PlayStation and Guerrilla announce ‘tactical co-op’ Horizon game, Horizon Hunters Gathering
The Horizon spin-off lets up to three players team up as Hunters “to protect a world under threat from deadly machines”
Guerrilla Games and PlayStation have announced a new Horizon game, Horizon Hunters Gathering.
Set for release on PS5 and PC, Hunters Gathering is a “tactical co-op action game” set in the universe of Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West.
According to an announcement video, the game lets up to three players team up as Hunters “to protect a world under threat from deadly machines”.
At launch, players will be able to play Hunters Gathering solo with NPCs, or with other players in co-op, Guerrilla said, but only the latter will be available in upcoming public testing. According to Guerrilla, Hunters Gathering has a narrative campaign “which will introduce new mysteries, characters, and threats”.
Guerrilla plans to launch a “small-scale” closed playtest at the end of February, which you can sign up to via the PlayStation Beta Program.
“With the very first ideas that shaped the world of Horizon, we dreamed of players hunting machines together,” wrote game director Arjan Bak, who was previously art director for Zero Dawn.
“We started with a small group of Guerrillas – including myself back in the days as Design Director – and began exploring what that could look like. Drawing on our experience from the Killzone multiplayer titles and the momentum of Horizon Zero Dawn, we set out to bring cooperative action into the Horizon franchise.”
According to Bak, combat will be “tactical, reactive, and deeply skill-based”, with gameplay centered around replayable hunts.
Players choose from a roster of unique Hunters, each with their own melee or ranged playstyles and weapons, and select Hunter roles embedded with a “rogue-lite perk system” to craft a build.
Between missions, players will return to Hunters Gathering, a social hub where players can customize their characters, visit vendors, upgrade gear, and team up.
“Today we’re revealing two game modes: Machine Incursion, a high-intensity mission where waves of machines pour out from underground gateways, led by a formidable boss; and Cauldron Descent, a longer, multi-stage trial in which ever-changing rooms push Hunters to their limits, from brutal machine encounters to hidden doors that promise power and reward for teams prepared to open them.”
Since the Horizon franchise began in 2017, Guerrilla has released Horizon Zero Dawn, Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds, Horizon Forbidden West, Horizon: Call of the Mountain, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores, and Lego Horizon Adventures.
NCSoft also recently announced Horizon Steel Frontiers, a new MMORPG based on the Horizon franchise.
