PS4/PS5 Horizon Forbidden West

[Giamast]

Joris de Man, The Flight, Oleksa Lozowchuk, Niels van der Leest - Horizon Forbidden West: The Isle of Spires - EP

Listen to Horizon Forbidden West: The Isle of Spires - EP by Joris de Man, The Flight, Oleksa Lozowchuk, Niels van der Leest.

soundtracks.lnk.to

 

[dante3vergil]

Openworld e grandezza/densità mappa:


Bravi

Spero che quel "content" siano dungeon e tesori da scoprire

 

[Giamast]

The introduction of even more flying machines, like the Sunwing, have gotten players pretty excited over the idea of Aloy using them to fly. Will we be able to explore the Forbidden West by taking to the skies?​

Mathijs de Jonge: We are aware that this feature is very, very high on the wishlists of many gamers, but I cannot confirm or deny anything about this. I can only talk about what's in the actual gameplay demo that we showed.

​

The game was shown off at 4K 30fps, but are there plans for a 60fps gameplay option?​

Mathijs de Jonge: For the PlayStation 5 version, we are supporting two modes. One is Performance Mode. And another is something like a Quality Mode. The Quality Mode is 4K 30 FPS, but the Performance Mode is indeed 60 FPS. So yes, we do have a 60 FPS version for the PlayStation 5.

How far along is the game in development at this point?​

Mathijs de Jonge: We have just successfully completed our beta milestone, which is pretty far along. We're now in the final stages of development. So we are polishing the game and fixing bugs. We are also wrapping up certain aspects of the game, like some of the machines being behind schedule - because it takes an enormous amount of time to build them. We're working on the final cinematic. So, we're really wrapping up. There's still a lot to do with a game of this size and magnitude, but we're in the final stages.

​

Will there be any incentives for players to explore the new underwater environments, such as loot, collectibles or sidequests?​

Mathijs de Jonge: The underwater exploration is completely new to this game since in the previous game, you could only swim just below the surface. Now you can go as deep as you want. With a diving mask, you can stay underwater for as long as you like, so you don't have the pressure of an oxygen bar that keeps depleting. You can really take your time and explore these beautiful underwater locations.

And we have, like you saw in the demo, these flooded areas because the game takes place a thousand years in the future, so the sea level has also risen significantly. A lot of the places that we have on the map are now flooded. So you have these sunken cities that you can go into. There are also...I don't want to go into too much detail on this, but there are also specific scenarios, quests and even activities where you have to go underwater to discover certain secrets or to help certain people.

How does this game take advantage of the PlayStation 5’s new features?​

Mathijs de Jonge: One of the big advantages I'm experiencing right now as a developer is how incredibly fast things load. Because normally, if we played our builds, it would take maybe two minutes to load the game to test something. Now it's seconds. Normally, I would be able to check my phone or read an email. Now I don't have the time because it's so quick. It's really incredible. We're also using the DualSense controller with the adaptive triggers, where you can feel the tension on the string when you pull the bow back. We’re also fully supporting the haptic feedback and 3D audio.

I think a lot of the features are a great fit for Horizon because we always try to make the game as immersive as possible. We want to make players feel like they want to be in that world, or that they are actually in that world. So those new PlayStation 5 features like the controller, the 3D audio and then of course, the CPU and the graphical prowess which make the graphics even more beautiful - they all help to make you feel even more immersed in the game.

How are you making use of the console’s ray tracing tech?​

Mathijs de Jonge: We use ray tracing technology for a lot of things in the game. We use it for the sound engine, for the physics and for the rendering. So we use a variety of technical setups, in terms of ray tracing. I'm not a tech engineer, so I can't explain it in much more detail than this. But yes, we are utilizing it.

The gameplay demo showed off a ton of destruction during Aloy’s battle with the Tremortusk. Will there be destructible environments throughout the open-world as well, or was that limited to this story mission?​

Mathijs de Jonge: This is what we call a set piece, and we have quite a few of those scattered around the game throughout the open world, in quests and certain scenarios. We also have destructibility in terms of trees and rocks, and other smaller ruins. So yes, absolutely. There's more destructibility throughout the game, but this is a really big world, so we're not going for full-scale destructibility. That's not what the game is about. We do have places to show off how powerful the machines are, where they can crash through trees or through walls. However, it's not like the entire world can be destroyed.

Speaking of these new traversal methods, how has the level design of this world changed to keep up with all of Aloy’s new tools?​

This wasn't so clear in the State of Play, but in the open world of the Forbidden West, you can climb anywhere. You also don't have to ping the Focus all the time. As was explained, the Focus ping is only for places where the light conditions are bad. At night for example, when you cannot see climbing points immediately, you can ping it just to see more clearly. Even without the ping though, you can always climb up places. We added the glider so you can quickly go down as well, which really speeds up traversal. Now you don't have to go around mountains anymore, like in the previous game. It feels much, much more free.

Those mechanics intermingle with the rest of the game. You can also surprise enemies from above with the glider. You can even mix and match some of these mechanics as we saw in the gameplay demo, where we were using a grapple to spring into the air before switching to the glider. Instead of going further up by climbing, we also looked at ways to explore downwards - and that's why we looked into water exploration. We wanted to create a very beautiful world underneath the surface of the water, one that players would also want to explore, and that's why we added the diving mask and all the new swimming abilities, like the boost that you can use to go through currents. There is also a dodge mechanic that you can use to dodge away from machines. You can use smoke bombs in water to blind enemies and get away from them. There are more tools to use underwater as well, to help with traversal and getting around these dangerous enemies.

I have to ask. Can we ride the Tremortusk?​

Mathijs de Jonge: Good question. We added new machines that you can ride in this game like the Clawstrider - you can ride that one. There might be more, but I can’t get into specifics. Unfortunately, you can’t ride the Tremortusk. The key reason for that is that quite a few years ago, we prototyped riding the bigger machines for the first game, and we noticed that if you put the gameplay camera behind that, it makes Aloy really, really small on the screen.

You're basically only controlling the machine, and that felt so strange, because we always want the game to feel like you're playing as Aloy. It felt like you were playing as the machine, so that just broke the gameplay experience for us. We always want to have the camera quite close up to Aloy as well, because you are her, essentially. That’s the big reason we abandoned that. We did try it, but it didn't work well for the game, unfortunately.

We got a little snippet of how melee combat has been updated for Horizon Forbidden West, like Aloy timing an arrow shot to follow up an attack. How else is combat being expanded upon in this sequel?​

Mathijs de Jonge: We felt that the melee combat system in the first game was a little bit flat. You had a couple of moves, but throughout the game you would have new skills, new outfits, new weapons - but melee did not really evolve. It was pretty simple. So for this game, we wanted to give the player more options and more room to grow stronger in melee, specifically. We’ve completely redesigned the skill tree for this, it’s all new. One branch of the skill tree is all about melee combat, where you can acquire new melee combo moves with skill points.

These new moves do more damage, such as the Resonance Blast. This is what we also showed in the gameplay trailer. The Resonance Blast is a move you get by hitting the enemy multiple times and charging up the spear. You’ll see rings at the end of the spear light up, and when that's completely full, you can hit the enemy and reveal points of damage - that was the blue ring from the demo. You then follow that up with an arrow to do a lot of damage. This is a specific move available via the skill tree.

We’ve added other things to the skill tree as well. One ability gives you a bar at the bottom right of your screen that grows when you pull off technical actions during gameplay. For example, removing helmets or shooting a weak point - we reward this kind of tactical play with special combat XP which charges the bar. When it fills up, you can execute one of these special moves.

We also have weapon techniques, which add more depth to the combat. So every weapon class in the game, like the slingshots or bows for example, they all have one or more special weapon techniques. One special weapon technique that we showed in the gameplay trailer, for example, was in the very last shot. You see Aloy get down on one knee to execute a very powerful arrow shot that takes the Tremortusk down. That was actually a weapon technique that the player acquired through the skills screen. You can cycle through these weapon techniques and switch to different ones, with more being gradually unlocked as you progress.

Are there any noticeable differences between the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game? Has this cross-generation development process proven to be limiting in any way?​

Mathijs de Jonge: I don't think the cross-generation development was limiting in any way. When we started with the concept of this game, we had so many great ideas that ended up being included - to the point that we didn't really think about hardware limitations or anything, we just wanted to design a really nice, unique experience for the player. An awesome adventure. That's how we also brainstormed all the quests and events the player is going to go through. I think that the big delta between these two consoles, apart from the 3D audio, quick loading and DualSense of course, is on the graphical side of things. On the PlayStation 5, we can add so much more detail graphically. We can see the tiny hairs on Aloy’s face, for example. You can also see a ton of detail from far away.

I don't think many people notice in the demo, but you could see moss growing on the rocks. On the PlayStation 5, each individual strand of moss is rendered individually. So this machine is so powerful, and it can add so much more detail to the image. I think that's one of the biggest deltas, next to the processing power of the machine. We also use it for a specific lighting rig. This is a cinematic lighting rig that we normally only have time to use in cinematics. Because the PlayStation 5 is so much more powerful, we have it on all the time. During gameplay, there's a very high-quality rendering and lighting system on a lot. So there are all these extra features that make the game look even better.

Interview: Horizon Forbidden West's creators promise a highly ambitious sequel

Will Aloy finally get to fly on a machine? We talked to the creators of Horizon Forbidden West to find out.

www.hardwarezone.com.sg

Post automatically merged: 3 Giu 2021

 

[SANJI87]

Quindi il volo con le macchine non lo confermano nè lo escludono

 

[Meight]

Ottimo per la modalità performance a 60fps.

 

[Krauron]

Differenze PS4-PS5:

• Water tech is completely different (details, waves, physics, visual)
• Lighting tech (herolight during gameplay is exclusive to PS5, only present in cutscenes for PS4 version; indirect light complete overhaul on PS5, etc.)
• 60FPS mode only for PS5
• 3D Audio, Dualsense, no loading times for PS5
• Much more graphic fidelity, details and density for PS5 version ("we can really go beyond" [than PS4])

Mi aspetto la stessa cosa per GOW

 

[Giamast]

E' un miracolo se ce la fanno per novembre, comunque

 

[Sora91]

1440p 60 fps

 

[SANJI87]

1440p 60 fps

Upscalato in 4K comunque

Spero

 

[Giamast]

Confermano anche più distruttibilità ambientale nell'open world, ma limitatamente agli elementi delle arene, quindi: piccole rovine, alberi, rocce. Mi sembra un buon compromesso

 

[SANJI87]

Confermano anche più distruttibilità ambientale nell'open world, ma limitatamente agli elementi delle arene, quindi: piccole rovine, alberi, rocce. Mi sembra un buon compromesso

Praticamente dicono che la parte con il mammuth era scriptata, tipo un set piece

 

[Giamast]

 

[Nosgoth]

Eh ma PS5 è inutile prenderla, secondo alcuni guru

 

[Alberto97]

Fantastiche notizie, tutte.
Bene che lo sviluppo sia comunque alla fase finale, se anche non dovessero farcela per fine anno non dovremo aspettare tanto di più. Daje

 

[SANJI87]

La colonna sonora del 1

 

[SolidSnake91]

Niente volo libero insomma

 

[Capp96100]

Niente volo libero insomma

Eh chissà perché

 

[Giamast]

Niente volo libero insomma

L'override del mammuth l'ha negato però, mentre per il volo ha detto che non può rispondere

 

[SolidSnake91]

L'override del mammuth l'ha negato però, mentre per il volo ha detto che non può rispondere

Penso proprio che la sezione di volo ci sarà ma sarà un set piece, per il volo inteso come meccanica libera si dovrà aspettare il 3 a fine gen, che spettacolo

 

[zaza50]