Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Review

On October 31, 2024, while everyone was putting on their best Halloween costumes, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered was released on PC and PlayStation 5. Guerilla Games has teamed up with PC port professionals Nixxes once again to improve the visual quality of Aloy’s first adventure to a much higher level than the original. But is this remaster really necessary, seven years after the release of a game that is still visually stunning? And what about the price increase for the PlayStation 4 version?

Aloy’s Epic Journey

Horizon Zero Dawn was released in February 28, 2017, just a few days before the release of Zelda Breath of the Wild, winner of Game of the Year at the Game Awards of the same year. Fortunately, even with this unfortunate release date, Horizon managed to secure a place in the hearts of PlayStation gamers, making Aloy one of the Japanese brand’s new mascots.

In Horizon Zero Dawn, we play the role of Aloy, an outcast desperately seeking answers to the circumstances surrounding her mysterious birth, which led to her banishment from the Nora tribe. However, during her investigations, Aloy gradually learns more about the ancient remnants of the past and the Ancients who lived on Earth thousands of years ago, before the blue planet reverted to a primate state, with hostile animal machines as its population.

Unfortunately, problems rise dramatically, and our protagonist must fight to save the world from an artificial intelligence named Hades, who hides many secrets that could provide Aloy with the answers to all her questions.

We could easily have guessed it, but Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered lives up to its name because, remastered as it is, we’re on the same foundation as the original. The story, gameplay and everything else that made up the PlayStation 4 version is retained, without any new additions, unlike The Last of Us Part II Remastered.

A Worthy Remaster?

Although the title is based on the same construction as its original version, which was already visually impressive for its time, we’re still treated to a few small additions that improve the user experience and quality of life of the game, without changing its foundations. And, of course, The Frozen Wilds DLC is included in this remaster.

Having said that, this title is far more impressive in terms of graphics compared to the PlayStation 4 version, since Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered runs on the Forbidden West engine, although with the same excessive luminous flares. Moreover, while on PS4 the game looked stunning thanks to the talented developers at Guerilla Games, its real weak point here was the water’s visual quality, which was flat and solid as shown in the image on the left. But on this remaster, the water finally looks as it should, with a much more realistic transparency and physics as you can see in the right image.

This remastered edition also enables the title to benefit from the re-recording of over ten hours of dialogue and cinematics, despite the fact that field/counter-field discussions are still lacking certain depth.

Dualsense is well exploited overall, especially the haptic feedback, which reinforces immersion during our wanderings thanks to the little vibrations changing according to the different elements of the scenery: vegetation, sand, metal etc… Unfortunately, we’re a little disappointed to find that we’ve been able to use Dualsense to our advantage. Unfortunately, we’re a little disappointed by the limited use of the adaptive triggers, which do the bare minimum with little resistance.

Next, it’s easy to import your PlayStation 4 savegame into this remastered version. But if you’ve struggled like us to achieve the game’s platinum trophy, you may be disappointed to learn that you’ll have to start from the beginning on this remaster, as trophies can’t be imported, even with a 100% save from your PlayStation 4 version.

The High Cost of Nostalgia

As usual, there are two ways to get this remaster. The first is to upgrade your PlayStation 4 version to PlayStation 5 for $10, and the second is to pay $49.99 for the full game. A common Sony practice, but this time with a little trickery. If you didn’t own the original game and were hoping to pick it up on PlayStation 4 for a lower price, and potentially upgrade for only $10, this won’t be possible, at least not for the digital version.

Although the title on PS4 is in the “PlayStation Hits” category, a collection of the console’s greatest games with a low price tag of $19.99, Sony has been thoughtful enough to raise the price of Horizon Zero Dawn to match the remaster without the upgrade, which is now $39.99.

If this price change may seem like a logical move to control the price of the remaster, what about players who want to buy the original title and not the remastered version? Unfortunately, in this case, you’ll have no choice but to settle for the new, doubled price.

Sony’s practice is part of its new, sometimes rather controversial policy. The company can raise the price of these games on its store whenever it likes, since, unfortunately, there is no competitive market for console games, as there is for PC games with Steam, Epic Games, Gog Galaxy and so on.

Conclusion

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered follows in the footsteps of the remastered PlayStation games of the PS4 generation, and brings the original work up to the level of its sequel, released in February 2022. However, while Aloy’s early adventures are more beautiful than ever, this remaster remains optional, given that the original content was already at a high level on the previous generation. Plus, the arrival of this remaster means a price increase for the PlayStation 4 version, even though the latter is in the “PlayStations Hits” collection.