Since its release, the PS5 only had a couple of hard-hitting exclusives; however, Sony aims to change that with Horizon Forbidden West on February 18, 2022. That’s right, Sony revealed the release date of their highly anticipated first-party exclusive and explained why they decided to delay the game beyond 2021.
If you are unfamiliar with the video game series, Horizon Zero Dawn is an action-adventure game that follows Aloy in a post-apocalyptic setting. Long story short, she fights robotic dinosaurs and animals to save the day, and yes, it is precisely as amazing as it sounds. So you can understand why I am highly anticipating Horizon Forbidden West and aching to play again as the sassy protagonist.
The Horizon Forbidden West is a direct sequel that puts Aloy in the western parts of the United States, and she’s on a mission to stop a dangerous threat called the Red Blight. The game will, of course, feature a large open world for the players to explore, multiple weapons, many traversal tools, and a healthy dose of robotic animals and dinosaurs for you to tame or kill.
Horizon Forbidden West Trailers and Gameplay
Sony’s State of Play presentation showed a considerable slice of Horizon Forbidden West gameplay. It was a great event that allowed us to see the graphical improvements and gameplay enhancements Guerrilla Games made in the sequel. Here are the whole 14 minutes of the presentation so that you can catch up on it:
Underwater exploration wasn’t included in the original game but will premiere in Horizon Forbidden West. And since we don’t know the full extent of underwater features yet, I am pretty excited to see what kind of underwater gameplay the developers will introduce. Underwater levels are not treated kindly by the gaming community, and for a good reason.
Most of us were all traumatized by underwater levels in old-school games. However, if the developers can land a good balance, it should be an enjoyable experience.
Why is Horizon Forbidden West delayed?
Mathijs De Jonge, the Game Director at Guerrilla Games, explains their reasoning behind the delay in a detailed blog post. He states that the game passed a major milestone and was already at the final stage of development and on track. But he is uncertain if they would be able to polish the game to the quality they always strive for. He also said:
“It’s no surprise that our teams were hugely impacted by the global pandemic; we have been adjusting to new workflows, protocols, and other challenges while keeping our teams safe and prioritizing a healthy work/life balance.”
De Jonge also thanks the fans for supporting the game and said the decision to move the game to 2022 wasn’t an easy one to make. I completely understand where he’s coming from, especially after Cyberpunk 2077; every developer is cautious in releasing broken and unpolished experiences. So the decision to delay the game and deliver a better quality product is the right one to make.
Horizon Forbidden West is compatible to play on PlayStation 5 as well as PlayStation 4, and is set to release on February 18, 2022. The preorders will be starting on September 2, 2021, which is right around the corner.
Guerrilla Games also released an enhanced performance patch for the original Horizon Zero Dawn. The patch allows the game to run at a silky smooth 60 frames per second on the PlayStation 5. So if you haven’t checked out the original game, now is a great time to dive into the deep and interesting world of Horizon Zero Dawn.
