Finally! Horizon Zero Dawn Playable Again

The panic is over. Horizon Zero Dawn is going to be re-released with shinier graphics. At seven years old, it was getting pretty dicey.

It would be all too easy to be snarky about this one, and I wouldn’t be alone. Although there are people defending it – and why shouldn’t they? – I’m not alone in finding this release to be both bizarre and unnecessary. Even more so than The Last of Us Part 1.

Horizon still plays as well as it did just a few years ago when it released on PC. It plays much better than it did when it came out on PS4 in 2017.

But that’s just a personal thing. Maybe someone out there has been so desperate to play Horizon but so put off by those terrible, terrible graphics that they’ll now jump in. I don’t think we should be rewarding that person, but there you go.

On the other hand, Sony is being hammered for a diminished release schedule and overreliance on nostalgia and remasters. Horizon Zero Dawn will be one of the flagship titles compatible with the $700 PlayStation 5 Pro when it releases. That’s a bit like making The Order: 1866 your headliner for the PS6, but I’m sure some people would be happy with that too.

At a time when shiny graphics and huge worlds are costing too much to make, releasing a game based on shinier graphics seems poorly thought out.

But here’s the point: there’s definitely an audience for this release. Especially when you take into account that there’s a $10 upgrade path on PlayStation. No word yet whether PC people will get the cheaper upgrade through Steam this year either. Steam people get trophies too, although that’s not good news. Ragnarök has not benefited from the PSN connection.

The Same Horizon

People like to play the same things again and again, and Horizon was a decent game. I disliked the sequel, but that too was popular among fans. If there hadn’t been an upgrade path, I’d have been singing a different tune. But for fans who are interested, this isn’t the controversy it could have been. Those new to the franchise get to play it as though it’s brand new.

I have a genuine concern beyond just the usual corporate nonsense. Training people to look down on a seven-year-old game seems like a very poor decision. However many gamers may enjoy a nice shiny upgrade, Horizon doesn’t need to be given a new coat of paint. Some already have enough trouble playing older games. Should God of War be thrown in the dustbin because its animations aren’t as fresh as the latest and greatest? It’s nonsense. Nobody would seriously suggest there’s a single thing wrong with the way it looks.

And yet it could be better. Digital Foundry could examine it down to the pixel and find ways new technology might improve it. It’s on the table. Everything is on the table. The Last of Us Part 1 didn’t have path tracing. Is it already out of date?

I hate this way of thinking. Art is timeless, warts and all. When we start imagining warts, well, how do you enjoy anything that isn’t the latest $70 blockbuster? Or, of course, its inevitable re-release a couple of years later.