Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is real. We haven’t got an official announcement from Sony and Guerrilla Games yet, but the ESRB has already rated the game for PlayStation 5 and PC, hinting at an imminent release:
This is an action/role-playing game in which players assume the role of a hunter (Aloy) surviving through a post-apocalyptic world. Players guide Aloy as she learns to hunt robotic creatures and animals in the wild. Aloy uses arrows, spears, and explosive traps to injure and kill machines, boar, and occasional human enemies. Animals and humans emit small puffs of red blood when struck; one sequence depicts an abandoned camp with large blood stains on rocks and trees. The game contains a brief reference to sexual material (e.g., “Eighteen months hard labor in exchange for thirty years lounging around Elysium watching porn?”). In text/audio files, characters sometimes reference fictional drugs, overdoses, and getting high: “…not even out of junior high and already a drug addict”; “…I ran across a pusher who was selling Razorwing for eight bucks a tab”; “I’d spend a few days getting high, then OD on Overcast.” The word “sh*t” appears in the text/dialogue.
We first heard about Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered in October 2022, when two different sources suggested that the 2017 game would return with an improved lighting system, overhauled textures, improved animations, and new character models. Additionally, the new version of the game is believed to include the many accessibility options introduced in Horizon Forbidden West, multiple display modes, and various quality-of-life improvements. That rumor mentioned a ‘remake’, but that would have been very weird, as the game is so recent that a remake didn’t make sense at all.
Honestly, I’m not so sure even a remaster does, especially since Horizon Zero Dawn is also available on PC and was already enhanced for PlayStation 5 with a patch. We’ll have to wait for the official details to understand whether this new version is worth buying.
Later this year, fans can look forward to the spin-off game LEGO Horizon Adventures. On the other hand, the Netflix TV show was reportedly put on hold due to allegations against showrunner Steve Blackman.
