It’s been three years since Horizon Zero Dawn made its debut as a PS4 exclusive. For those unfamiliar with the game, Horizon Zero Dawn is a AAA title created by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Not only has the game received critical praise and amassed a massive fan base, the game has recently gotten a resurgence thanks to it being ported over to the PC via Steam. This is Sony’s second big title to be ported over to PC this year, the first being Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding that debuted earlier this summer.
I had the chance to play about 15+ hours of it and wanted to give you guys my first impressions. This will be a bit of a different “First Impressions” review though. I didn’t get to play the original version when it made its debut on PS4 so my experience on the PC was my first time really being introduced to the game. Luckily I’ve managed to stay away from spoilers and have been able to really enjoy the story as it was meant to be told. This version of the game also has the “Frozen Wilds DLC” packaged with it for no additional cost.
Image via Guerrilla Games
The PC edition supports native 4K, with the option to go for 60FPS if your system can handle it. Sony recommends an Intel Core i7-4770K @ 3.5GHz or an AMD Ryzen 5 1500X @ 3.5GHz CPU, on top of 16GB of RAM and an AMD Radeon RX 480 (4 GB) or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB) graphics card for “1080p, 60FPS.”
Unfortunately, my PC wasn’t up to those requirements. I have an Intel Core of i5-9400F CPU @ 2.90GHz so I couldn’t have the graphics up to their optimal settings in the gameplay. When I did try and bump up the graphics on the ultimate setting my game became laggy and hard to play. Although it couldn’t reach the maximum quality, I still enjoyed how everything looked and how everything moved within the world itself.
Below you can see the settings on my computer where I was able to play this game without any issues:
Gameplay
Image via Guerilla Games
I’ve played a decent amount of PC games and I’ve got to say in terms of gameplay and how they utilize the keyboard, this is easily one of my favorite PC games yet. Since I had no prior experience with the game using a PS4 controller starting with a blank slate made it very easy to learn the controls on the keyboard and mouse. The combat vs enemies is so much fun, especially when it comes to using the bow. Because you have more precision on the mouse, getting headshots is much easier compared to what it would be like with a controller.
Check out the control mapping:
If you haven’t had the chance to play Horizon Zero Dawn and have a PC, I definitely recommend getting this game. The game is visually breathtaking and fun as hell when it comes to the combat. I’ve really enjoyed the story thus far and there are a bunch of reviews online of the PS4 version if you need a better idea of the story itself and what you would be diving into. Also, I recommend playing it so you can play the sequel game once it’s released on the PS5. Make sure to check your system specs beforehand!
With their rival company Microsoft making the Gamepass such a good deal when it comes to PC games, it will be interesting to see if Sony starts porting more of their older AAA titles onto the PC to start to compete with them on that front as well. Will we see more Sony games pop up on Steam in the future? One can only hope. If and when that does, happen you can expect us to cover it right here on Collider!
Image via Guerilla Games
Do you plan on getting Horizon Zero Dawn for the PC? Let us know in the comments below.
Horizon Zero Dawn PC edition is now available on Steam for $49.99
