Horizon: Zero Dawn studio director explains what's actually changed in the last 7 years with side-by-side screenshots

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(Image credit: Sony)

Aloy looks over her shoulder and smiles in a screenshot from Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered on PS5

Horizon: Zero Dawn Remastered was finally unveiledatPlayStation’s State of Playafter months of rumors and internet grumbles about how we don’t need to re-release games that still look brand spanking new, but one developer has explained exactly what’s changed in the upcoming remaster.

Horizon: Zero Dawn Remastered’s announcement trailer promised that the 2017 robo-dinosaur romp would be brought up to the same visual quality as its more recent sequel, Horizon: Forbidden West, with over ten hours of new motion capture performance added to scenes where the camera really zooms right up into character’s faces. Plus, improved textures and proper DualSense support.

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered - Announce Trailer | PS5 & PC Games - YouTubeWatch On

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered - Announce Trailer | PS5 & PC Games - YouTube

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered - Announce Trailer | PS5 & PC Games - YouTube

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered - Announce Trailer | PS5 & PC Games - YouTube

Otherwise, the trailer kind of struggled to properly emphasize how dramatic the Remastered changes might be because, well, Horizon: Zero Dawn was already a lush video game at release and its free PS5 update only solidified that further. Most people were also probably watching a subpar version of the trailer on social media, making those comparisons even murkier.

Guerrilla Games' co-studio director and art director Jan-Bart van Beek then chimed in on social media to delve into the nuts and bolts of what’s actually new, and it turns out the team actually transplanted Aloy’s entire model from Forbidden West into Zero Dawn. A nice bit of added continuity between the two games since they’re only set six months apart.

We brought over Aloy’s model fromForbidden west. We also reworked the character lighting to match the look of HFW and improve skin tones. Hair shaders are also improved. The slight blurring you see between ps4 and ps5 is because the PS4 image here has motion blur turned off https://t.co/F0ijlydZBTSeptember 25, 2024

We brought over Aloy’s model fromForbidden west. We also reworked the character lighting to match the look of HFW and improve skin tones. Hair shaders are also improved. The slight blurring you see between ps4 and ps5 is because the PS4 image here has motion blur turned off https://t.co/F0ijlydZBTSeptember 25, 2024

Horizon: Zero Dawn Remastered comes out as a $10 upgrade for existing owners on October 31, continuing the series’cursed streak of releasing in the shadow of an even bigger franchise, this time with Dragon Age. Discussions around whether this remaster was really necessary are still up in the air, especially sinceThe Last of Us Part 2 Remastered added an entirely new modeand was still leashed to this same discourse, but we’ll see how it shakes up for ourselves on Halloween.

Horizon: Zero Dawn’s facelift comes out just in time for PlayStation’s similarly beefed-up console. Check outeverything we know about the PS5 Pro.

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More about horizonThe Horizon curse is far from over as PlayStation’s Zero Dawn multiplayer spin-off might bump into Elden Ring once again in 2025Horizon Zero Dawn remaster continues the series' curse as Dragon Age and Monster Hunter Wilds' beta soak up all the chatter

More about horizon

The Horizon curse is far from over as PlayStation’s Zero Dawn multiplayer spin-off might bump into Elden Ring once again in 2025Horizon Zero Dawn remaster continues the series' curse as Dragon Age and Monster Hunter Wilds' beta soak up all the chatter

A screenshot from Horizon Zero Dawn showing Aloy aiming her bow.

The Horizon curse is far from over as PlayStation’s Zero Dawn multiplayer spin-off might bump into Elden Ring once again in 2025

The Horizon curse is far from over as PlayStation’s Zero Dawn multiplayer spin-off might bump into Elden Ring once again in 2025

Aloy looks over her shoulder and smiles in a screenshot from Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered on PS5

Horizon Zero Dawn remaster continues the series' curse as Dragon Age and Monster Hunter Wilds' beta soak up all the chatter

Horizon Zero Dawn remaster continues the series' curse as Dragon Age and Monster Hunter Wilds' beta soak up all the chatter

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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”

Nemesis board game models and tokens laid out on a board

1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”

1

Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”

2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”

2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”

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3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”

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4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”

4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”

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5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”

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Shadow brandishes a gun in Sonic The Hedgehog 3

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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”

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5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”

5

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