Horizon Zero Dawn's fresh remaster is the best way to enjoy the game, even on handheld gaming PCs

pcgamer.com:

If you're a big fan of Sony's Horizon Zero Dawn, you may have been a bit worried that the new remastered version would just be too much for your gaming PC, especially handheld devices. That last aspect hasn't been helped by the fact that the remastered version isn't verified for the Steam Deck, but having played HZDR on an Asus ROG Ally X, I'm pretty sure that it'll be fine on the Steam Deck.

Guerrilla Games, the developers behind Horizon Zero Dawn, has pulled out all the stops with its remaster, with the help of Nixxes Software for the PC port. Sure, it's still exactly the same game (it's not a remake) but the original's graphics look a little bit second-tier compared to what Horizon Forbidden West has to offer.

Well, not any more, and it's a smorgasbord of visual effects, high-resolution textures, and luscious lighting. And to make sure it can run on as many gaming PCs as possible, you've got the full gamut of upscalers and frame generation systems, too.

Weighing in at 105 GB, the remaster is 33 GB larger than the first PC port of Horizon Zero Dawn. It's not just a whole stack of better textures—the characters and environments have been rejigged to be much richer in appearance, while still true to the original.

The larger cities are especially nice in the remaster and they look far more like what you'd expect in a world that nature has reclaimed much of. If, like me, you've played the original game an awful lot, much will look familiar but certain aspects will feel noticeably altered—the same furniture, so to speak, but somewhat rearranged.

I've not delved into all the regions yet, but initial impressions are very encouraging and the machines look fantastic with maximum quality settings.

Of course, all of the added visual goodies come at a cost and if you go all out the quality settings, you'll be faced with quite a dint in performance. Fortunately, you've got upscaling and frame generation to claw some of the frames back. Where the first Horizon Zero Dawn just