were then further modified to keep with the original aesthetic.
As you can see, a number of the tree models have been replaced with others, as well as some of the flowers or even some of the moss growing on rocks all over the map. However, this was only done in some places to further emphasize the diversity of the different biomes. This sounds great, of course, yet I can’t help but notice that the “visual identity” has changed after all.
Any vegetation or foliage is now greener, which is just reminiscent of Forbidden West’s graphics. In contrast, originally, Zero Dawn’s environments were tuned more to warmer orange tones. Personally, I really like the change. In addition to the vegetation or objects, the terrain has also received a complete texture overhaul. The roads look much better, and, following the example of the DLC Frozen Wild and then Forbidden West, the snow now deforms under the characters’ feet in the base game area.
However, the authors went even further and added the deformation of sand or even the ability to “trample” grass, which was a beautiful detail found only in Forbidden West. And where the textures from Forbidden West didn’t fit, they were used to create completely new ones, for example, for the floors of buildings in the Meridian, as mentioned earlier. A genuinely exemplary approach that I think is already on the verge of a remake. Furthermore, the original game’s somewhat not-so-nice warmer orange tones have been replaced by rich green colors that unify the visuals with Forbidden West.
Technical Evolution
But it’s not just the cornerstones of the graphics like textures created from the ground up. The developers also reached into the animations or sounds. Better facial textures wouldn’t have stood out so much with seven-year-old animations. Hence, Guerrilla Games, the game’s original developers, directly re-recorded over 10 hours of conversations to make the characters’ conversations as close as possible to what we know from the second installment. The new facial animations, which are often taken in great detail during the interviews, are what make the game a better experience. I remember that in the original game, the interviews looked a bit “wooden” and artificial compared to the rest of the game. Now, everything has a much better, more human feel to it, and it’s another piece to the puzzle that really makes this remaster feel fresh. For a remaster, the faces and their animations look great. The game features over 3000 dialogue options, so the new motion capture of conversations is definitely a very, very welcome improvement.
In short, there is a lot I would like to mention, and perhaps even more, that I have not yet noticed. For example, not only Aloy but also other characters now react to cold or wind; I like snow sticking to clothes, much more realistic lighting, DualSense controller support, a complete sound modification to support 3D audio on PlayStation 5, and not to forget the sky, which is also generated using tools from Forbidden West. The tool above called Nubis from the Decima graphics engine creates volumetric clouds that can easily be mistaken for the real thing.
New Heights, Minor Shadows
Of course, I can’t just say praise, though there will be very little criticism. Perhaps the biggest flaw is the relatively short rendering distance, which of course doesn’t reveal newly popping bits of grass, but mostly just smaller shadows. More attentive viewers will also notice strange artifacts in the background during the rapid scene changes in the interviews, a small detail that plagued both the original game and Forbidden West. I also have to go back to the altered stylization, with the world being more green than the original. I’ll admit that after the remaster was announced, I thought it wasn’t strictly speaking necessary. After all, the original game runs at 60 fps on PS5, and it has to be said that even today it still looks incredibly good for its age. But as you’ve already read, Nixxes didn’t just improve the textures, they went to the very heart of the game. This makes the whole thing, with a price tag of $10 in the form of an upgrade for owners of the original version, an affair you certainly can’t complain about.
On PS5, the remaster also offers three display modes (similar to Forbidden West on PS5), allowing for 30, 40, or 60 fps, which is especially reflected in the resolution, which is native 4K at 30 fps. In contrast, at 60 fps, we can expect up to around 1800p. However, this aspect of the remaster is so successful that I can safely recommend the 60 fps performance mode, as the minor flaws are masked by the technologies used in Forbidden West. Incidentally, Digital Foundry found out that if you have a VRR-enabled TV or monitor, the frame rate cap is removed at 60 fps. If the PS5’s performance and the scene’s complexity allow it, the frame rate goes further past that. PS5 Pro owners will then get (as officially stated by Sony in the list of games supporting the “PS5 Pro Enhanced” feature) an even better visual experience thanks to the additional modes of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. Still, it’s also coming out on PC. I could not test this version, but considering that the remaster is being prepared by Nixxes, the masters of porting PS exclusives to PC, I have no doubt that the result will be great. Although as of now the reviews on Steam are mixed…
The Price of Progress
The richer and more detailed world is noticeable at first glance, yet even today, the original game looks more than good. Although I was not at all disappointed at the official announcement of the remaster that it was not the speculated remake, in fact, in a way, I even got it, which made my satisfaction as a die-hard fan all the more deep. Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered isn’t a classic remaster where you use AI to tweak textures, add newer anti-aliasing, and hurrah for a full-priced world. This title has been given the utmost care, with the ability to enjoy it for the fair price of a few dollars, which in some ways feels more like working on a remake. In fact, the developers weren’t afraid to rework the very basics of the technical design, and what’s even more remarkable, they didn’t break anything in the process, which I don’t take for granted with a 7-year-old open-world game.
In addition, if you are one of the owners of either the original game or the complete edition regardless of platform (PS4, PS5, or PC), for $10, you can upgrade to the remastered version, which I take as more than a good offer given the huge amount of changes, but given the previous text, there is no need to mention more right? Of course, just like the complete edition, the game includes the great Frozen Wilds DLC and the ability to import your save data, so you can pick up where you left off years ago with the newly made-up Aloy or pick up the adventure in New Game+ mode.
The game also features completely identical trophies, so trophy hunters, myself included, will feel right at home without much difficulty. You can get the entire set of trophies for the base game remaster in about 30 hours, just like the original version. The difficulty of the Platinum Trophy is estimated at a friendly 2-3/10, assuming you play on the lowest difficulty, which will be appreciated by less experienced players who crave this glittering reward for their PlayStation Network profile. If you’re craving absolute 100% of the game, there’s another 20 hours or so to be had via the Frozen Wilds DLC, as well as completing New Game+ on Ultra Hard difficulty. Trophy hunting at its finest!
Conclusion
Perhaps the only thing missing from Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered’s perfection is new content. Nothing major, just some “wink wink” from the developers, who have surely been keeping some unfinished side quest or at least a journal in a drawer all these years for Aloy to find. But then we’re really moving more into remake proportions. If you own the original game and would like to play it again, the $10 upgrade is definitely worth it without question, and if you haven’t had the pleasure of playing Aloy yet… well, what are you waiting for?!?!
So we think it’s a fantastic remaster. The developers have shown impressive attention to detail and masterful craftsmanship, extensively improving a not-so-old classic. This is precisely the remaster we fans deserved! Many thanks to Nixxes.
About the Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
Title: Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
Type of Game: Action RPG / Open World
Developer: Guerrilla Games/Nixxes Software
Publisher: PlayStation Publishing LLC
Released: October 31, 2024
Platforms Available: PlayStation 5, PC Game
Platform Reviewed: PlayStation 5
Level of Maturity: Teen 13+
Where to Buy Horizon Zero Dawn
Steam (PC Game): Available for $49.99 to play on PC when buying as a standalone game.
Epic Games Store (PC Game): Available for $49.99 for PC players.
PlayStation Store (PS5): Available for $49.99 or $9.99 when upgrading from previously purchased original game.
