Horizon Forbidden West vs Horizon Zero Dawn | Direct Comparison
Early Access Review code provided by Sony Computer Entertainment.
Direct visual and gameplay comparison of the recently released "Horizon Forbidden West" and its predecessor, "Horizon Zero Dawn."
This video covers primarily the visual aspects of both games - all spoiler free, including a look at character models, environmental detail, lighting design, effects, and a few side comparisons.
Both games are being played on the PS5 - with Zero Dawn defaulting to a checkerboarded 4K resolution at 60fps, while Forbidden West is set to its "Fidelity Mode", which targets 4K at 30fps.
For the sound comparisons - Forbidden West is set to its 1800p 60fps performance mode.
You can learn more about Forbidden West with my full review here: kzhead.info/sun/bJSym9SDlqmHnGg/bejne.html
Table of Contents:
00:00 Intro
02:08 Character Models
04:54 Machine Models
06:56 Environments
10:21 Lighting
11:41 Shadow Quality
12:04 Effects
14:44 Sound Comparisons
18:11 Final Thoughts
Learn more about my setup here: kzhead.info/sun/a7Caf75-b4idZp8/bejne.html
#HorizonForbiddenWest #PS5 #DirectComparison
Correction: Forbidden West is actually set to a NATIVE 4K output in fidelity mode, not checkerboarded, which is pretty impressive considering it maintains 30fps almost all the time (had it drop heavily once during a battle with a slitherfang)
i cant play in 30 fps. it feels so choppy. but i played uncharted 4 in 30 fps and did not think about it at all. dont like to have the option to toggle between 30 and 60 fps. i want higher resolution, but when i switch to 60 fps mode. i cant play 30 anymore
@André R Lol what are you even saying? This comment is all over the place hahaha
Hey man will you be doing an e3 vs retail video as well. Because it seems like there's not much downgrade and the devs have done some good work
@@elliotyorkcameron793 Essentially, he can’t stand 30 fps… but he played Uncharted 4 in 30 fps. He wants higher resolution but he also wants 60 fps because he can’t stand 30 fps even though he played Uncharted 4 in 30 fps & didn’t think about it at all.
@john xiong Hahah right? The comment contradicts itself twice.
The character interactions and facial animations in the sequel are a triumph. They didn’t just improve them, they’ve completely revamped them. Even the side quests are all mocapped with incredible facial animations
That’s sick!! Been loving this game so far, 4 hours in
That's the amazing part, alot of it ain't even mocapped but it looks so good.
Aloy finally seems to have some character due to the new facial animations
Facial animations of this game are really the best in the industry. And I love how the side quests have their own side stories that seem as engaging as the main quests. Last game I know which has awesome side quests is Witcher 3.
Triumph indeed
The biggest improvement IMO are the interactions with NPCs during side quests. I remember getting bored with the side quests because the interactions are so robotic and has limited animations. I'm so glad they went all out with Forbidden West so every conversation are more engaging now.
I love how if you do not pick a choice they make awkward faces until you pick something 😂
"boomer" best woman "KABOOOM" 🤣🤣
still be borring, idk why, and are unnesesasy at max difficult at end of the game i have all skill points, all things do without do much of the sidequest just because are so repetive tedious,
The improved side quest interactions actually started in the Frozen Wilds dlc for Zero Dawn. I'm really glad that continued over in Forbidden West since it made all the characters much more lively.
@@jorgecarvajal5385 Well, the acting is quite poor. And, the side quests are mostly all trivial in context. The main quests are very urgent (or pretend to be) while the side quests are nearly all unrelated. It is a common problem in games, but HFW is particularly bad in that regard. Moreover, Aloy is more of a jerk in HFW.
To be honest, I'm more impressed with how well Zero dawn continues to hold up
oh please lol
@@JohnJohn-fe6yc 😑
Still playing it
What I don’t like is that you have to press L3 everytime you run so it makes combat more annoying. Besides that it’s great
@@AJBuddhabruh that’s every game of the last decade
Forbidden West is a perfect example of how to do a sequel. Keep the game about the same, but make it better and only change things that need changed
They did exactly that in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and many complained about it. I don't share their opinion, and I haven't even played the game myself.
@@purwantiallan5089 You mean 10/10
The story suffered heavily so the gameplay could thrive imo. Forbidden West was a huge disappointment in comparison to Zero Dawn in terms of storytelling.
Far from perfect imo. The graphics were easily the best ever made still in 2024. The gameplay was fun but didn’t feel fresh as almost nothing improved. The storytelling was not half as engaging as the prequel, making me doubt whether I’d want to play the possible 3rd instalment.
@@ragamuffin98 did you even play it? almost nothing improved? HUH?? And the story telling is awesome.
Both horizon games are really impressive but forbidden west pushed everything further and it's really beautiful
Yess
Hail your supreme leader!
Do I need to play zero dawn before forbidden west? Or can I start with forbidden west without missing out on the story
Should I play the first if I want to play the sequel?
@@hussainzeyad7343 You should at least learn the story zero dawn tells, otherwise forbidden west would be confusing
Both games are absolutely gorgeous, I still think it would be impressive if Zero Dawn came out today, but they just crushed it with the new one.
The graphics look great, but it just looks like the gameplay will be garbage.
@@the.average.students Gameplay is excellent,garbage should never be used in the same sentence as Horizon my confused son..
@@frankbasile3662 father??!
@@frankbasile3662 that’s my… opinion…?
@@frankbasile3662 you can like the game if you want. I just don’t like horizon.
You'll never beat that feeling I got when I first saw a Longneck in HZD - how tall it was, how it moves and sounds, climbing it, everything!
This is so true
@@purwantiallan5089 I can't wait that it finally releases for PC. But i guess it'll still take a long time to do so. "cries"
@@WhiteCranK 31st of march we ride!
Yes i know 🥳 i'm so happy about it!@@laurensd.l.2717
I got first game to 100% on hardest difficulty. Frozen wilds were a bit pita due to sponginess of bears but still, first game was masterpiece. Second game mechanics had significant improvement but story and characters felt off. I finished HZD 2 story and then stopped. I did not play expansion of HZD 2. I did not like HZD 2 at end. Too bad they did not keep story and character feeling from HZD since it is direct sequel.
The audio in this game is UNREAL, for battles with hidden or burrowing enemies you can hear the direction they are coming from and going to attack. When just walking through the environment you can hear everything around you, friend or foe, and turn your camera to look in the direction to see what it is. The level of immersion with the 3D headset is unreal. It makes great use of sound as a sense to experience the game.
3D sound is nothing new.. I've heard that in so many games. The main reason for this is that you simply need 3D headphones or Dolbi surround headsets^^
@@SolidStigma187 Didn't say it was new. Said the USE of it was unreal, and they are right. Not every game has sound design like this.
I'm hard of hearing and found Forbidden West to be a massive improvement on distinction between audio cues to the point where I didn't feel like I had to constantly solely rely on sight to determine enemies and distance. Makes it much more enjoyable and immersive to play.
I had just the opposite experience on PS5. I found audio to be hard to follow with haphazard direction sounds.
@@hiwayhighway9925 Hmm yea that's interesting.. I play on PS4. I wonder how much difference it makes
This is the first time in while that I’ve been able to tell a drastic difference in sound quality from one entry to the next Edit: since a few commenters didn’t seem to catch it my comment is talking about SOUND quality, rather than general game quality
The last of us is typing
@@reedified6514 uncharted 4 is typing...
RDR1 VS RDRII
@@GrandSil90 I think you mean ears.
Serious you need to watch more carefully then
It's so interesting how I can look at Horizon Zero Dawn from 2017 and be like : Wow, this is still one of the best looking games ever And then I see Forbidden West and just have no words left.
True, but its not surprising how old games still look good these days... Crysis from 2007, while it looks dated by today's standards, still looks impressive to this day, as well as Uncharted 2, Witcher 3, etc.
@@lancebermejo3319 And HZD isn't even that old, it's not even 5 years old. So no wonder it's graphics still holds up especially on PC.
@@EarthIsFlat456 True
@@EarthIsFlat456 I'm still blown away by AC Unity and GTA 5 too, both still look decent!
@@lancebermejo3319 You mean cysis 3 ryt because cysis 1 looks completely outdated for today's grapghic And the withcher 3 too looks very outdated i was so surprised i visited it month ego and i couldnt believe how outdated it has gotten
The character details are insane. She even has tiny little hairs visible on her face. You gotta love the ridiculous amounts of improvements.
Yeah its great how they gave her a chubby fuzzy face lmfao
@@TeamGun There is always one 🤓
@@crazybabuskaman3923 Guarantee they've never seen a woman that close up before.
The small hair on the face are insane and even every NPC has this details!!! But in general Aloy doestn look amazing because of old gen hair and lack of polygons on ears ... Miles morales main charcter looked better ... I will made comparison on my channel to show it...
@@TeamGun peach fuzz is visible on everyones face in real life
Only real visual issue I have with the game is Aloys over animated hair. The smallest movement seems to send her whole head of hair flying.
I get hair problems. A character hugged aloy and her hair went through the arms of the person hugging her
I love her hair just floating around. It's like it's got a mind of its own.... it doesn't affect or ruin my immersion in one bit. Lmfao is that weird?
Agreed, it needs more weight. Like it LOOKS like she has a lot of hair, but the way it acts is like its full of helium. Still, I'm loving the game either way.
My bf and I noticed this the first day playing FW. Her hair is way too reactivate and animated
And the crazy over the top facial expressions that don't line up with what's being said making everyone look like a deranged serial killer
Wow, the waves are quite amazing. The gaming industry has a severe lack of water-based games, and each time I see something like this, as well as the incredible ocean in Sea of Thieves, it gives me hope for some cool water-based games such as realistic white water rapids, surfing, jetskiing, etc.
Sea of thieves still tops the charts for me personally. I dont care for its gameplay loop but those waves are fantastic
Black Flags
@@Legion849 Black Flag was the worst lol
How about the gorgeous Assassins Creed Odyssey? The water there was just whoa!
@@royolaniye6643 Good bait Black Flags is the greatest pirate game.
My favorite detail in Forbidden West was definitely the music. The producer really outdid themselves with this soundtrack. Also her ability to fly and swim underwater really brought the game over the top, as you can utilize every inch of the map
Glad you pointed that out. The music RIPS!
Its quite staggering to see how far games have come. From my wee days playing Alex Kidd on my master system to this... like its hard to even comprehend how much graphics have changed in 30 years.
My first game was Crystal Castles on the Atari ST computer. This visuals in this game are INSANE and I love it!
@@mayowankenobi And it's funny when you are a kid and those graphics were like unbelievably good xD
Horizon Zero Dawn was, until recently, the most beautiful game I've ever played. And now it's been topped by Horizon Forbidden West. It looks so incredible and fantastic that it leaves me speechless. 😍
I think the story line in horizon zero dawn was much better, do you agreed with me?
@@arashtaheri9172 I can't say anything about the story yet, because I'm still eagerly waiting for the PC version.
Try Assassin's Creed Origins or Odyssey. Both look stunning. I loved Horizon Zero Dawn but in terms of graphics impact, I think AC Odyssey is better.
@@coolcat23 I've played Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla on PC at max settings. Yes, they look great. However, they don't look quite as great as Horizon Zero Dawn on PC in my eyes. And Forbidden West is far more beautiful and impressive again. The water alone, the wave movements or the many details under water, but also the vegetation and also the liveliness of nature with the many animals and insects are simply terrific and much better than in Origins, Odyssey or Valhalla.
@@raven4515 I cannot speak to Forbidden West from personal experience but I know it is a considerable step up from Zero Dawn. I'm not sure why we differ in our assessment of the graphics quality. Zero Dawn is really nice in many ways, but in my view it does not quite reach the "I want to play the game just to experience that area again"-quality of the AC games. I guess some of it comes down to personal preference.
As a person who has paid $3k+ for a PC rig, I bought a PS5 recently just to play the exclusive Forbidden West... and my god... its just breathtaking. Visually one of the best games I've ever played, unbelievable for a $500 package. In love with this game.
You mean to tell me you got a PS5 for retail price during these times? Yeeeeeah, ok buddy
@@weirdeurasianboy8091 you hating or jealous or something? Bad day?
@@danishhaikal8840 Ah envy. Of the seven deadly sins, probably the one I get most easily corrupted by.
x2
@@weirdeurasianboy8091 You have good humor. Envy you
The hefty amount of details this game shows is just otherworldly. _Salute_ to Playstation and Guerilla on this achievement and to you for the incredible quality of your work.
Water, forests, and jungles is where HFW blows HZD out of the water and you can see a generational difference. The canyon and snowy environments HZD still stacks up quite well imo.
I completely agree with you.
4:39 The improvement on character modeling is insane. I had to pause for a moment to process whether that was from the game or real life image.
Which can be annoying. I just finished and got the platinum trophy five months ago. And so many characters are soo hard for me to recognize. But i'm really bad at remembering people and their names in real life too. Like varl doesn't look like the same giy to me.
Sometimes, it seems like you could reach the TV and touch the characters. It's quite insane.
Now you're just being dramatic.
Wow, I'm not one to be easily impressed by graphics, but Forbidden West just looks amazing! This is the kind of visuals that you expect from trailers and pre-rendered cutscenes, not real time gameplay. Crysis 4 has some real competition here!
well its going to have even more probably since god of war 5 is being released too this year and the 2018 game just blew every single game out the world
@@VariantAEC you forgot The Last of Us was the visual bar late in PS3s life. Tlou2 is the bar on PS4.
I wanna see how this will look on PC 3090 RTX in 8k quality
@@josuem7398 facts
It's actually insane that I could spend hours by just roaming around the field while enjoying sceneries. It's almost like traveling.
This has to be one of the most detailed and most accurate comparisons made on KZhead. Subbed immediately. Loved the video.
Forbidden West improves in about every aspect from Zero Dawn. That's how a sequel is done!
Now we need Red Dead Redemption 3
Gotta wait for a couple of years
@@coops1992 wait until horizon 3 is released lol
@@thecoolnewsguyit won’t compare lmao rdr3 will probably look real af
Except for its story
This type of gameplay quality can only be produced by Nick.... hats off man, really an awesome video😍
what?
Dude what are you even saying? Are you saying he did a good job of putting together the video?
These reviews/comparisons are a cut above, without a doubt among the best out there. I hope to hear more about if/how the dual sense controllers tech is being implemented. Controller speaker effects are a nice touch in these games too.
Enormous props to every single person that worked on this Forbidden West. This is truly the first time that I’ve felt amazed by the presentation of a game alone.
The first time I played Forbidden West, I said to myself “This has the best looking black people I’ve ever seen in a game”. Normally we get fucked but Guerilla Games did us right!
Looking at the newly added hair texture underneath Aloy's actual hair strands you realise that this technique can be used in many different instances. For example, a perfect way to create more believable thick grass is to add a similarly coloured grass texture on the ground underneath the grass blades. I've seen many games struggle with making believable grass and this is one of the reasons why. If I can recall correctly, this technique is also used in God of War 2018 with Krato's beard. Idk why I go on rambling but I felt the need to point it out, don't mind me.
Can we just appreciate how Nick managed to talk about almost everything in a very Sharply detailed video, wonderful job mate.
The first Horizon game was spectacular now that I look at it. Even today, it still look gorgeous. Horizon Forbidden West is just on another level of gorgeous. There's just no words to describe how beautiful that game is. I play this on PS5 on a 4K TV and sometimes I just stop and look at the environment and at the lighting. I especially love how the game looks at night, when its just the moon and the stars that are lighting up the environment (and the lights of the machines!)
Jesus Christ loves you u u u
I really hoped this video would come. Out of my 30 or so channels I’m subbed to yours always comes up as the suggested because I watch these comparisons religiously
yoo me tooooo i've been waiting for this one since the day the game came out.
@@pallavthaker2020 great minds think alike 😂
Yes, this is the video I have been waiting for and boy was it worth the wait so happy about the improvements made to this game over its predecessor, and while I know that there are still some slight loose ends that need to be fixed and tied up which I am sure in due time they will be anyways. I have no doubt that this game would make one of the top contenders for the game of the year. Another fabulous comparison Nick, well done.
Jesus Christ loves you u u u
Great job Nick. A lot of effort has gone into making this.
Aloy been eating good
I don't have words to say nick930 i waited this video since the gameplay reveal days thank you very much❤❤❤
Nick, you should play “Enlisted”, it’s a pretty underrated WW2 free to play shooter that has a pretty impressive physics system, even better than bf 2042, and even more impressive effects
Lots of bugs but it’s still a really good game.
Well thanks for the info, I'm gonna give it a looksie
Anything is better than bf2042 💀
BF 2042 isn’t that impressive. V blows it out of the water
It's published by Gajin Enterainment who are known for nickel and diming their players and not caring about anything other than short term profit unfortunately. See War Thunder and Crossout.
Absolutely love this. Such an overhaul in most areas from the original. A pure visual treat. Unfortunately at the moment I’m having serious white flickering on foliage and some wall textures on Resolution Mode when moving or panning the camera gently. Switching HDR off on PS5 system settings solves this but the difference in quality with HDR off is quite noticeable. Hotfix restarts didn’t help so really hoping they push a patch asap as it’s very jarring
The attention to detail, how the character interacts with the environment and how the environment interacts back is beyond many other games in this genre, Aloy truly feels alive as well as all the other characters in the game regardless of their importance to the main storyline. This game exceeded all my expectations and has raised the quality bar so high for any other games from here on. HFW should be the perfection example/benchmark for any other gamming companies!!!
I was waiting for this. Thanks Nick
I love these comparison videos so much. Thank you! I would love one comparing the game on a base PS4 vs PS4 Pro vs PS5.
Well made video. I can tell you put a lot of work into it.
I really like the dropping of the sand and snow i just really don't like how much it goes down. somehow they made it in a way LESS realistic by making them drop by that much, Better to just make invisible footprints then make the sand/snow drop in those locations by a little bit, rather than making what is essentially a 30cm trench everywhere you go.
I remember watching your spider man E3 vs retail comparison and I feel in love with this channel ever since
Puddles
@@Omarized160 Lots and lots of puddles. Not really the big takeaway from that particular video but yup.. puddles
The thing i'm very impressed about is that how the character models look like It's so trippy to me because i thought it was a real person. Plus the little details when the rain drops on Aloy's face
i had to laugh when people complained about Aloy having pronounced peach fuzz. A) everyone has some facial hair, it's part of being human. B) Elizabet Sobek was Scandinavian, and frankly us skandi folks, have more pronounced hair, which goes hand in hand with our hair colours. C) you're getting graphics that can include this minute detail of human anatomy, instead of relying on graphical shortcuts to convey the general shape of a person. Ultimately, the team at Guerilla is devoted to making things feel real, and not idealized, while still bringing new visions to the table.
the facial and character animation is on another level, very nice work.
3:30 Omg. This is jaw dropping seeing how vast these differences are up close. 😲
I thought 19:35 was more impressive tbh
@@Zesrii ...Ha ha, very funny. You got me this time sir, but it shall not happen again!
Hii Nick, can you do also a comparison between the State of Play demo and the retail version of Horizon Forbidden West?
Thank you for the effort you pour into these videos.
The pop in is probably happening more because there are more things loading in at the same time. Horizon unlike other Series puts alotta effort into varied or unique assets in different areas and that can cause pop in to happen especially since Horizon has so much in its games
Hi Nick, can you do a comparison between the gameplay trailer and the final release of this game?
Amazing game ...but at this time there are some serious issues in performance mode with the sharpening, blurr, shimmering and some washed and overwhite areas...but i'm sure they will fix this in no time...for me HZD is Goty
You mean HFW?
@@Stylebender1989 no i really mean Horizon Zero Dawn...yes forbidden west is a big step in every direction...but the graphical issues and problems especially on the performance mode make it at this time almost unplayable and far from the beautiful clean image of the first Horizon....personally i stoped to play it until a fix will come
Have you tried system software cache clean after letting it install? U have to turn off ps5 not in rest mode n then hold the power button for 7 sec and then connect a controller to ur ps5 and then turn it on and press system software cache clean it might help with the bugs and glitches. Did that with my deathloop when it was so buggy but it's playing like butter now no more freezes while exploring or bugs.
@@DanPlayMore my deathloop was having thos problems but way worse but after I system software cache clean it got better even on far cry 6. I got surprised with the system software cache clean made my games absolute
@@DanPlayMore It's not that bad imo. I can deal with it. This game is addictive, I'm trying so hard to stop myself because I'm spending so much time on it too quickly. 11 hours in and I haven't even got past the Utaru.
Very nice comparisons, very detailed. It shows how much work you've done. I'm not a fan of the 1st one but I couldn't ignore the visuals and design and Forbidden West is truly a masterpiece. I just wish the plot was a bit different with Zero Dawn.
I mean, to be fair, Forbidden west is a big improvement.... But man Zero Dawn is incredible in its own right
This game is way too amazing, better than first one i mean HZD was GREAT but this one is better :)
I love it when a Game company takes there first game and just improve on it immensely making an even better masterpiece. Unlike other game company’s where they either change it for the worst or just don’t change it at all.
Expect nothing less from PS exclusives
AMAZING COMPARISON BRO 🔥
Great video and amazing looking game! Love to see this in 4K or even HD quality. Keep the great content coming. Edit. Nevermind I had a slow connection. I'm a dummy.
I feel like the Frozen Wilds LDC gets overlooked a lot. They improved so much from HZD with the frozen wilds DLC and I see how it was the stepping stone toward the beautiful triumph of Forbidden West
the Desert Map in Forbidden West is magnificent, it's the first time in years that I really fell in love with the Beauty of that map, especially at night.
This game alone makes me wish I had a PS5.
It’ll still look good on the ps4
@@trey5973 i would wait to play new games on ps5 the controller adaptive trigger and vibrations react to your bow and alot of stuff in the game you can feel the tension while pulling back your bow string and a stronger vibration is sent through the controller when you release they really went all out showing off the controller in this game
@@trey5973 Xbox Series X is all I got at the moment, just haven’t pulled the trigger for the other yet
@@HDmetajoker good choice it's value for you're money
@@HDmetajoker I have both and the Xbox is a great! I find since getting the ps5 I'm spending way more money than necessary.... Like £70 a game😑😬 that's stupid. Xbox is offering the best gaming experience as game pass literally offers something for everyone for such a small price!
Been playing this game all weekend. I've taken all side quests so far. I just want to explore the whole world. I'm blown away by the this game. Just curious @Nick930, what makes it a "near" masterpiece not just a masterpiece?
That first comparison is key, character models especially for Aloy. People forgot that PS5 has more power to process texture. So Guerilla Games can make the game looks more. It's not about changing how Aloy looks, Aloy always looks like that... she's just much more details than the porcelain skin Aloy in HZD
The game is on PS4 too?
@@Bycekko it is
Can't wait for Forbidden West to come out for PC. Recently I got to play HZD for the first time on PC and loved it. HFW looks so much more amazing.
Amazingly, I experienced zero dawn for the first time ever around 2 months ago. I was impressed with the character designs and animations. Now getting to play FW soon after, I’m just as impressed all over again. Also, how lucky was I not to have to wait long for the sequel 😁
I wish haha. I first played Zero Dawn when it released for PC (I wanted to play it when it came out but I don't have a playstation), and I loved it to death. I played it back to back to get every achievement. Now I'm likely gonna have to wait years before Forbidden west even has a chance of coming to PC. Though if they released the first one on PC, I don't see why they won't eventually release the second
Incredible upgrade! Great video! BTW. If you are planning on porting a game to a new console, it is probably a bad idea to use raytracing(no hardware support). There is no reason you can't substitute raytraced reflections, for planar reflections, the hardware impact is identical. Screen space reflections are pretty much free to use as far as framerate impact.
The real stunner here is, the first part is 7 years old!!! Wow!
for me the biggest change is the facial expression and models in cutscenes which were aweful in most cases in zero dawn. Its much more believable and alive. Makes a big difference to me to enjoy the story properly.
7:05 The wind going through the wheat seems very strong but Alloy's hair is barely affected. This feels very jarring, especially since the hair is so smoothly animated. The fact that it keeps going straight through her bow is even worse of course. Not saying its a bad looking game but at this level of polish and with the bow being an integral part of the game i wish they had made sure that this kind of thing wouldn't happen.
Tildas suit looks insane the white pink and blue colors and the invisible shield on zeniths looks crazy
The use of the dualsense haptic feedback and atapdive triggers is done extreamly well in my opinion. Different weapons require different force and have a different feel. And the haptics can be so agressive or so subtle when they need to be. Ill be walking near a river and itll take me a while to notice the controller is rumbling. Also when fiving straight down on a sunwing. It somehow manages to give a feeling like you are falling in a weird way
Honestly seeing videos like this make me awe at how astoundingly gorgeous HZD was. The new one is better, yes, but... man. I cannot believe how well the old on stands up. It's nearly 6 years old. In tech terms that is ancient and it looks better than 90% of intending-to-be-photorealistic games released today. Playstation exclusives just trounce the competition.
HZD is not a Playstation exclusive anymore. It looks great on PC; don't know whether it looks better than the PS5 version but I guess one can play it with a higher frame rate at least.
@@coolcat23 it's still a console exclusive and the game come out first in ps4 and Sony made the game so the game is still able to be called a playstation exclusive
@@yachayeeeb9423 Try to find out what "exclusive" means.
@@coolcat23 🤦 woow I don't know what exclusive mean woooow
The facial animations man... Never has a game ever nailed them THIS good. Edit : Okay, yes, i do agree with some people pointing out that TLOU2 has better faces. But this looks absolutely STUNNING nonetheless.
I still think the last of us 2 has better face animations
The facial animation is an amazing leap from zero danw, but its nowhere as good as games like TLOU2 and RDR2. Its just very good, while zero dawn was comically bad.
@@thedjrush it definitely does, but that was a more linear game this has alot more dialogue side characters etc to talk with, super impressive for a game this big. I wonder just how much improved games like starfield, mass effect or dragon age are compared to this it's basically an action rpg
You're right, it's quite stunning in this game, probably one of the best ever, but in my opinion? Tlou2 is a little bit credible and realistic. Horizon is kind of "cartoon", that's not a bad thing though.
@@deathvraider6475 mate as much as i love RDR2 but its facial animations is no where near as good as this game and the last of us.
I had so much time spent playing Zero Dawn! Can't wait now for Forbidden West to be ported on PC!
You have to wait 3 or 4 years
I think something worth comparing is also the effects a override has on a tallneck. After jumping of of it, the electricity in forbidden west is way more realistic and also gets shown when just jumping of the tall neck. The override also can be seen from far away as a blue pulse appearing on the head of it, not like in zero dawn where you can bately see it when youre standing right on the head.
Hopefully you'll do a retail vs demo video of horizon forbidden west. Did they bring back lure call for enemy to hunt machines?
Yes hope he does one for that too
@@Rahul-px3my you think they brought back the lure call?
There are plenty of gameplay videos already why don't you check them out?
@@EarthIsFlat456 haven't seen the lurecall whistle feature that people asking about from the first one
Been playing for 2 days 6 hours/ day. I am sooo much loving this, cant recall the last time i spent this many hours/day in a game.
Great comparison video. Thanks
Hi there, I was curious on your comment about the absence of ray tracing in the game as one of the game directors, Mathijs de Jong himself stated that ray tracing has in fact been incorporated into the game. So I was wondering which is true, whether ray tracing is incorporated or not
One thing I love that I want to see in more games is motion aiming as an option. More games need it. One thing I don't like is the pickup animation regressed to stopping Aloy to pick up the item instead of keeping her moving
As far as the pickup animation you can simply turn that off in the settings so you can run and grab
@@nomomsnorules2804 really? I wonder why that isn't on by default? Cause even though it is an option, most people don't go through the options menu. So devs need to make sure the default options are ones that are the best for a majority of people. Kinda why the pickup animation is one of the most hated changes
@@teneesh3376 yeah I only picked it up after watching a few tip videos along with active sprint on mounts and a few others. I understand the devs having pickup as default, to me it adds one more thing that immerses the player into a real or believable world around them. Though i REALLY enjoy having it off lol.
@@teneesh3376 it's all in the accessibility tab.
Forbidden West is an improvement yes, but it's surprising how well the original game still holds up... Zero Dawn was clearly ahead of its time.
I agree with origins but absolutely not shadows of war. That game looked.. "ok" And yeah def witcher 3
@VinAr Run no
@VinAr Run Origins and witcher are vast compared to HZD, but on PS4 where I played them all three, HZD was miles ahead, both on visuals as well as on mechanics. In Origins esp, after first half an hour or so everything feels like repeats.
@Lov Mir learn to spell before actually trying to make a comeback
free climbing ,flying and diving are great for exploration and wandering. For some one who curious and want to explore the game, i see those are big pluses. New areas ,new mechanic , solving puzzle and fighting machines under water gonna be great
i only watched this as i love FW and was curious to know if the first one was similar in visual quality... im glad to see that given the years the 2 were separated in the making that the original will still be a nice experience. it all comes down to technology and what was available to developers at the time. i remember playing resident evil, the original way back in 1991 i think. i thought that game was so realistic... i remember showing my friends saying "i cant believe they made this so realistic"... it amazes me that today the size and quality is breathtaking
Having only just started playing Zero Dawn (I'm always a few years behind. It's cheaper to game that way =p) and even though it's an older game it really holds up. The textures of the robots that are mentioned here are not something that will bother you in gameplay as things are constantly moving, so there isn't really time to pixel peep. And when in combat there's a lot of motion and animation going on as well. Excellent games for sure.
When I was about to leave the base, the west side didn't load so I fell through the floor into a vacuum. I looked up and half of the base didn't load. This happened in the beginning cut scene when Aloy was climbing. it seemed like she was climbing in midair hanging onto nothing. These are the only two that I have noticed.
Lmao same, i was sliding off the stairs at the base, and slid right into the void
finally, a video that compares the same game instead of another game! i just subbed ^_^
The improvements to visuals are very impressive. Thankfully, the more egregious pop-in has been corrected with the patches (it's far less noticeable now). Forbidden West isn't a perfect game, but perhaps its greatest strength is its visuals.
I feel like my only complaint with visual on HZFW is the fog. I feel like the draw distance is so short because of it
I have the same complaint. I don't like the overuse of the fog to limit the range of the map we can see. It kills the feeling to be in a huge world. HZD was breathtaking to makes us feel the vast canyon where we could literally see across the whole fkg map.
They use that trick to make the world feel much bigger.
@@stephaneneron idk about that zero dawn is pretty much in the same boat lol.
Both games are absolute masterpieces. 😍😍😍
Thank you for this comparison. I'm playing through HZD for the first time, having picked it up during Steam's winter sale. I almost never pay full price for AAA titles, but thanks to your video, I will gladly do so when HFW makes it to PC.
Getting the platinum in these games was fun. At first i was scared of the machines cus i didn't know how to fight in games like these but now i do it easily of course. I also love the story, however the only character that i truly love is Silas.
i love those games that dont need ray tracing to look good remember red dead redemption 2 ? one of the best looking games on pc without raytracing
PS5 Red Dead Redemption 2 Next Gen Update Will Add Enhanced Raytracing, And Horizon Forbidden West Have Raytracing
@@nextbigthingthebeastincarn7216 is it confirmed that Rdr2 will get a next gen update?
The character model improvements are AMAZING. They genuinely look like real people. All of the little wrinkles, imperfections, peach fuzz, etc. I just played Zero Dawn last fall and was amazed by the graphics then, but this game is one of the most visually stunning pieces of media I’ve ever seen.
The only thing I hope they don't patch which really dont mess up the game because you have to choose to do it is the Infinite Jump glitch at times ive got trapped in spots and that helped me to get out if an area i wouldnt have been able to get out of
Thank you for your work. Could you do a Comparison between the zero dawn one on PS4 pro et and the forbidden west on PS4 pro too? That could allow to see their work on the same machine. Thank you again
I got bored playing the first one because the combat is so repetitive and got easy asf. The game looks beautiful and the concept is nice but not my kinda game
Same
Same but with breath fo the wild instead of horizon
This time it's a little bit better and complex, there're timings and combos, but in essential it's kind the same.
@@sebastianjaldn3538 for some reason I don't get bored of botw's combat horizon on the otherhand tho
Yeah 4 real couldnt agree more
The shield wing could've easily been made to be used as a shield against attacks but overall i love the game, it's nothing short of spectacular
Aloy needs different melee options. Sword, spear, dagger, mace, and shield should be an option in sword stance
@@pb25193 i think that the spear fits her pretty well, for overrides mainly and other enviromental aspects found in the game, and to think that she would move on from what Rost taught her is kind of not Nice
@@Kevin-me9ln she moved on from rost when she started using a focus imo she was never restricted to rosts skillset. Rost didn't fly with shieldwings
@@pb25193 it is a game that is set in our future not in the Middle Ages.
Great comparison, one of the best
effects: you can also walk down long gras and flatten it. The flying mount can cut trees with it wings.