Likely contesting as one of the most hyped titles on Steam against juggernauts of Halo: The Master Chief Edition and their ilk, Horizon Zero Dawn has already claimed the top-selling title on the Steam platform four hours after announcing that they’re ensuring that they will give the port more than its fair share of love and adoration as it makes the jump from console to PC.
The jump is a far more difficult one than many studios anticipate, as there are different quality of life options that many players find necessary before even beginning to discuss the purchase of the title on PC.
After Guerrilla stated that there would be a horizontal FOV lock, the hype died down immeasurably as many would find it too difficult to play. A complete lack of further discourse from the studio led to wide-spread beliefs that the title would also suffer from a low FPS cap, as it had on PlayStation (30 FPS); the studio wasn’t necessarily forthcoming in their announcements.
Yet Guerrilla wisely backtracked on some statements, and have come forth with an absolute banger of an announcement today marking uncapped FPS, FOV sliders, and more as Aloy makes yet another leap of faith; this time from PlayStation to PC.
A move that more than a few PlayStation owners have unironically protested.
Along with the announcement that finally offers light on a release date (after some early-morning teasing) came the opening of pre-orders; a somewhat antiquated purchasing option that hearkens back to the time of brick and mortar stores running out of hyped titles, forcing users to pre-order to reserve their copy.
Yet in the modern era, pre-orders allow studios to measure the engagement that they’re likely to get and develop an idea of the size of their audience.
That HZD came to the top of the list during the Steam Summer Sale, and event that offers massive markdowns on price for a wide variety of titles is a monumental achievement that should stagger more than a few critics of the upcoming port.
With this announcement, of Guerrilla changing course on how they’re approaching the release and port of HZD on PC, comes an unspoken agreement.
If you’ve been gnawing at the bit for a modicum of love being heaped onto Aloy and her famously contrasting world, and have similarly been frustrated at previous announcements, it’s time to make good. Guerrilla has shown that they’re more than willing to give the necessary care, so as a core group it would be wise to support this.