The Rumored Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster Wouldnt Be Sonys Strangest

The Rumored Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster Wouldnt Be Sonys Strangest

As a long-time PlayStation fan who has witnessed the evolution of Sony’s remastering strategy, I find myself intrigued by the potential rumors of a Horizon Zero Dawn remaster. While it may seem premature considering its relatively recent release, Sony has shown an uncanny knack for releasing unexpected remasters that leave players scratching their heads.


Horizon Zero Dawn is recognized as one of Sony’s top intellectual properties from the last ten years, boasting unexpected popularity amidst an industry primarily focusing on sequels, remakes, and remasters. Despite deviating from certain elements of contemporary AAA gaming, it also conforms to numerous others, with one trend being a potential addition to its portfolio.

There are whispers suggesting that the game “Horizon Zero Dawn” might get a remaster at some point, which could come as quite a shock to many gamers. The talk of such a remaster started back in 2022, when a source claimed it would be released together with a separate multiplayer game within the “Horizon” universe. However, it’s important to note that these rumors are questionable, given that “Horizon Zero Dawn” was just launched seven years ago and might not require a remaster. Yet, Sony has shown a tendency for such moves in their recent past, making a remaster of “Horizon Zero Dawn” not entirely unexpected, even if it seems unusual by some standards.

Sony Has Made More Questionable Remake Calls Than Horizon Zero Dawn

PlayStation is known for occasionally releasing remasters of games, some of which are surprising and may not always be successful. This isn’t limited to large-scale projects like the ongoing remake of Final Fantasy 7, which involves rebuilding classic games from scratch, but also applies to titles that have received less extensive updates more recently. A notable example is The Last of Us, which was remastered for the PS4 just a year after its debut on the PS3. While this isn’t necessarily problematic given that the PS4 can’t play games from the PS3 due to incompatibility, and considering the PS4 sold more units than the PS3, the fact that it came bundled with the Left Behind DLC certainly helped.

The release of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered might have established a concerning pattern, as it came out less than four years following the original and can still be played on PS5 with improved performance through a 60FPS mode. Granted, there’s a new game mode (No Return) in the remaster, but it’s hard to see how this justifies its release, given that the improvements seem minimal. This argument could also apply to The Last of Us Part 1, the soft-remake from 2022, as while it did offer noticeable graphical enhancements over the original, it’s debatable whether these changes warranted a new release so soon.

Not only The Last of Us, but also Marvel’s Spider-Man underwent remastering in 2022, surprisingly just four years after its initial release. While the remaster boasts advanced next-gen capabilities such as high frame rates, 4K resolution, and ray-tracing, it’s challenging to accept this as a valid reason for creating an entirely new product when many last-gen games have already received these enhancements at no extra cost on PS5.

A Horizon Zero Dawn Remake Would Make More Sense Than Others

In simpler terms, the earlier examples might not be as essential for a remake compared to the potential enhancement of Horizon Zero Dawn. Although Sony stands to gain from expanding the Horizon franchise, a possible re-release of the initial game could still benefit from some improvements. It’s been seven years since Horizon Zero Dawn was launched, which is longer than many other games Sony has remastered, and the visual gap between it and Forbidden West is noticeable. While whether or not the game truly needs a remaster is up for debate, it does seem more justifiable compared to, say, a remaster of The Last of Us Part 2, as the improvements in graphics and performance would likely be more apparent in this case.

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2024-09-21 00:04