Horizon Forbidden West 'won't be compromised on PS4,' devs say

Horizon Forbidden West will be a big marquee PlayStation 5 game when it launches in February 2022, but the devs promise it'll play and look great on PS4 too.

Aloy's new sequel adventure is a cross-gen game coming to both PS4 and PS5, and the next-gen version will feature high-end optimizations like 4K visuals, ultra-fast loading, and DualSense haptic feedback. To make sure the PS4 version lives up to the hype, Guerrilla is teasing "unexplored resources" to help boost realism on the 7 year-old console.

"We actually developed and tested the game simultaneously on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, because it's very important to us as a studio to ensure PlayStation 4 players get an equally immersive experience," lead character artist Bastien Ramisse said in a PlayStation Blog post.

"With our knowledge from Horizon Zero Dawn, we knew that we still had some unexplored resources that could push the realism and quality of our character assets forward; it's great to now be able to tap into that knowledge and experience for the sequel."

• Horizon Forbidden West has a glider and a grappling hook
• Horizon Forbidden West has immediate fast-travel on PlayStation 5

Guerrilla has upgraded their facial animation and motion capture technology for the sequel, likely with the help of Sony's Visual Arts Service Group (VASG) which is using machine learning and AI for facial captures.

"The most noticeable differences and improvements for Aloy in terms of technology is the push of facial and body capture accuracy, allowing more realistic shapes and surface details on characters as well as the careful increase of polygon density to capture handmade and used outfits."

Horizon Forbidden West releases February 18, 2021 on PS4 and PS5.