Horizon: Zero Dawn released earlier this year, and has since become one of 2017’s most notable games, an open-world treasure filled with challenges and exploration-worthy items galore.
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That game expanded even further earlier this month with the release of The Frozen Wilds, a dazzling new expansion that took Aloy into a whole new world, one covered in snow and tranquil beauty – but also filled with an equal amount of danger.
To give you an idea of how much work Guerrilla Games put into its latest effort, the team at Digital Foundry have posted a new technical video that looks deeper into the company’s engine, and found a few things within its remarkable presentation.
First off, the company actually created its own snow deformation technology with it, so that it bumped up Horizon‘s realism to a whole new level. For instance, when Aloy walks around in the snow, you can actually see the trail that she left behind – a detail that several developers manage to miss when it comes to working on their games.
The video also takes a closer look at the environments throughout, as well as the weather systems that can have an affect on gameplay over the course of Aloy’s adventure. It’s a showcase that’s really something else – especially for you PlayStation 4 Pro owners. (Don’t worry, PS4 owners, the game looks fine on your hardware as well.)
You can see the video below.
Digital Foundry also added to the video, noting that Frozen Wilds was “one of the most impressive 4K HDR experiences” available. Check out the breakdown below:
“There’s the sense that the artists and designers have been unleashed to create one of the most striking open world environments you can experience. Everything from the density per scene, the choice of colour, the fluidity of the animation and volume of assets really impresses here. We’ve seen a lot of large, open-ended games this year but it’s clear that Guerrilla Games stands at the top of the industry with its efforts. Even with the growing sense of open world fatigue, we found that the world and lore was interesting enough to carry us through the game, while the quality of these visuals and the solidity of the presentation is unparalleled.”
Horizon: Zero Dawn is available now. You can also download Frozen Wilds on PlayStation Store. A Complete Edition of the game will release next month.
