Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered review – Aloy’s definitive edition
Date: 2024-10-30
Sony release yet another unasked for remaster on the PS5 but at least this one is cheap and you can genuinely see the difference.
At this stage, it seems almost pointless to complain about remakes and remasters. Whether they’re good, bad or indifferent they’re clearly not going to stop, since publishers see them as a relatively cheap and reliable schedule filler, to put out between bigger releases. The more important question is whether they’re needed, i.e. is the original old or obscure enough that it would benefit substantially from updated graphics and other features?
For many recent Sony titles, the answer to that question has been a resounding no, most obviously the completely unnecessary The Last Of Us Part 1 and Until Dawn. Things like Shadows Of The Colossus and Demon’s Souls have been great but Horizon Zero Dawn is only seven years old and still looks great on the PlayStation 4, so why it was selected for a remaster (not remake) is a mystery.
It’s not that Sony has a new sequel coming out, although one does seem inevitable, but perhaps the logic is that it’s because Lego Horizon Adventures is being released this Christmas and it retells the same story? It’s hard to imagine anyone coming from that and turning their nose up in disgust at Horizon on the PlayStation 4, because it’s so old and ugly, but for what it’s worth this remaster does look a lot better than the original game.
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With rumours of a multiplayer spin-off as well, Sony is going to an awful lot of effort to push Horizon as a franchise despite, or perhaps because, it’s a series that’s never quite reached its full potential. It’s unusual in that it has a fascinating backstory, with the reasons for the post-apocalyptic Earth being populated by giant mechanical animals being excellent, but the actual plot is very dry and uninteresting.
We’re fascinated to see how the Lego game is going to portray the characters, because they’re all as dull as dishwater in the original. Protagonist Aloy is a strangely low energy hero, and we never remember the names of any of the other characters even minutes after talking to them. It’s a shame, because the world of Horizon is very interesting and its feels like the tone should be a lot more rambunctious than it is.
You can read our review of the original PlayStation 4 version of the game here and since this is just a remaster everything within it still stands. The game is set in a large open world, where Aloy finds a pre-apocalypse piece of technology that allows her to understand that the robots are not natural and later interact with the small amount of remaining technology.
This leads to a lot of stock open world quests, although since the radio masts you climb up, to expand your map, are giant robot giraffes you do tend to give the game more leeway over its cliches than you otherwise would. It’s no surprise to find that the role-playing elements are very shallow, although they’re better integrated into the game, and feel more vital, than the equivalent systems in God Of War.
Horizon isn’t trying to be Elden Ring, or anything more complicated, and while everything about it is shallow, most of it still remains good solid fun. The combat was notably improved in the sequel but while it’s a little too simple here, creeping around setting traps for robots, and firing arrows at their weak spots, is still very satisfying.
Aloy gains a variety of different weapons over time, including limited-use guns dropped by robots, but her hand-made equipment can be augmented with elemental buffs that are necessary for defeating some larger enemies, as you whittle away their armour bit by bit.
The robots are absolutely the best part of Horizon, from their fantastic Zoid-like designs to the very different ways they react to you and the environment when disturbed. Having a giant Thunderjaw (basically a robot Tyrannosaurus Rex) hove into a view is always a wonderfully panic-inducing moment and taking them down is a long and enjoyably difficult process.
Despite the very straightforward gameplay, what prevents Horizon from becoming a shallow spectacle is that despite the open world being generally quite uninteractive (the original came out at almost exactly the same time as Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and paled in comparison) it still does sandbox gameplay very well. Robots roam around at will, or at least following extensive paths, and whether you attempt to avoid, destroy, harvest, or even ride them is up to you.
Graphically, the game is definitely an improvement and now looks almost as good as sequel Forbidden West (which was still a cross-gen game, if you remember). Perhaps the most notable enhancement is the trees and foliage, not just in terms of how they look but that smaller bushes and grasses now react to you passing through them.
There’s also 10 hours of new motion capture data, although we couldn’t tell you where or why. As the only Sony game coming out close to the PS5 Pro’s launch we’d assume it’s going to run on it with all the bells and whistles at 60fps, but the choice at the moment is between 4K at 30fps or an imperceptibly lower resolution at 60fps.
It may be entirely unnecessary but there’s no arguing that this isn’t the definitive version of the game and since there is an upgrade path if you already own the original, that costs just £9.99, there’s nothing here to get angry about. On the contrary, we’re now more curious than ever to see what the Lego game is like and to have an announcement for a third game. Which was presumably the point of the remaster all along.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered review summary
In Short: The storytelling and characters are as dull as ever, but Horizon Zero Dawn remains one of the best open world experiences of the last gen and now looks better than ever.
Pros: The graphics are definitely better and the underlining game is a shallow but entertaining romp that makes excellent use of the key gimmick of giant robot animals.
Cons: The game looked absolutely fine as it was and there are no changes to the gameplay at all, which means the drab storytelling and side quests are still a problem.
Score: 8/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed) and PC
Price: £44.99
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Guerrilla Games and Nixxes
Release Date: 31st October 2024
Age Rating: 18
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