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Horizon: Forbidden West State of Play announced for May 27th

CamHostage

Member
{Guerrilla can do "flight" in Horizon...}


You can glitch the original Horizon (on PS4 even) and get above the world, and the loading/data-management system still holds up. Guerrilla has stated that flight didn't make the cut in the first game (supposedly? this comes up all the time but I've never actually seen the quote get shared...), but that was over three years ago on a debut product line. Developers learn a lot when making a game and know how to push sequels harder, even on the same hardware.

That’s because the flight speed is the same as the ground speed which is why it holds up. I think they had said they couldn’t fly as fast as they wanted or something like that.

Maybe. This example is limited and not a perfect demo. After all, it's a beast accidentally walking on air, not "flying".

But the Horizon Flying Glitch demonstrates some aspects of the engine (not just "hey, toldyaso, that's flyin'!!") that show latitude Guerrilla could build on if they added flight to the sequel.

There are a number of factors developers would nee to worry about in doing flight in an open-world game like Horizon. One would just be pure asset preparation for visibility in verticality. Games tend to be built for what you're meant to see when you play; if you break the boundaries of what's in front of you, sometimes you see that much of the game world is actually like a film set, with facades of buildings and no roofs on structures. This being an open-world with mountains and trees you can climb and look down upon the world, Guerrilla had to deal with a lot of vertical aspects of the game, even though there was not expectation you'd actually be able to get up there.

30623862095_44d861e672_z.jpg


But it's not just that they need to put a roof on a building, that's easy. You also need to worry about verticality not expected from the vegetation. Those flowing fields of grass and flowers, they're not actually flowing fields, they're surfaces with a shader applied to give them density of an asset laid on top. That asset is usually 2D (I don't know Horizon's mix of 2D, 3D and particles, so correct me here if need be) and it holds up visually even as you crawl through it up close because the design of the asset and the density of placement creates a convincing field effect when close or at optimized angles. And then far away, it doesn't need to hold up perfectly either because you're not radically changing the viewing angle. If you're a quarter-mile away, moving 20 feet left or right doesn't change what you're looking at much. When you fly over a surface, though, you are constantly redefining the angle, and putting it to a torture-test of looking straight down on a surface made to be looked at side-on. Sometimes a great-looking field of grass when you're crawling through it or running towards it from afar suddenly looks like a green patch with paper cutouts glued all over it when you look down at the wrong angle.

aaron-regterschot-grass-sway.gif

(A typical grass asset, not Horizon of course)

Then there's load management and the procedural vegetation system. The world needs to be loaded in time for you to see it. As much of it as possible needs to be there to fill the visible range you have at your viewpoint, and then the details need to come into focus as you get closer as fast as you move. Flying would pretty much be the ultimate stress test of both visible range and speed of movement. You see everything that the eye can see, you move as fast through the air as a bird, and you can go from looking at the ground moving under your wings to up in the clouds looking down on it all. That's a lot.

The Horizon Flying Glitch shows the world keeping together when viewed from on high, which probably could be expected given the heights you can see the world from, but is still a relief that it holds up. There's a LOT in Horizon, and the engine is designed to take advantage of literally slow movement speed as Aloy looks around...

horizon-zero-dawn-making-of-map.gif

(Horizon's loading system.) (Yes, this GIF again...)

With the Horizon Flying Glitch, speed is limited, in that the animal only moves so slow and you're on a mount that you cannot control swoop up or down. We can look at other videos to see how well Horizon 1 handles speed though when transitioning from a high/far vantage to right on ground level (you can also dismount from a flying mount and feel speed the hard way...) From what we're seeing in these instances, my take is that the land and buildings and big natural elements like trees and rock features are all loading about as well as you could hope, no terrible pop-in yet where the loading just collapses under the unexpected demand. And as far as density of assets and detail of vegetation, that seems to hold up too. You do get pop-in/fade-in of weed on rocks and little stuff like that, and the switch from low-quality assets to high-quality is visible as you cross certain thresholds, but the details are like the people walking around down in the city and the moss on rocks or lillypads on water remain in view and come into full detail properly as you rapidly move from far above to falling on top of them. (The fast-travel system also helps see how rapidly areas can be brought in as needed, although I believe these are locked to the biome you're inhabiting, so in flight, crossing biomes would potentially be a much bigger problem than just hovering around the areas of the biome you're in, and would probably be kept as a limitation; it's also a gameplay problem if you can just fly over everything, so even on PS5, don't expect to fly everywhere you want.) Overall, the Horizon 1 engine keeps up under extreme, unexpected stress.



...And that's all just by mistake! Horizon 1 from 3 years ago accidentally worked okay with "flying" and "swooping", and that's an old version of the engine that the developers said (supposedly?) could not handle flight. Imagine what they can do with improved versions of that technology with a second go-around...
 
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Yes it won't be as good as if it was PS5-only, but here are screenshots I made from my playthrough on Spider-man MM:

Marvel-s-Spider-Man-Miles-Morales-20201125174816.png


Marvel-s-Spider-Man-Miles-Morales-20201125123148.png


Marvel-s-Spider-Man-Miles-Morales-20201124154423.png


Marvel-s-Spider-Man-Miles-Morales-20201125110553.png


PS Studios aren't like any other, their crossgens surpass any other game.
Sorry but while that Game looks nice it looks to me as exactly what it is - a PS4 Game with some Raytracing on Top. You should know better...
Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart will show what was left on the Table by supporting PS4 and PC...
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
Sorry but while that Game looks nice it looks to me as exactly what it is - a PS4 Game with some Raytracing on Top. You should know better...
Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart will show what was left on the Table by supporting PS4 and PC...

R&C looks better indeed, but you must see the games in a 4K HDR tv. On a 1080p monitor/tv you might get that "PS4" feeling as you're missing the sheer amount of details. More to expect from the games going forward, indeed, but doesn't mean we shouldn't appreciate what's already a very good upgrade from last gen.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I'd love a Monster Hunter style co-op in this where you take down giant mech monsters with a few buddies.
The think in Monster Hunter you have different class of weapons while in Horizon range weapon is your only option, if there is co-op mostly going to be similar to other 3rd person shooter out there, not exactly like MH series.
 

CamHostage

Member
Sorry but while that Game looks nice it looks to me as exactly what it is - a PS4 Game with some Raytracing on Top. You should know better...
Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart will show what was left on the Table by supporting PS4 and PC...

But Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart uses much of the same engine and technology of Spider-Man.

It's not a case of "that was last-gen / this is past-gen". They're shared technology in a lot of ways, but for Ratchet the character systems are different, the dependencies on "real-world" visual quality is different, the asset density is pushed a lot, and they had almost an extra year to work on it.

What makes Rift Apart breakthrough technology impossible without hardware like PS5 is the use of Rifts in gameplay to take advantage of the incredible loading speed, and that matched with extremely high-quality assets and effects makes this a great next-gen showcase. But it's still not pushing into some of the things like micropolygon geometry that really boggle the mind with next-gen.
 
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iorek21

Member
Release is probably very close, since Sony has been holding State of Play events for their games usually a couple of months before release (at least that's what happened with TLOU2, GoT, Returnal and Ratchet).
Probably an August/September release?

That makes me slightly more hopeful for a God of War Ragnarok release in November.
 
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TonyK

Member
I wish every week were presentations like this, about games that bring true hype. From Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo... Even if I don't have all consoles, I really appreciate when companies show very relevant titles.

Ratchet, Horizon... make the next move Microsoft, show something truly special for the people that, as me, have a PS5 and are doubting about grabbing a XBsex.
 

yurinka

Member
I thought the main two bombs for Sony's E3 were going to be Horizon 2 and GoWR showing their gameplay videos and release dates.

I they will showcase Horizon 2 this early, I think it means Sony will have an E3 event with a ton of stunning stuff. They must be very confident.

I see Horizon 2 getting an August/September release and GoWR getting a November release.
 
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Yoboman

Member
I thought the main two bombs for Sony's E3 were going to be Horizon 2 and GoWR showing their gameplay videos and release dates.

I they will showcase Horizon 2 this early, I think it means Sony will have an E3 event with a ton of stunning stuff. They must be very confident.

I see Horizon 2 getting an August/September release and GoWR getting a November release.
Sony isn’t at E3

We might get more State of Plays throughout the general period
 

yurinka

Member
Sony isn’t at E3

We might get more State of Plays throughout the general period
Doesn't matter if they are at the E3 or not, they will make a big ass summer event around these days like every year.

They have Horizon 2, GoWR, Kena, Jett, Deathloop, Ghostwire Tokyo and many more coming this H2 2021. And early 2022 they have Gran Turismo 7, Forspoken, and so on. For sure they will show them in E3 (or the days around it) plus some big ass announcements and some key 3rd party multi marketing deal (like CoD or similar).
 
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NahaNago

Member
what are you talking about?
isn't the game coming to ps4. I simply thought they had originally made it for ps4 and then decide to port/patch it to ps5 as well.
Naughty Dog's unannounced game. :messenger_sunglasses: They're silent for a reason.
I thought they were working on that last of us 2 multiplayer. Plus now they are working on a last of us remaster and I'm guessing they are going to patch uncharted 4 and last of us2 for ps5. I wouldn't be surprised if their next new game doesn't come out until 2024. Plus covid.
 
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Bo_Hazem

Banned
isn't the game coming to ps4. I simply thought they had originally made it for ps4 and then decide to port/patch it to ps5 as well.

I thought they were working on that last of us 2 multiplayer. Plus now they are working on a last of us remaster and I'm guessing they are going to patch uncharted 4 and last of us2 for ps5. I wouldn't be surprised if their next new game doesn't come out until 2024. Plus covid.

From what I hear the TLOU remake is more of a way to pay back their R&D for their engine for PS5 and new tech like RT and others. But I really hope the rumors of Sci-fi game from ND are true. 2024 is also plausible.
 

NahaNago

Member
From what I hear the TLOU remake is more of a way to pay back their R&D for their engine for PS5 and new tech like RT and others. But I really hope the rumors of Sci-fi game from ND are true. 2024 is also plausible.
I really just want something out there from them. I would have preferred fantasy but sci-fi works as well.
No the game is being developed simultaneously just like any multiplat game. Your comment implies that they are porting a ps4 game which isn't the case
The thing is they should have been working on this game way before devkits for ps5 were even a thing. I understand they probably had hardware targets for the ps5 but they had just a year and a half for the official ps5 devkits.
 
This could mean two things, either Sony is not going to have a big presence during E3, or they just have so much to show that HORIZON has been pushed into a State of Play.

I'm betting on the latter. This is gonna be insane.
Sony are not part of E3, obviously they are showing games like this that are due this year. As for big reveals and premieres, they'll probably do a conference soon enough but it won't be at E3.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
Sony are not part of E3, obviously they are showing games like this that are due this year. As for big reveals and premieres, they'll probably do a conference soon enough but it won't be at E3.
Maybe I should have been more clear in my wording. You're the second person that's pointed that out. I already know Sony's not going to be at E3, I was saying they may have something to show regardless at their own show that could happen during the same window of time.
 
Maybe I should have been more clear in my wording. You're the second person that's pointed that out. I already know Sony's not going to be at E3, I was saying they may have something to show regardless at their own show that could happen during the same window of time.
Let's hope so, the more the better.
 

KAL2006

Banned
I just realised something Sony usually have game specific State of Plays closer to the release of the game. For example the Ratchet and Clank once happened end of April. So can it be that Horizon releases in July/August?
 

RCU005

Member
This might be overlooked, but while I would have loved that this was PS5 exclusive, I completely understand why this is cross gen.

Not only do they have a huge install base of PS4, I would imagine this sequel was meant to release in 2020 and be one of the last PS4 games along with TLOU2 and Ghost of Tsushima.

The game will probably look great regardless and I care more for QoL improvements than graphics.
After all, not even Ratchet and Clank will be using a big part of the PS5 capabilities.

This game will look amazing and along with Ratchet will be a taste of what is possible on the PS5 and what’s to come.
 

Yoboman

Member
I just realised something Sony usually have game specific State of Plays closer to the release of the game. For example the Ratchet and Clank once happened end of April. So can it be that Horizon releases in July/August?
Yeah it looks likely

It’s supposed to be 2021and hasn’t been delayed yet so having a beefy state of play is a good sign
 
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