No one is more thrilled to eat their words than I as Guerrilla has reneged on their statements concerning Horizon Zero Dawn; we’re getting an official PC port with massive features. In short: Aloy is back on the menu, dudes. This is a proper PC port that is more than worth getting excited for.
First, the dreaded FOV lock seemed to promise nausea for many PC gamers; this has been scrapped as Guerrilla Games now announces that the PC port for Horizon Zero Dawn will come with a Field-of-View slider, making the game playable for many.
This is a massive shift that likely had a bit more work behind it than simply ‘add slider’; many FOVs on titles are locked to rendering, in much the same way developers have a habit of locking physics to frame rate for console titles.
This alone is monumental.
Next, Guerrilla Games announced that the title will have uncapped frames per second, another massive victory for the studio and PC gamers alike. This ensures that, as per above, we don’t have wonky effects when playing the PC port on 144 Hz monitors, and even supports the newest 240 Hz. Again, a monumental victory that juxtaposes the original announcement.
Horizon Zero Dawn for PC will also include Benchmarking (!!) that can let users stress-test their rigs and options using the wonderous world filled with dynamic foliage and better reflections; note that the recommended specs aren’t astronomically high, calling for a GTX 1060. It’s plausible that you’ll need higher to maximize every setting, and mods will inevitably play a role in swallowing your PC hardware as well.
Watch the trailer to see how many settings Guerrilla managed to cram into this stunner of a title.
They’ve also stated that there will be ultra-wide monitor support.
Guerrilla is doing the work of porting on their own, rather than passing the project off to a third-party studio: a decision that likely bodes well not only for future-facing ports from Guerrilla Games but for fans of Horizon Zero Dawn. Placing past projects in the lap of a third-party studio for porting can be a task fraught with peril.
Finally, we have a solid release date: August 7, 2020. In roughly one month we’ll step into the shoes of Aloy on glorious PC rigs on both Steam and Epic Games Store.
Finally, we’re allowed to choose our preferred platform rather than kowtowing to exclusivity deal purchases made moments before release. The title is currently available to pre-order on both at $50. If you’re outside of the United States, it would behoove you to scope the pricing for both stores: Steam has more regions available with their regional pricing, which could save you a sizeable amount of cash.
For fans of beautifully haunting worlds with more features than you can shake a stick at, it’s difficult to deny that Guerrilla Games Horizon Zero Dawn has undergone a massive shift in how they were looking at this PC port. Get ready to actually aim the bow using a mouse, and thus hit your target, in a month. This will be big.
