Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered’s biggest changes and improvements explained

The initial announcement trailer for Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered it pretty much squashed any fears that it would be yet another pointless remaster from Sony, as it showed how much it was changing the original experience. Well, apparently Sony hasn’t stopped showing off, as they’ve released a huge blog post revealing just how much the base game has changed and how much effort both Guerrilla and remaster developers Nixxes have put into this gigantic remaster.

As players patiently wait for the next main line Horizon game, the Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is here to give you another excuse to revisit the epic and stunning open-world experience. According to PlayStation Blogis packed with significant improvements over the original, from visual overhauls to entire sections of the game being re-recordedand that blog post details it all. It’s worth a read, if only to hear all the fascinating insights the individual developers have to say, but for those who don’t have the time, there are a handful of important changes worth looking into.

Horizon Zero Dawn remaster significantly improves visuals

From character models to the natural environment

It makes sense that a remaster would involve better graphics, but that seems nearly impossible to do with Horizon Zero Dawnconsidering that the look of the original game still holds up today. Well, the technical wizards at Nixxes have worked closely with Guerrilla and its assets since Forbidden Horizon West to completely transform Hz in a truly next-gen title. Of course, fans can expect the usual increase in overall loyalty, but so much work has been devoted to the many facets of Horizon Zero Dawn general appearance.

For example, foliage has been made significantly denser to better match the game’s original concept art, with “hundreds of plants, shrubs, flowers and trees“being updated, according to Senior Environmental Artist Patrick Blankenzee. Additionally, the world of Horizon Zero Dawn was made to feel more alivewith the Nixxes team reviewing “all villages, outposts and cities, [and] identify areas that felt empty or where we could improve realism and immersion,“according to Brian van Nunen, senior technical game designer at Hz remaster.

Then, the number of non-player characters in all areas of the game world has increased drasticallywith even more dedicated locations for NPCs to perform new animations. These areas have also undergone significant renovation, with the overall quality of the land more in line with Forbidden Horizon West beautiful world. Replaced Nixxes”all terrain materials from Horizon Zero Dawn with their new counterparts from Horizon Forbidden West,” before tweaking each individual terrain feature to match the original game’s aesthetic.

Additionally, deformable snow and sand have been added, allowing players to run through the snow and leave a trail of destruction in their wake. Snow deformation has been added to the Frozen Wilds expansion, but this will be the first time the original game features it. Finally, All character models have been greatly improved, with their skin tones, hair quality and clothing being changed to their Forbidden Horizon West models. It was clearly a huge undertaking, but all these graphical improvements managed to make the already beautiful Horizon Zero Dawn It looks infinitely better.

More than 10 hours of motion capture have been added

The dialogue became more lively

However, while the changes to the game’s overall look are significant enough to justify the remaster in the first place, perhaps the biggest change to the Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered It’s all new motion-captured scenes for dialogue. Characters are now much more animated when talking to each other, with exchanges being much more dynamic than the previous reverse shot nature. HZDs dialogue sequences. More than 10 hours of new motion capture data were filmed by Guerrilla before being meticulously fed into the remaster by Nixxes.

Horizon Zero Dawn Dialogue scenes should now look more like those found in Forbidden Horizon Westmaking it a much more cutting-edge experience overall. Considering one of the biggest complaints of the original Horizon Zero Dawn were its static dialogue scenes, this is a huge improvement and a worthy use of the remaster. This shows how much effort is being invested in Horizon Zero Dawn Remasteredand how it could easily be considered the gold standard for all future Sony remasters.

Source: PlayStation Blog, YouTube/PlayStation