Is it necessary to see every blade of grass crush under your feet as you seek shelter? Is it necessary to see every leaf falling from the nearby trees, or to see every intricate part of a machine glisten and shine in the dazzling sunlight? There’s an obvious answer, but I could be convinced otherwise – because Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered and Horizon Forbidden West are absolutely staggering on the PS5 Pro.
As part of my review of the PS5 Pro, I’ve played a range of PS5 Pro Enhanced games, each improved to varying degrees. The most noticeable differences, in many of the games I’ve played, is to loading speeds, with some also given a facelift in terms of texture and lighting. So far, the Horizon franchise appears to be the biggest beneficiary of this refreshed tech, with the power of the PS5 Pro enhancing everything that Horizon does best.
It’s a series that’s always been known for pushing the visuals of PlayStation consoles. Horizon Zero Dawn was one of the prettiest games on PlayStation 4. Horizon Forbidden West remains one of the prettiest games on PlayStation 5. The PS5 Pro simply gives them a power boost to realise their true potential, with its improved GPU allowing for faster loading, a consistent crispness of textures, always smooth gameplay, and – weirdly enough – mind-boggling cheek hair.
It feels strange to point out, but I noticed it simply because I’ve never seen it before. In cutscenes (as with the above screenshot of Rost), you’ll often get close-ups of Horizon‘s cast. In one particular cutscene in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, I was fascinated to see light, thin cheek hair on Aloy.
The light shines through it an a way that’s hyper-realistic, and it makes Aloy seem much more human and tangible. In other areas of her face – naturally, one of the most detailed models in the game – you can see muscles moving beneath skin, see the light glistening in her eyes. For the older denizens of Horizon, you can see the natural creases and cracks caused by age, and even see face paint seeping into and around these cracks.
On Rost’s model, you can see the tiny hairs that make up his beard, and the fibre-thin furs that insulate his outfit. You can see the tiny bits of white built up in his beard, and see snowflakes sticking to it as the frost advances.
What these improvements do for Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered and Horizon Forbidden West is allow for a greater sense of engagement with the narrative. Aloy, Rost, and Varl feel so much more like real people. They can emote without being stiff and uncanny. You can see the hints of emotion in every eye twitch and glare. It means you feel things far more deeply – particularly when that little arsehole Bast tries to throw a rock at Aloy as a child. Many of these features can be found in the base PS5 version of both games, but the little tweaks made on PS5 Pro add up – they’re both more visually spectacular games on the console.
The reality is images on a website won’t do these tweaks justice. Images on GamesHub are compressed for lighter page weight, so the version of my screenshots you see above won’t bring out the details I see on my Samsung S90D TV. I can only describe the level of detail, and tell you how much joy it brought me to explore the games’ wonderfully detailed environments, and to marvel at their foliage.
When you walk through tall grass for cover, you can see each individual strand flexing and bending with your weight, swooshing aside as you crawl. When it’s snowing, you can see the light flecks floating breezily across the screen.
And the moss! The moss is wonderfully textured – to the point where you’ll want to scoop your hand through it. It’s got tiny, fuzzy hairs on it that stoke the imagination. Then there’s the ropes and wooden structures – you can see the individual sinews of material, and as you get closer to the camera, they solidify. You can count the strands of rope, and feel the “human” element of its construction. Again, it makes the world of Horizon feel so much more alive, and more enthralling.
The machines get the same treatment – with each metal panel and appendage now illuminated by new light sources. Get close enough, and you can see the scratches on their chassis, and the gleam of wires around their necks.
It’s ridiculous to think games look like this now. Games don’t have to look like this to tell a good story – and deep down, I do wish narrative and story always took priority over rendering blades of grass or face textures – but it is mightily nice to behold.
There is an invisible layer between games and the real world that functions as a barrier to full immersion. Typically, while you’re playing a game, you’re aware that you’re playing a game. Playing Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered and Horizon Forbidden West on PS5 Pro, I did feel that barrier start to come down – as the sense of visual fidelity in both games makes its world so much more tangible.
I’m not quite at Avatar syndrome, but playing the Horizon games again on PS5 Pro has been transportive.
A code for Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered and a PS5 Pro was provided to GamesHub for the purposes of this review. A Horizon Forbidden West code was previously provided for review.
