It’s difficult to evaluate a remastered video game on its own merits. After all, this is a game you already have an opinion about. And a new package, no matter how shiny the wrapping paper, is unlikely to change how you feel about what’s inside. A remaster should then bring a meaningful new way to play an old game, helping it find new audiences and reignite the love for the original game in the hearts of returning players. However, over the years, the purpose of remasters has dwindled to almost nothing. Barely old games, completely accessible and in need of no new changes, have been groomed and promised upgrades and additions that do nothing to justify a second life to an already alive and well thing. Are.
And no publisher is perhaps as guilty of releasing unnecessary remasters and remakes as Sony. In the absence of new titles on PlayStation 5, the company has opted to fill the void with remastered contemporary games. Earlier this year, Sony remastered The Last of Us Part 2, a game that already looked like a million dollars and ran at 60fps on the PS5. Now, it’s back with a remaster of Horizon Zero Dawn, a game that already looked like a million dollars and ran at 60fps on PS5. The remastered version of the game, released on October 31 on PC and PS5, adds a thick layer of visual enhancements to the original’s environments, settlements, and characters, both human and mechanical. It features stunning new lighting and hours of new motion capture data that brings the harsh character conversations from the original game to life.
To be honest, the graphical upgrade is quite a bit – Nixx Software has done an incredible job of updating the 2017 game and bringing it closer to its 2022 sequel, Horizon Forbidden West. An almost suffocating level of detail is now packed into every frame; Characters look more expressive, natural environments explode in your face, and the world comes alive in a new light. More immediately, game accessibility expands the breadth of options and game settings, opening itself up to more players and more ways to play. On a technical level, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is undeniably impressive. And the $10 upgrade path (Rs 500 in India) for owners of the original game on PC and PS4 makes it easy to recommend. But beyond its pointless upgrades, you’d be hard-pressed to find proper justification for remastering a game that’s perfectly good in its own right.
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The natural world in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is stunning to behold
Photo Courtesy: Sony/Screenshot- Manas Mitul
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered lets you import your save files from the original game on PS4. So, when I booted it up, I immediately loaded my old save – I’d finished the game on PS4 years ago – and started a new Game+ run with the gear and skill upgrades unlocked from my previous playthrough. As soon as you start, the visual upgrade goes off the screen. This is not a case where you can compare the frames of the original game and its remaster and be overwhelmed. Here the difference is like night and day. The Nixes have pushed Zero Dawn as close to the Forbidden West as they can. It’s understandable that it’s not on the sequel’s level, but it’s often hard to tell when it isn’t.
The most surprising change comes to the natural world of Horizon Forbidden West. Both Horizon games, in addition to being good video games, also serve as odes to nature and its endless gifts. The game features diverse biomes of real jungle; Lush forests and their mossy floors, dry deserts and their thorny attire, and high mountains and their gently sloping slopes – all are presented in digital perfection. In Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, the flora from the original game gets a steroid injection. The leaves are denser, denser and greener. Advanced textures add impossible levels of detail to trees and terrain. And as a result, navigating the game world is now more immersive than ever.
The world of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is a joy to explore
Photo Courtesy: Sony/Screenshot- Manas Mitul
The world of Horizon is less post-apocalyptic and more post-reclamation. Human civilization and its symbols of progress and dominance lie in ruins and have been taken over by nature. In the remastered version of the game, that overgrowth is now more dense. There are more plants, bushes, flowers and trees and bushes on your screen and they are just as detailed as those in the Forbidden West. The graphical quality of water bodies is also now at the level of the sequel. In the original Horizon Zero Dawn, streams, lakes, and rivers appeared muddy and flat. Here, they present more detailed and accurate images and waves. Small environmental details have also been added. Snow now sticks to your clothes during a storm; The same applies to your interactions with mud and water.
Outposts and settlements also seem more alive. There are also more NPCs on the streets, all of them somewhat more lifelike than in the original game. The buildings feature improved textures, all glowing with golden sunlight that now more accurately illuminates both the outside and inside areas. Now walking around the bustling capital Meridian is truly a new experience. And the character models, especially Aloy, are richer too. Aloy’s appearance from Forbidden West has been transferred over to the remaster, and while it’s a bit of a departure from how we saw her in the original game, the detailed facial expressions, along with new motion capture data, enhance the storytelling. Are, especially in a game. Conversations, cutscenes and dialogue options.
Cities and settlements are denser and more detailed in the remaster
Photo Courtesy: Sony/Screenshot- Manas Mitul
These graphical improvements are appreciated and acknowledged as enhancing the experience of a game that initially wore its visuals on its sleeve. They say gameplay is paramount, and caring about graphics has always led to enthusiasts hating it. But in modern games, visuals have become an important tool for storytelling. Take Red Dead Redemption 2, for example. Although its gameplay systems are thin, its stunning recreation of the American frontier is the core of the experience. The Horizon games also rely heavily on visual storytelling, creating a sense of place and time with their maximalist presentation. Therefore, a remaster that doubles down on details is only strengthening its credentials.
But then is that varnish bringing any meaningful improvement to the gaming experience? Is Horizon Forbidden West a better game now that it’s prettier? The answer is no. Horizon Forbidden West Remastered’s features still borrow heavily from the original game. And it’s safe to say that no one really asked for an enhanced version of a game that already looks and runs great on both PlayStation and PC.
Horizon Zero Dawn is prettier, but not better for it
Photo Courtesy: Sony/Screenshot- Manas Mitul
In terms of story and gameplay, Horizon Forbidden West Remastered certainly isn’t bringing anything new to the table. The narrative presentation is improved due to new motion capture data for characters, but Zero Dawn Remaster does not reach the gameplay enhancements seen in Forbidden West. Aside from the impressive graphical upgrades and a new suite of game options now available, the new version of the game is just as good as the original version – which makes it still pretty good. Horizon Zero Dawn was one of the best games on PS4. It took an interesting premise and a fascinating setting and presented an adventure narrative that juxtaposed the natural world with a military industrial complex equipped with powerful artificial intelligence.
That story comes to mind even after seven years. But, as expected, the remaster also retains the flaws of the original. Aloy, despite being sympathetic and fierce, is largely one-note and uninteresting. And aside from one brilliant non-player character, the rest of the cast remains forgettable – with just more detailed character models. The story itself often borders on unbelievable, but I enjoyed some of the silly sci-fi inclinations when I first played the game, and I still like them all these years later. The same applies for gameplay. The closest comparison to Horizon’s combat experience is probably Monster Hunter; You’re running, jumping and rolling around a giant dinosaur that’s trying to make you its lunch. It’s dynamic, frantic, and fun, and every encounter can be dangerous.
More detailed character models and new motion capture data bring interactions to life
Photo Courtesy: Sony/Screenshot- Manas Mitul
But Monster Hunter gives you more options as to how you go about killing said dino. On the other hand, Horizon Zero Dawn can end up feeling repetitive. Due to its combat scenarios being limited to archery – even though the game offers you many different types of bows and slings – the combat in the game makes for a dangerous as well as practiced experience. The sequel, Forbidden West, while maintaining the essence of the combat from the first game, added some much-needed depth to how you approach your killer robot dinosaurs and move in to take them down. The remaster does not port those improvements to Zero Dawn. But that’s a minor complaint in an otherwise nearly perfect new version of the game, which is still going strong in 2024, seven years after its original release.
However, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered brings an expanded list of menu options from Forbidden West, including an expanded set of accessibility settings. The new settings let you change and modify your experience on a deeper level, allowing you to customize the game to your liking, to some extent. The game also gets three graphics modes on PS5 – a 30fps resolution mode that opts for higher fidelity, a 60fps performance mode that favors higher framerates by reducing the resolution, and a middle-of-the-road 40fps balanced mode only on supported displays. . I stuck to Performance mode for better gameplay and my experience on the PS5 remained consistently good.
Talanx are as majestic as ever
Photo Courtesy: Sony/Screenshot- Manas Mitul
Are the game’s graphical enhancements, technical strength, and expanded options worth the upgrade? Despite my reservations about much older titles like Horizon Zero Dawn getting a remaster, Nixx’s latest effort is undeniably stunning in its own right, even if it does stand on the shoulders of the excellent original. Given the breadth of improvements present in the game and the obvious labor it required from the developers, the $10 upgrade cost is a reasonable ask for existing owners of the game.
And if you’ve never played the original game, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is, simply put, the best way to experience it. Despite the merits of the remaster, Sony’s decisions before launching the new version deserve criticism. Before the remaster came out, the publisher removed the original version of the game from the PC storefront and quietly doubled the price of the title on the PlayStation Store, so that new players could not get the game for a long time at the lower price of $10. Unable to pay. Upgrade to the remastered version. These choices are disappointing and somewhat underwhelming, otherwise an excellent if unnecessary release. And even though recent remakes and remasters have been marked by an industry-wide ban, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is undoubtedly a thing of beauty.
Pros
- stunning graphical upgrades
- better character models
- Extended options and accessibility settings
- Nearly flawless performance on PS5
- $10 upgrade path
Shortcoming
- ultimately unnecessary
- Lack of gameplay improvements
Rating (out of 10): 8
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered released on PC and PS5.
The game is priced at Rs. 2,999 on PlayStation Store for PS5 and Steam and Epic Games Store for PC. Players who already own Horizon Zero Dawn on PS4 or PC can upgrade to the remastered version for Rs. 500.
