Digital Foundry; Horizon Zero Dawn in-depth tech analysis

Well this is a more detailed analysis. It seem that horizon zero dawn is the best game we've seen today on a technical level and also makes the best use of todays hardware.

Your thoughts SW?

Game looks fantastic but damnit, no GI at all and the water kinda looks meh. Doesn't even react to the character moving through it. Same for the foliage. I hate these little sacrifices but thankfully they are few and far between.

Mighty impressive indeed from GG. People with the Pro enjoy.

Can't wait to play it. Rumors of Far Cry frighten me and I really hope it's not another run-off-the-mill open world game.

Truly a technical feat. And thank GOD for the extensive HUD customization - that was a big thing I was worried about

yeah that's what's keeping me on the fence too, and if I'm taking the jump I don't even know if I should get a ps4 pro or a regular ps4. I do have a 1080p tv though and I'm not buying a 4k tv for this, that would be pushing it lol.

Even PC games with graphical detail like this are relatively few and far between. Looks like the PS4 has plenty of life left in the ol girl.

To be honest they don't make games of this scale exclusively for PC any more. There is simply no incentive. If devs make a very computationally demanding game, they cut off a huge chunk of the PC market and the resulting sales might be abysmal. There's just no point in making big PC exclusives any more. Why not release them on console too and double the profits?

Most of the footage is taken on the ps4 pro though

Yeah if your totally burnt out by Far Cry proceed with caution. From the impressions so far I can only speculate mostly from Giant Bomb podcast and others. Looking forward to verify myself. The far cry like structures are presented in a subtle way. Example there is only few of the machines with the satellite representing the towers. Once your introduce to one within the story you don't necessary need to climb all of them. There far in between and done in a fresh way. You can also buy map packs instead but then this still does the bunch icons on your overall map thing. It is an RPG game. Not a lot of outpost clearing stuff and these are actually presented as progression quest from just this one npc. Beyond all of that crap most of the game is driven by its fantastic combat with the machines, ruins which are the coolest stuff sony not allowing anyone to show yet. Main story seems neat low middle but a great payoff at the end. Side quest are no where near whicher 3 level they are just as shitty as the other open world games. They are some really cool ones too. Alloy is a great character as you can tell from that engadget reviewer lol. Everyone seems to say she's a great character though.

@Shewgenja: crytek is gone the only dev who pushed the boundaries of PC. So yeah there aren't and won't be any more games on PC that will look as amazing as these ps4 exclusives like horizon and upcoming god of war, last of us 2 etc.

Star citizen seems to be the only one that has a chance to really shine in terms of visuals but its release is nowhere close.

Also PC doesn't have big companies like Sony to fund the development for games that's also one of the reasons you won't see PC games like crysis anymore.

@Juub1990: why though? You don't like far cry? Especially 2 and 3?

Game is not the best looking I have seen but it does have it's moments.

I think once again the draw distance is a bit meh but that is what you would expect on consoles.

Like mentioned before there is not much interaction with water or foliage.

Also the cutscene animations are down right atrocious.

So far the best visuals I have scene was from Resident Evil 7 running on my PC at 4k with HDR. But that game has wide variations of meh visuals to outstanding.

The scene that really stood out to me was early on when you wake up at the dinner table. With HDR at 4k it was the best I have seen yet.

Trying to figure out if you have a point.

Well something got to give,it does look incredible tho,and the performance at least is solid.

ps4 pro has better graphics fidelity, regardless of resolution.

True. I'm glad I have one.

How much did you pay?

Fo' hunnit. Gave my og PS4 to a friend.

Not surprising, gamers finding a way to bitch about exceptional graphics and pretending that graphics on this level is the norm and nothing special. I love reading the pretentious gamers, it's funny stuff.

320$ for mine sealed and brand new. The guy I got it from is freakin shady though. I always go to him when I want tech at low prices. No idea where he gets his stuff from lol.

400 is actually not a bad price for the hardware you're getting.

320$ is (in every sense of the word) a steal

@commander: Oh it quite literally is a steal lol. Last year I got the Ps4 with Uncharted 4 for 250$.

your parents must be proud

@commander: They are.

I try not to buy from retail stores to be honest. Brand new units can always be found online for much cheaper.

Don't feel too bad either. As soon as the manufacturer has shipped it to the retailer, their money has been made.

so you steal from the retailer then, how do you sleep at night?

@commander: Not sure to be honest. Close my eyes and it just happens.

Not the "best ever" but looks great still. Up there in top 3 best-looking open world games

I hate it to break it you but karma is something that will come get you, sooner or later.

@commander: As long as it costs me less than 250$ and 320$ I'm ready for it.

One of the best looking open world ever!!! Kudos to GG for their hard work!!!

Aloy is already one of my fav female characters, that's quite tellin'.