Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered’s biggest changes and improvements explained

The initial announcement trailer for the Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster Pretty much squashed any fears that it would be yet another pointless Sony remaster, as it showed just how much it was changing the original experience. Well, apparently Sony wasn’t looking away, because it released a huge blog post revealing just how much the base game has changed, and how much effort both Guerrilla and the remaster developers Nixxes have put into this gigantic remaster.

While players wait patiently for the next main line Horizon Game, the Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster is here to give them another excuse to revisit the epic and impressive open-world experience. According to PlayStation BlogIt’s packed with significant improvements over the original, from visual overhauls to entire sections of the game being re-recorded.And that blog post breaks it all down. 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.

The remaster of Horizon Zero Dawn improves the visuals significantly

From character models to the natural environment

It makes sense that a remaster would involve better graphics, but that’s almost impossible to do with Horizon Zero DawnConsidering the visuals of the original game still hold up today. Well, the technical wizards at Nixxes have been working closely with Guerrilla and their assets from Horizon Forbidden West to completely transform HZD In a truly next-gen title. Of course, fans can expect the usual boost in overall fidelity, however So much work went into the many facets of Horizon Zero Dawn s Overall appearance.

For example, the foliage was made significantly denser in order to better match the original concept art for the game, with “Hundreds of plants, bushes, flowers and treesAccording to Senior Environment Artist, Patrick Blankenzee, has been upgraded. The world of Horizon Zero Dawn Was made to feel more aliveWith the team at Nixxes reviewing “All villages, outposts and towns, [and] Identify areas that felt empty or where we could improve realism and immersion,According to Brian van Nunen, the senior technical game designer on the HZD Remaster.

so, The number of non-player characters in all areas of the game world has increased drasticallyWith even more places dedicated for NPCs to perform new animations. These areas have also seen a significant facelift, with the overall terrain quality brought more in line with Horizon Forbidden West’s Magnificent world. Nix replaces “All the Horizon Zero Dawn terrain materials with their new Horizon Forbidden West counterparts,” before tweaking each individual terrain asset to match the original game’s aesthetic.

In addition, 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 is added in the Frozen wilds expansion, but this will be the first time the original game features it. finally, All the character models have been greatly improved, with their skin tones, hair quality and outfits being switched to theirs Horizon Forbidden West Models. It was clearly a huge undertaking, but all the graphical improvements managed to make the already beautiful Horizon Zero Dawn Look infinitely better.

Over 10 hours of motion capture has been added

Dialogue was more lively

However, while the changes to the game’s overall visuals are significant enough to warrant the remaster in the first place, perhaps the biggest change in the Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster is all new motion-captured scenes for dialogue. Characters are now much more alive when they talk to one another, with exchanges being much more dynamic than the previous shot-reverse-shot nature of HZD’s Dialogue sequences. More than 10 hours of new motion-capture data was shot by Guerrilla before being painstakingly inserted into the remaster by Nixxes.

Horizon Zero Dawn s Dialogue scenes should now feel more like those found in Horizon Forbidden WestMaking it a much more next-gen experience overall. Consider one of the biggest gripes with the original Horizon Zero Dawn was his static dialogue scenes, this is a huge improvement and a worthy use of the remaster. It goes to show just how much effort has been poured into these Horizon Zero Dawn RemasterAnd how it could easily be considered the gold standard for all future Sony remasters.

Source: PlayStation Blog, YouTube/Playstation