Sony has just shared some news about the next step for the Horizon franchise, though it isn’t quite the direct follow-up to Forbidden West you might have been imagining.
Guerrilla Games is taking a bit of a detour with a live-service co-op action title called Horizon Hunters Gathering, which is currently in the works for both PS5 and PC.
Game director Arjan Bak explained that this new entry is built around tactical three-player sessions where you will need to customise your Hunter to survive some rather punishing missions. The combat is meant to be just as skill-heavy and precise as the main games, but with a massive focus on how you work together as a team.
We already have a decent idea of what we will be doing, thanks to two confirmed game modes. Machine Incursion sounds like a proper adrenaline rush, featuring waves of machines swarming out of underground gates before a massive boss shows up to ruin your day.
If you fancy something a bit more involved, Cauldron Descent is a multi-stage trial with ever-changing rooms and hidden secrets that reward teams for being thorough. You will be able to try both of these out during the upcoming closed playtest.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is the aesthetic. Rather than the jaw-dropping photorealism we usually see from Guerrilla, Hunters Gathering is sporting a more stylised, cartoony look. It is a significant departure, but it certainly gives the spin-off its own distinct personality.
As if that wasn’t enough to keep track of, there is actually another project on the horizon (pun intended) called Horizon Steel Frontiers. This free-to-play title is a joint effort between Guerrilla and NCSOFT, heading to mobile and PC at some point. It sounds a lot more like the traditional Zero Dawn or Forbidden West experience, keeping the realistic visuals and hunting gameplay but tossing in some MMORPG elements.