Rather unassumingly, Guerrilla lowkey announced a new Horizon game. That’s the series that includes Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West, Horizon Call Of The Mountain and Lego Horizon Adventures, but not Forza Horizon.
Horizon Hunters Gathering is a new 3-player multiplayer co-op game with roguelite elements, big machine fights, a map that grows smaller over time and pre-made characters.
In short, Horizon Hunters Gathering is Guerrilla’s take on Elden Ring Nightreign.
But if Nightreign is more of a remix of existing assets to create a new compelling gameplay loop, Horizon Hunters Gathering is using this opportunity to introduce a new artstyle change. One that’s less realistic, more expressive, one that can be dismissed by comparing it to a similar artstyle to Fortnite that gone through a Dreamworks filter with all the eyebrow raising the characters make, and one that disappointingly tones down the mecha-looking intricacies of the machines as well as the general cyber-tribal aesthetic the Horizon is defined by. In short, it’s a radical artstyle change.
The reveal was done with a 9-minute trailer that composed of not only the cinematic reveal, but also insights from developers, and even a good minute of Guerrilla studio director Jan-Bart Van Beek emphasising that the team will still make single-player games and they just wanted to try something new with Horizon Hunters Gathering.
Speaking of, the cinematic for Horizon Hunters Gathering sets up the stage with a narration by Erend, the Oseram dude with sick mutton chops who is also one of Aloy’s longstanding ally. Erend has assembled a group of new hunters as commanded by “our leader” (Aloy) to thwart the rising threat of rampant machines. Some of these hunters, the pre-made characters you play as, hail from familiar tribes and some from not-so familiar ones (their getup looks out of place when you consider the tribes as depicted in other Horizon games, including the Lego one, having very distinctive design cues, colours and accessories that define their tribe identity).
Horizon Hunters Gathering will have a playtest, done through the PlayStation Beta program, where you can try out three of the six hunters revealed. While each hunter has a specific weapon kit, they can be specced into different classes. Boss fight, the machines, are expected to be tough. The Horizon games can feel a bit like Monster Hunter, and this game should feel a lot more like that, at least on paper.
The playtest will feature two mission types: Machine Incursion (which has a gameplay loop sort of like Elden Ring Nightreign) and Cauldron Descent (a dungeon crawl into the Cauldron which involves not just fights but also platforming puzzles).
Horizon Hunters Gathering, also curiously like Elden Ring Nightreign, will have a story, canon to the Horizon universe. You can also play the game entirely solo (with AI NPCs supporting) should you wish. The game is also expected to have post-launch support, which will expand the game over time.
This is all well and interesting, but at the moment. mainstream gamers are jaded with any announcement of a multiplayer live service game. After the failure of Concord, there are even folks who only wish to see the downfall of any newly announced multiplayer game.
It’s also curious to see how PlayStation just announced this not on a special broadcast where more people would be watching, like how Marvel Tōkon Fighting Souls was announced on a State Of Play broadcast, or how 4:Loop appeared at The Game Awards. In fact, Horizon Hunters Gathering is announced on the same day of a Nintendo Direct, of all things, with a just a blog post and the sub-10 minute video that could’ve gone into a State Of Play.
There’s no release date for Horizon Hunters Gathering, but it’ll be coming to PS5 and PC.