The developer continues to expand Aloy‘s personality and the environment with new tribes and companions. Even more realistic portrayal and an even more complex story!

Horizon: Zero Dawn captured the community’s attention by combining dinosaur machines with a natural ecosystem where humans still lived in tribes. But part of the game’s personality was given by Aloy, the main character who went from being an outcast from her tribe to hope for all. It’s a story that has intrigued many gamers. Guerrilla intends to expand on Horizon: Forbidden West with more detailed modelling that immerses us in Aloy’s adventure even more quickly.

As Guerrilla’s Director of Narrative Ben McCaw explained on the PlayStation Blog, the new generation of consoles have great potential for creating denser polygons and therefore highly complex characters, “allowing us to create finer details such as facial hair, smoothed out contours, or more subtle texture details and more appropriate expressions, to name a few.”

But it doesn’t end there, as expected, the new consoles also allow for a giant leap in facial animation, “We’ve also increased the number of skeletal joints to take facial deformation and expression to a new level to create a more believable and immersive character,” the post reads. Overall, as the trailers for Horizon: Forbidden West show, Aloy will be more “real” than ever before.

It’s not just on PS5, however, as Guerrilla says the PS4 version of Horizon: Forbidden West will not compromise: “In fact, we’ve been developing and testing the game on PS4 and PS5 at the same time because we feel it’s very important as a studio to ensure that PS4 players get the same immersive experience.”

Overall, the new console generation is a great opportunity for Guerrilla to continue exploring new artistic directions that will allow them to bring even more realism to their productions. It’s also a result of their experience with the first Aloy game, “With the knowledge; we gained from Horizon: Zero Dawn, we knew we had a lot of untapped resources further to improve the realism and quality of the characters; it’s great to be able to bring that knowledge and experience to the sequel.”

However, Horizon: Forbidden West will improve Aloy’s artistic execution and use the protagonist’s new adventure to deepen her personality. As the game’s events take place just six months after the first game, Aloy will encounter different tribes, new companions and many difficulties that will expand what she already knows about her past.

To enjoy all of this, you’ll have to wait until 18 February 2022 and have a PS4 or PS5. We already knew that Horizon: Forbidden West would include special and collector editions to delight all saga fans. In addition, and after some discussion, Sony has confirmed that upgrading your PS4 to PS5 will be free with the game.

Source: PlayStation Blog