On social media, developer Guerrilla Games took a moment to share a few screenshots of Horizon Forbidden West running on PS4. In explaining why they’re sharing PS4 screenshots specifically, Guerrilla comments that they’ve shown quite a bit of the game on PS5, and want to show how beautiful the game looks on PS4 as well.
Which makes sense, as the game will be available on both PS4 and PS5 when it launches on February 18, 2022.
Guerrilla shows what Horizon Forbidden West will look like on PS4
We've showed you a lot of footage of #HorizonForbiddenWest on PS5 so far, but the game also looks – and plays – stunning on the PlayStation 4! pic.twitter.com/BuVga90W5L
— Guerrilla (@Guerrilla) December 15, 2021
For those who are unable to get a PS5 but loved Horizon Zero Dawn and want to play the sequel, having it available on PS4 is a huge deal. Not only that, but having the game available on PS4 without too many visual compromises is also a huge deal.
In the screenshots shown, you can see a nice variety of biomes and recognizable machines from the first game, Horizon Zero Dawn. As for why Horizon Forbidden West looks as good as it does on PS4, Guerrilla developed the game with PS4 in mind. In an interview with Game Informer, Game Director Mathijs de Jonge explained:
“A lot of the development has taken place on the PlayStation 4, and a lot of playtesting has been done on PlayStation 4. So we are ensuring that owners of that console have a great experience and the game will look fantastic on that console.”
While Horizon Forbidden West does look fantastic on PS4 based on the screenshots shown, there will be differences between the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game. In the interview, he notes that on PlayStation 5, more detail can be added with the game’s lighting and underwater scenes being particularly special for PlayStation 5.
“For the PlayStation 5, we can go much further, of course. Visually, we can add a lot more detail. Graphically, the rendering technique for the underwater scenes is special for the PlayStation 5, it has extra details and extra systems, like the wave technique is better on that system.”
In terms of lighting, it’ll have more definition on PlayStation 5 than on PlayStation 4 as Guerrilla used a “special cinematic lighting rig” that’s only used in cutscenes on PS4, while on PS5 that lighting is always available given the increased processing power of the PS5.
For more on the differences between Horizon Forbidden West on PS4 versus PS5, we highly recommend checking out the screenshots shared by Guerrilla today, as well as Game Informer’s interview with Mathijs de Jonge.
Horizon Forbidden West will release on February 18, 2022 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
