Horizon Zero Dawnwas an unprecedented success for Amsterdam-based developer Guerrilla Games. The action-adventure game managed to outsell the combined sales of every game in the company’s previous franchise,Killzone, over the span of just six years. After seeing such immense profitability from the game, Guerrilla Games unsurprisingly decided to dedicate pretty much all of its development resources toHorizon. Following the release ofHorizon Zero Dawn, the company released a sequel to the game, titledHorizon Forbidden West, in 2022. It then launched two spin-off titles, the VR-exclusiveHorizon Call of the Mountainand the multi-platformLego Horizon Adventures, in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
Now that Guerrilla Games has wrapped up work on all of its formally announced projects, some are wondering what the company will do next. So far, Guerrilla has confirmed in interviews and blog posts that it is working on two otherHorizontitles. The first of these games is a multiplayer live service spin-off game that will have a stylized, cartoony aesthetic. The other game, meanwhile, is going to bea sequel toHorizonForbidden Westand, thus, the final installment in theHorizontrilogy. Not much is known aboutHorizon 3at this point in time, but the game already has a high bar to reach compared to any other upcoming PlayStation exclusive, due to one recent factor.
Horizon 3 is Going to Have a Hard Time Beating Death Stranding 2’s Graphics
The Death Stranding and Horizon Games are Both Made Using the Decima Engine
The mainlineHorizongames, as some players may already know, are made using the Decima engine. Since Decima is proprietary software that Guerrilla Games made by itself, it is not utilized by third-party companies all that often. Even Guerrilla’s sisterstudios under the PlayStation umbrella, like Santa Monica Studio and Insomniac Games, don’t use the engine at all. There is, however, one major exception to this rule, and that’s Kojima Productions.
The last two games that Kojima Productions has developed,Death StrandingandDeath Stranding 2: On the Beach, both run on the Decima engine, despite the firstDeath Strandingnow being a multi-platform game. Even though it didn’t make the games itself, Guerrilla Games provided some support work for both titles, perhaps by helping Kojima Productions get to grips with the Decima engine. LikeHorizon Zero DawnandHorizon Forbidden West, theDeath Strandinggames are stunning visual showpieces, butDeath Stranding 2, in particular, takes things to the next level.
The Graphics in Death Stranding 2 are Some of the Best Out There
Death Stranding 2: On the Beachwas released a few days ago, and early impressions of the title have been incredibly positive across the board. While the game’s gameplay mechanics and story have been widely praised, one aspect of the title that really stands out is its sheer visual fidelity.Death Stranding 2is arguably the most graphically impressive gameof this generation, rivaling even the likes ofHellblade 2. The game manages to depict dangerous Australian biomes, dynamic bodies of water, tons of texture details, impressive particle effects, and lifelike facial animations with extreme realism on a base PS5, all while maintaining a stable 1440p resolution at 60 FPS.
It’s worth noting that theHorizongames have a somewhat more stylized, colorful aesthetic compared toDeath Stranding 2, which opts for sheer realism. Therefore, Guerrilla Games may not want to copyDS2’s visuals one-to-one inHorizon 3.
While They Look Great, the Horizon Games Haven’t Matched Death Stranding 2’s Graphics Yet
Given how technically impressiveDeath Stranding 2is, the nextHorizongame will have a tough time surpassing it in the visuals department. Although theHorizongames have all looked amazing, none of them really come close to the sheer level of realism thatDS2provides.Horizon Forbidden West, for example, was one of the PS5’s first graphical powerhouses, but sinceForbidden Westwas a cross-generation titledesigned for the PS4, it wasn’t able to use all the power of the PS5.
Compared toDeath Stranding 2(in which loading is pretty much instantaneous), the game also had considerably longer load times, and its water physics were a tad less dynamic, among other things. By the timeHorizon 3is released, technology will probably improve considerably, so if the game doesn’t live up to the graphical standards established byDeath Stranding 2, then some fans may be a little disappointed by it.
Horizon Forbidden West
WHERE TO PLAY
Join Aloy as she braves a majestic but dangerous new frontier that holds mysterious new threats. This Complete Edition allows you to enjoy the critically acclaimed Horizon Forbidden West on PC in its entirety with bonus content, including the Burning Shores story expansion that picks up after the main game.Explore distant lands, fight bigger and more awe-inspiring machines, and encounter astonishing new tribes as you return to the far-future, post-apocalyptic world of Horizon.The land is dying. Vicious storms and an unstoppable blight ravage the scattered remnants of humanity while fearsome new machines prowl their borders, and life on Earth is hurtling toward another extinction.It’s up to Aloy to uncover the secrets behind these threats and restore order and balance to the world. Along the way, she must reunite with old friends, forge alliances with warring new factions and unravel the legacy of the ancient past.
