Summary
Guerrilla’sHorizonmultiplayer game will reuse a number of systems from the existing mainline entries, according to some newly surfaced evidence. This bit of insight into the upcoming project, which also includes a hint of its genre of choice, arrives shortly after another leak offered somenarrative info about Guerrilla’s multiplayerHorizongame.
The Sony-owned developer originally confirmed that an onlinemultiplayer addition to theHorizonseries was in the worksat The Game Awards 2022 back in December. While the company has yet to officially share any concrete details about the project, its job listings have been a steady source of information about the upcoming game ever since.
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The latest such insight comes from a newly advertised opening in Guerrilla’s game code systems team. While the posting is largely technical due to the nature of the position, it does confirm that the first-everHorizonmultiplayer game will reuse some of the tech developed for the first two mainline entries in the series,Zero DawnandForbidden West. Specifically, Guerrilla is looking to take advantage of its existing world and quest systems by repurposing them for its online project, the listing reveals.
The full extent of the studio’s plans to reuse its technology for the upcoming title remains unclear, but the undertaking is unlikely to be a straightforward plug-and-done endeavor, as online multiplayer games come with their own set of unique challenges in terms of data synchronization, balancing, and overall infrastructure scalability. The last time Guerrilla tackled those issues was over a decade ago when it was working onKillzone Shadow Fall, a PS4 launch title with online modes for up to 24 players.
And whileKillzone Shadow Fall’smultiplayer lobbies are barely active nowadays, the Dutch studio is plausibly hoping that itsHorizonspinoff will wield greater staying power, not least because the title will be a “AAA RPG,” as spelled out in the developer’s latest job ad. Whether that label hints at an MMO likeWorld of Warcraftor a more contained cooperative experience in the vein ofDiablo 4remains to be seen. Regardless, online RPGs historically had longer shelf lives compared to their FPS counterparts.
Given its genre of choice,Horizon’sfirst multiplayer game is likely to enjoy unprecedented post-launch supportfrom Guerrilla. And though the studio recently described the upcoming title as its “next” release, suggesting it will hit the market before theHorizon Forbidden Westsequel, the project itself still appears to be years away from going gold.
