Horizon Forbidden West Lets You Slow Down Load Times To Read Tips

With the advent of SSDs in both the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, load times are getting so fast that it's making other gaming mainstays, like load screen tips, obsolete. For Horizon Forbidden West, Guerrilla actually slowed down the load times slightly to give players time to read. But don't worry, you can still skip ahead if you'd like.

Guerrilla detailed its PS4 and PS5 tech optimizations to Engadget. The studio said that the loads that took up to a minute in Horizon Zero Dawn will be done in four or five seconds on PS5. But the team discovered from playtesting that players rely on those hints to learn the game's systems, so it made the game hang on a loading screen for just a little longer to give you enough time to read a tip.

If you'd rather have speed than knowledge, though, you can easily turn off the feature. To skip ahead once, just hit X when the loading is done and it will move the game forward before you've had the extra tip-reading time. If you want it to just load quickly all the time, you can turn it off in the game's settings. And of course, on PS4 the game doesn't use an NVMe SSD, so this issue doesn't come up.

Sony is offering a free upgrade from the PS4 to PS5 version of Horizon Forbidden West, but it's a little complex, and you can't pre-load the upgrade. You'll have to wait until it's out, claim the upgrade, and then download it. Be sure to check out our Horizon Forbidden West review, as well as our Horizon Forbidden West release time guide. We also have a host of guides to get you started, including beginner's tips and the best weapons.