Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered Review: A Gorgeous but Gratuitous Upgrade
It's difficult to assess a remastered video game on its own merits. It is, after all, a game you already have an opinion on. And a new package, no matter how shiny the wrapping paper, is unlikely to change what you feel about what's inside. A remaster then must bring a meaningful new way to play an older game, that helps it find a new audience and rekindles the love for the original game in the hearts of returning players. In the past few years, however, the purpose of a remaster has been diluted to near nothingness. Barely old games, perfectly accessible and in no need of a facelift, have been dressed up and wheeled out, promising upgrades and additions that do little to justify the second life of an already alive and well thing.
And no publisher is perhaps as guilty of releasing unnecessary remasters and remakes as Sony. In the absence of new titles on the 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 the PS5. The remastered version of the game, released October 31 on PC and PS5, adds a thick layer of visual enhancements on the original's environments, settlements and characters, both human and mechanical. There's stunning new lighting and hours of new motion capture data that livens up stiff character conversations from the original game.
To be honest, the graphical uplift is considerable — Nixxes Software has done an incredible job of updating the 2017 game and bringing it closer to its 2022 sequel, Horizon Forbidden West. An almost smothering level of detail now clings to every frame; characters look much more expressive, the natural environment explodes in your face, and the world comes alive in a new light. More urgently, the game expands the breadth of
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