Let’s get one thing straight: Horizon Hunters Gathering is a weird game. The way it was revealed was strange (PlayStation dropping the announcement of their next Horizon game on a random Thursday afternoon is certainly a choice); its entire premise feels at odds, at least on a surface level, with what the series has produced so far, and its new art style has proven so divisive, I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire game is abandoned by fans purely because of it.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Horizon Hunters Gathering’s bizarreness, as well as the negative reception it has received from many of the series’ fanbase and newcomers alike, stems from one key problem: a lack of consistency in tone and style compared to the core series it has spun off from. However, as much as I understand and appreciate the negative sentiment toward Horizon Hunters Gathering’s art style in particular, I actually think it works extremely well for the setting and tone of this game in particular. I’m just not entirely convinced Guerrilla Games has approached it in the right way.
Horizon Hunters Gathering’s Art Style Actually Works
This, I appreciate, is a hot take, but I actually quite like Horizon Hunters Gathering’s art style quite a bit. While many have judged it rather harshly for being an adverse effect of the Fortniteification of the gaming industry, specifically live service titles, and many others have fairly justifiably compared it to the now defunct Monster Hunter clone, Dauntless, the art direction for Guerrilla Game’s new project is not only consistent with the overall style and tone of the title itself, but also rather beautiful in its overly-vibrant and expressive approach.
Horizon Hunters Gathering is a game of hyper-stylized, high-octane, explosive action, so it makes sense that the visuals expressing that are as unrealistic and ungrounded as they can be. Creating a game like Hunters Gathering in the same hyper-realistic style of Horizon Forbidden West would be akin to making the Spider-Verse films live-action. You’d lose so much of the expressiveness and the fluidity of movement and combat, which would naturally defeat the entire point of the experience. Of course, that’s not to say Horizon Zero Dawn or Forbidden West’s action isn’t fluid; it is just attempting something on an entirely different scale than Hunters Gathering.
Furthermore, Horizon Hunters Gathering is a spin-off, and, as such, deserves its own visual identity. While spin-offs should, in certain instances, respect the source material, they exist to do something the original could not. Making Hunters Gathering hyper-stylized affords Guerrilla Games the opportunity to break the boundaries set by Horizon’s typical art style and create an experience that borrows from its predecessor while adding its own flair to it. As a result, I really like the angle Horizon Hunters Gathering has chosen, especially for this genre, but I can also understand why it has annoyed so many people in the process.
Horizon Hunters Gathering Shouldn’t Have Strayed From The Original Style
The original two Horizon games, while far from perfect, established a consistent tone that pervaded throughout both experiences. It was one of sombre reflection, loss, isolation, and, occasionally, light-hearted sojourns from all the sadness. That is why the Horizon games aren’t terribly stylized. Of course, you can tell a story conveying those themes and tone with a more stylized aesthetic, but it would have to befit the oppressive and depressing nature of them. Horizon Hunters Gathering’s expressive, anime-inspired style with abstract body proportions, a high-fantasy sheen, and oversaturated vibrant colors certainly does not befit those themes.
As stated, Horizon Hunters Gathering is a spin-off, so it isn’t inherently a bad choice to move away from the sombre tone of the original games. However, such a drastic departure is obviously going to ruffle some feathers, especially when the shift is done both thematically and visually. This goes beyond the issues surrounding Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s visuals, which similarly shifted to a more cartoonish aesthetic despite the somewhat grounded fantasy style seen in earlier entries. It is a fundamental reworking of a universe many are familiar with that goes against everything already established.
I am all for going against the grain and changing things when it is necessary, or even if the series as a whole requires an overhaul. I’m not about to sit here and demand Guerrilla Games adhere to the status quo just because I’m resistant to any form of change. However, I do appreciate that this much change can feel rather jarring at this early of a stage, especially when the series is potentially still in its infancy. That’s why I feel as if Horizon Hunters Gathering would have benefited entirely from simply dropping the Horizon moniker from the start.
Horizon Hunters Gathering Would Work Better As A New IP
Beyond IP recognition and a handful of aesthetic similarities, there was no real need for Horizon Hunters Gathering to be set within the Horizon universe. Indeed, distancing the two would likely greatly benefited Horizon Hunters Gathering and the initial reception surrounding it. A quirky, highly stylized, action-packed co-op adventure, seeing unique characters with a suite of fun abilities take on giant robots, sounds incredibly fun and something that may actually have a good chance of success. Throw on the Horizon label, and suddenly you’ve got a game that feels completely at odds with itself.
Had Horizon Hunters Gathering simply been named Hunters Gathering or something akin to that, there may have been a lot more support thrown behind it. PlayStation is also in desperate need of a new IP, especially considering the amount of negative sentiment there is surrounding its allegedly half-hearted sequels and reliance on a handful of narrative-focused IPs. It has tried, and failed, numerous times to do something new, but Hunters Gathering is coming from an established studio with plenty of name recognition and fan-backing behind it, unlike the untested developers behind Concord.
Unfortunately, Horizon Hunters Gathering is burdened with the mark of its forebearers, tainted with expectations, and now has a greater chance of becoming another Concord-sized failure. I sincerely hope that Hunters Gathering is successful, especially as its inclusion of a single-player narrative gives it a quality that so many live service titles are lacking these days. However, something tells me that even PlayStation lacks confidence in this title or was expecting some level of backlash. What a shame that the art of talented designers and artists has been so brutally lambasted merely for its association with another product. I just hope PlayStation learns the right lessons from this.
What do you think of Horizon Hunters Gathering’s art? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image via New Line Cinema -
Warner Bros -
Image courtesy of Sony Pictures
