Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster — Review
Guerrilla brings the original Horizon up to Forbidden West's visual standard. The result is the version of Aloy's first adventure that most people will play from now on.
Horizon Zero Dawn aged better than most 2017 open worlds, but the gap between it and Forbidden West was always visible. The Remaster closes that gap.
What's Actually Remastered
Lighting, character models, foliage rendering, animation systems, audio mix. The story, structure, and combat are unchanged. This is a visual and feel pass, not a re-design — and that restraint is the right call. The base game already worked; the remaster makes it look like it was meant to.
Where It Lands
The opening act in particular benefits enormously — Aloy's tribal life sequences are genuinely transformed by the new lighting system and motion-matching animations. The faces, which always read as the weakest part of the original, are now competitive with Forbidden West's standard.
Where It's Less Necessary
If you played and finished the original recently, the case is thinner. This is most valuable for newcomers and for players who bounced off the early game's pacing — which the lighting and audio passes meaningfully address.
Who It's For
Anyone planning to play Forbidden West for the first time and wanting the proper lead-in. Anyone who put Horizon down a few hours in and never came back. Anyone who just wants the cleanest version of one of the PS4 era's defining new IP.
The Verdict
A careful, technically ambitious remaster that justifies its existence for newcomers and returning lapsed players alike. Now the definitive way to experience Aloy's first adventure.
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Guerrilla Games' post-post-apocalyptic action RPG series — Aloy, the machines, and the slow uncovering of what really happened to the old world.
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