Sony’s trend of remastering its relatively recent hits continues with Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, launching on October 31st for PS5 and PC. It’s handled by Guerrilla Games and Nixxes Software, the latter responsible for many stellar ports of PlayStation titles.
While this may seem like a straightforward remaster to cash in on the original’s success, both teams have put in an astounding amount of work to improve the visuals, modernize several features, and even make the world feel lively. Here are 15 things you should know about Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered before jumping in.
4K and Faster Loading Times
Horizon Zero Dawn is no stranger to 4K, running at the same resolution in checkerboard format on the PS4 Pro and PS5. However, it’s now offering the same with much shorter loading times (with travel between settlements touted as “lightning-fast”) and a myriad of visual improvements, starting with the foliage.
Enhanced Foliage
Nature is a big part of the Horizon series, given its post-apocalyptic return to the same. Though Horizon Zero Dawn sported some gorgeous-looking foliage, Nixxes sought to bring it to the same level as Forbidden West. Senior environment artist Patrick Blankenzee revealed on the PlayStation Blog that this meant enhancements to the “shaders, textures, geometry and foliage interaction.
“We assessed all the foliage assets in Horizon Zero Dawn and upgraded them with all these new features. We did this for hundreds of plants, bushes, flowers and trees.” The team even returned to the original concept art and introduced new foliage for biomes like rainforests on top of increasing their density and quality. “The riverbanks have also been upgraded with more biodiversity to bring them closer to the original intention as seen in the concept art,” said Blankenzee.
A Living World
As realistic as the cities and towns in Horizon Forbidden West felt, Zero Dawn had its share of places that could have used a bit more life. The remaster not only “significantly” increases the amount of NPCs but also increases their liveliness. They have more places for standing, sitting, and working; more varied schedules; and even repurposed animations to create new scenes.
As senior technical game designer Brian van Nunen describes, “There is now a woman feeding geese at the well in Meridian, reusing an existing sowing animation. Additionally, on the bridge to Meridian, we’ve made significant strides in improving the atmosphere and sense of activity.”
Improved Terrain
As unique as the floors looked in locations in Meridian and Daytower, Nixxes opted to remake them entirely, creating high-resolution geometry and textures, new materials, and more. It also replaced existing terrain materials with higher fidelity options from Forbidden West while adjusting them to match the aesthetic of Zero Dawn. You can also look forward to deformable sand while deformable snow, previously exclusive to the Frozen Wilds, is present in other locales.
Revamped Lighting
On top of including the light baking system from Forbidden West, much of the environmental lighting in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is “rebalanced or re-lit from scratch to reach the same mood and to bring it in line with the slightly updated art direction,” per Nixxes. Light intensity now has Physically Based Rendering Values, resulting in familiar locations looking even more dazzling than before and with the highest fidelity.
More Detailed Character Models
This seemed a given, and as you might have guessed, Nixxes brought over much of the work done in Horizon Forbidden West to improve character models in the remaster. Blankenzee revealed, “We enhanced various shaders to improve the visual quality and made changes to ensure the models react better to the new lighting in the remaster.
“We gave Aloy’s model – both adult and child – the full cinematic treatment, including peach fuzz, upgrades to hair, eyes and materials.” One of the more underrated elements is companion characters reacting to the weather, which previously only applied to Aloy.
10 Hours of New Mocap Data
To further bring Zero Dawn in line with the liveliness of Forbidden West, the remaster sports over ten hours of newly recorded motion capture data. Integrating the original game’s dialogue and conversations with 2500 new mocap files coincides with improvements like fine-tuning finger animation and adding new facial animations. The result retains the essence of the original’s acting and direction while enhancing the cinematography and performances.
Accessibility Features from Forbidden West
If you enjoyed Forbidden West’s accessibility features, there’s good news – they’re included in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. Alongside remappable controls, this should encompass custom difficulty settings and the Easy Loot system, which is a boon for those who don’t want to spend much time farming. You can also leverage the motion sensor, adjust vibration during various scenarios, remap controls, enable aim assist, and more.
DualSense Support
The DualSense is leveraged far more with the remaster, providing more immersive haptic feedback and response from the adaptive triggers during every action. Custom haptics have been implemented throughout, and players can also enable haptic feedback and sound to alert them to item pick-ups and interactive parts of the environment.
Native PS5 Pro Support
While Guerrilla and Nixxes didn’t fully outline the remaster’s PS5 Pro enhancements, it did confirm native support for the console for “ultra-high fidelity at blazing fast framerates.” It seems a given that PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution will be supported – in what fashion remains to be seen.
Ultrawide Displays and Unlocked Framerates
PC players get all the usual goodies from PlayStation’s ports, including support for Ultrawide (21:9), Super Ultrawide (32:9) and even triple monitor set-ups (48:9). They can also customize graphical settings and utilize unlocked frame rates while taking advantage of DualSense functionality (though a wired connection is necessary).
Nvidia DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3.1 on PC
Upscaling technologies like Nvidia DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3.1 and Intel XeSS are supported alongside Nvidia DLAA improved image quality. DLSS 3 also supports frame generation, and you can enable Nvidia Reflex for lower latency.
Playtime
For some players, the remaster may be their first time entering the world of Horizon. How much content can they expect? Based on HowLongToBeat’s listing of the Complete Edition, focusing on the story takes about 30 hours on average, while completing extra content alongside it requires up to 53 hours. If you’re a completionist, expect to spend at least 76 hours on average unlocking everything.
Pricing and Upgrade Option
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered retails for $49.99 on PS5 and PC. However, those who own the original game or the Complete Edition digitally can upgrade for $9.99. Those who claimed the title during the Play at Home Initiative all those years ago are also eligible. If you own a physical version of the original on PS4, it must be inserted to play the remaster. One particularly annoying development is Sony removing the individual purchase of Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition from Steam. You still get it for free when purchasing the remaster, but if you’re a new player, there’s no other option.
Mandatory PSN Requirement on PC
Unfortunately, as with other recently released single-player titles, the remaster requires linking a PlayStation Network account on PC. It’s a major bummer, but for those who like keeping track of Trophies, there’s a dedicated PlayStation overlay. Silver linings and whatnot.