While there are plenty of FPS-heads out there who’d give an arm and a leg for Guerilla Games to put down the Horizon series it’s spent the past decade getting off the ground and go back to making Killzone, it seems the studio itself is still pretty comfortable with the choice to switch to making adventures for Aloy.
In an interview with Washington Post about LEGO Horizon Adventures, one of the numerous Horizon things being released soon, long-time Guerilla art director Roy Postma shared the developer’s viewpoint on the call to take opn a fresh challenge after putting out of 2013’s Killzone Shadow Fall – which currently serves as the series’ swansong.
“We were done with it as a team. As a studio, we needed to refresh the palette. It was, by choice, the opposite of Killzone,” said Postma, who’s been at Guerrilla since 2000. He added regarding Horizon: “I think the themes that this story and the characters represent are relatable for all ages and people, like having a found family of friends and finding your place in the world.”
It’s no doubt frustrating to hear for folks who’re personally more into dark futuristic shooters than they are action-adventurey open worlds that’re full of machines to fight with your bow and exhibit the back-to-nature variety of post-apocalypse. But, hey, if the devs are happier doing this, surely that’s what matters most?
Plus, you’d be hard-pressed to try and pull out some kind of argument that Guerilla hasn’t had success with its fresher IP, even if it has left Sony without that big first-party FPS it once had in its arsenal. That said, if it was desperate to have that back and also let Guerilla keep on keeping on, surely loaning out Killzone to another PlayStation-affiliated studio would be an option, even if there are less of those kicking about these days.
Anyway, while we’re talking hypotheticals, I’m gonna go ahead and keep on wating for Motorstorm and Burnout to be allowed to emerge from their versions of the beloved IP afterlife.
Speaking of discontented players of the video games, Sony’s recently p**sed off some folks by using Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered’s PC release to add the game to the list of those that have a PlayStation Network account requirement, therefore locking out people who live in countries where the service currently doesn’t operate from purchasing it on that platform.