Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, a remastered version of the 2017 action RPG from Guerrilla Games and Nixxes Software that advertises several improvements over its original counterpart, including upgraded animation, lighting, and textures, is well worth its $10 upgrade price—and probably even its $49.99 MSRP—according to a new tech review that surfaced today that shows how Nixxes did an amazing job at bringing the game in line with 2022’s Horizon Forbidden West. Visuals have been described as “hugely improved,” with the original terrain system, foliage, and more having been fully upgraded, while the Performance mode is even being recommended for its relatively high level of image quality. Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, which received a deep dive from Nixxes last week, remains on track for launch on PS5 and PC October 31.
…the three modes are all roughly the same. Personally, the image quality in performance mode is strong enough that I recommend this mode over the others. Nixxes also confirmed to us that Horizon Remastered already includes PS5 Pro support which will automatically activate when played on the new console. It’s also worth mentioning that performance is, by and large, perfect. Each mode delivers on their performance targets, along with an unlocked frame-rate mode for VRR displays. This doesn’t deliver frame-rates that much higher than 60fps, but it’s nice that it’s there and of course, there are potential benefits via playback on future PlayStation hardware.


Discussion (7 replies)
Join Discussion →I paid $10 for a brand-new physical copy of the game on PS4 (and that was back in 2019 or 2020), and on PC I've seen it as low as $5-$7 (where you can get also get a DRM-free copy on GOG - or well you could before the original version was delisted). So no, it's not worth a $10 upgrade price. It's worth $10 period. Stop being like Nintendo and selling old games for full/near-full price. Even if you cleaned up the graphics a little and improved some things, that doesn't mean a game should be sold for $50+ again. It should be nowhere near that high of a price.
Looks pretty nice. Except the foliage looks worse to me in some cases. On a side note, am I the only one who thought the first game was miles better than the second?
Maybe not miles, but still better yes
I have yet to play the 2nd game, it's one of the top games in my queue of games I still need to play (as usual I've been waiting for a sale). But I have friends who played HFW and while they said it was good, they also said they preferred the first game. Kinda disappointing if the 2nd game isn't better, or at least as good, as the first one. I'll see for myself eventually though.
DF looked at the PS5 version: https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2024-horizon-zero-dawn-remastered-review-the-upgrades-are-worthwhile
Related video: [embedded media]
The gameplay in the second is good. The new mechanics are well executed. The story was .. mostly ok. The reason the first is better is the story was better to many.
I think I may've enjoyed the story in the 1st one more but then the graphics (w/ DLAA at 4K) was significantly better. I remember even firing up the first one to double check it at one point.
Otherwise having just finished the 2nd one a few months ago I'm not likely to get this, if ever. I'm, at least for now, burnt out on games that take 50-80 hours to complete because I do like to explore and enjoy all they have to offer. I started BG3 finally and like it but it'll be a backburner game for a long time coming while I focus on games that can be finished in 10-30 hours.