Horizon Forbidden Westis one of the most highly anticipated PS5 titles scheduled for a 2021 release. However, since its reveal atSony’s PlayStation 5 eventlast year, Guerrilla Games has been awfully quiet on its various intricacies, such as the release date.
What makes many fans even more excited forHorizon Forbidden Westis that it’s one of the first big AAA gamse from Sony headed to PS5. That’s not to say games likeDemon’s Souls Remakearen’t big hitters, it’s just that for many something like this hits different. While the game has also been confirmed to release on PS4, many fans are excited to see howvisually impressiveHorizon Forbidden Westwill be on Sony’s next-gen hardware. That excitement is only heightened with the involvement of Sony’s powerful Decima Engine that was also used to develop 2019’sDeath Stranding.
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Summer’s On The Horizon
Fortunately,Horizon Forbidden Westis scheduled for this year and will apparently launch sometime in the second half of 2021. Eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice this new piece of info in Sony’s PlayStation 5 launch ad. While this rules out a potential Spring release, it’s still important to note Guerrilla Games' release pattern.Horizon Zero Dawnwas released in the February of 2017. In fact, some of the studio’s prior work had also targeted this specific window in the past. Critically acclaimed titles such asKillzone 2andKillzone 3were both released in February, and the the only recent exception to this has been the release ofKillzone Shadow Fall, which launched alongside PS4 in November 2013.
If Guerrilla Games' past releases are any indication,Horizon Forbidden Westshould have, ideally, targeted a late February release window. But, as it seems, theongoing pandemic delayed things a bitand the game is now targeting the second half of 2021. However, there’s quite a possibility that the game’s release isn’t that far from what was initially expected.
The PS4 generation saw the release of two big exclusive releases in the Summer window. One in the early Summer, between April and June, and one in between the July and September window. Titles such asThe Last Of Us 2,God Of War,Detroit Become Human, andUncharted 4were all released in the early summer window between April and June.Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, for example, is also slated for an early 2021 release, and would likely release somewhere between this time period. This could seeHorizon Forbidden Westin a late summer release between July and September.
Titles likeGhost of Tsushima,Marvel’s Spider-Man, andPersona 5are some of the most critically acclaimed PS4 exclusives that opted for a later summer release. This is a relatively quiet period with infrequent AAA game releases and Sony’s big exclusives tend to perform exceptionally well here.Ghost Of Tsushimabecame the fastest-selling new PlayStation IP, whereasMarvel’s Spider-Manis the one of the best-selling PS4 exclusive of all time. For many and exlcudingGod of War,Horizon Forbidden Westis the most anticipated PS5 exclusive, and Sony would likely want to recapitulate the success of its recent releases in this window with this upcoming sequel.
Horizon Forbidden Westwill see Aloy venturing into western frontiers and will also introduce underwater segments. It will be interesting to see how the game utilizes the PS5’s next-gen features such as the DualSense Controller and the ultra-fast SSD, however, Game Director Mathijs de Jonge has confirmed thatHorizon Forbidden Westwill have virtually no loading screens. If Sony’s recent reveals are any indication, it’s likely that the company would plan a newState of Play event, at least, two months before the game’s actual release.
Horizon Forbidden Westis in development for PS4 and PS5.
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