Horizon Zero Dawn Remastereddoesn’t need to exist. Hardcore Aloy fans haven’t hesitated to make that statement clear, let alone fence sitters like me who think thePS4exclusive has always beenjust okay.It looks gorgeous, plays well, and does some creative things with the setting and characters it offers up, but I’ve always found much of it to be blandly executed.
Yet it sold millions of copies and captured a mainstream audience like few modern Sony IPs have, so I’m definitely in the minority.Forbidden Westwas equally successful, while reports point to both an online spin-off and a third instalment being in development at Guerilla. Sony’s future is one that Horizon will play a big part in, including the upcoming remaster for PS5 and PS5 Pro that makes very little sense, no matter how you try and slice it.
$10 Is A Good Deal, But Not One We Should Need To Pay
While its existence is a factor I disagree with, much likeThe Last of Us Part 2 Remasteredthat arrived earlier this year, PlayStation is making the pill somewhat easier to swallow with its ten dollar upgrade. Whether you own the original game physically or digitally, which most people presumably do, you only need to pay a single price to access the enhanced edition.
I know if I pay this price and take the plunge, if only for a few hours to explore the beautiful new graphics and try once again to break through the wall I keep bouncing off, I will get my money’s worth. Unlike The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, however, it seems like little effort has been made to include additional content designed to pull in existing players. Instead, it chooses to refine what already exists instead of including a horde mode, extra missions, or something along those lines. At first, I thought nothing of this, and then I watched the Digital Foundry deep dive into the upcoming remaster. It seems some serious effort has gone into it.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered does include several hours of updated motion capture for its dialogue scenes, but Digital Foundry notes it isn’t quite on the level of its sequel.
Digital Foundry is brutally honest in its assessment. At some moments, it points out just how drastic the improvement is in terms of textures, lighting, and character models, while in others it baulks at the lack of difference and how, if you don’t know what to look for, the remastered version can be hard to differentiate.
It doesn’t quite reach the native PS5 levels of Forbidden West, but it gets pretty close, and much like The Last of Us Part 1, it seems Sony wishes to create a sense of cohesion between its blockbuster games. It’s a waste of money and creative resources at its disposal, but at least it’s working and isn’t ripping us off. That is, of course, assuming that you consider $10 for shinier and crisper graphics to be good value.
Sony Can’t Make Up Its Mind About How To Sell Remasters
Compare it to theUntil Dawnremaster, which isn’t much older than Horizon Zero Dawn and had the gall to charge us full price for an experience that butchers the original’s art direction without even offering much more in terms of fidelity, and the difference is clear. I’m confused as to why Sony decided to remaster two similarly aged titles but market and release them in such starkly inferior ways. One is a full priced disaster and the other is a $10 upgrade that I really think should have been free, but it meets us in the middle at the very least.
Lines need to be drawn between what Sony considers full price, from the ground-up remakes, and what are merely graphical reissues of games the majority of its audience already owns. Bluepoint games like Demon’s Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, and a handful of others all fall under the former as fundamental reimaginings of the original experience with new visuals, better controls, and a concerted effort to be faithful yet innovative.
A graphical coat of paint like Horizon and Until Dawn in which the PS4 skeleton appears blatantly obvious is different, and should never go beyond a $10 dollar upgrade fee. Charging for it makes sense given the work that goes on. But full price? Get outta here.
As Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered approaches alongside the PS5 Pro, which promises a handful of similar, and most importantly, free, upgrades to games we already know, Sony is in dire need of a conversation about the future of remakes and remasters, and how it plans to market them to consumers in a way that makes sense. Right now it doesn’t, and that’s a problem.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
WHERE TO PLAY
Horizon Zero Dawn has received the remaster treatment. The PS4 game’s visuals have been overhauled for the PS5, and ten hours of dialogue has been re-recorded to bring the first Horizon game up to the same standards as Forbidden West.
