Horizon Zero Dawn: Here's Why Guerrilla Didn't Reveal The Map Size, "It Will Destroy The Illusion"

Horizon: Zero Dawn is one of this generation's most breathtaking open world experiences. Featuring a vast open world and a unique science fiction setting, Horizon Zero Dawn managed to steal player's hearts with its amazing cast of robot enemies and a story that will suck you right into it.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

The density of the map is really what stands out.

[gameseveryday]

Indeed, regardless of how big the map was, for me, Zero Dawn was about how unique each location was. How unique the environment, the machines, the NPCs were. And the developers absolutely nailed it in terms of quality unlike other open world games who give us a huge bloated map with nothing much to do.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed.

Its why I never cared about Fallout 4 having a small map, it had a wealth if things going on that I was fine with the density.

If GTAVI is 6x smaller then GTAV BUT adds MORE to do , more NPC etc, I'd take that over large empty flat map any day.

"Large map" is just overrated. What am I doing? THAT is the key.

[blitz0623]

Yup, I never really understood the whole "damn its map is 6x the size of this game" etc and how it hypes up people. Each planet in Andromeda is just about as big as the entire Horizon map (or maybe half) but with almost nothing to do (not to mention the awful texture pop ins)

[Kombatologist]

I'm still waiting for the day GTA lets you enter every building/house/structure. That would be more impressive to me than any amount of real estate.

[_-EDMIX-_]

@blit- agreed.

Its like, give me something to do or I don't care.

Something being 10000x of something else means legit nothing to me.

What can I do though?

I still like open world games, but I like open world games for what they do, not simply their raw size. If that was the case, No Man Sky is game of the year lol

I'd rather have a GTA, that was THE SMALLEST GTA, that allowed you to enter every building (or most) and had more complex NPC etc.

Flat, empty, extremely large does nothing to me lol

I just NEVER cared that Fallout 4 had a small map, it never felt small to me because there was just sooooooo much packed into the map that even 200 hours in, I still find areas and buildings I never saw or entered. No different then in real life where you could live in a city for years and realize you never went to a certain part. I really liked that feeling in Fallout 4 and its what makes me go back every once in a while just to look around.

[freshslicepizza]

why would they want to reveal the tricks to create the illusion of size and scope? i found out years later how guerilla restricted the amount of characters onscreen at once for killzone because the ps3 couldn't handle more than 7 otherwise major performance dips. hardware has its limits so its best they dont reveal everything. i have no idea how many horizon can handle at once.

this was a concern to me about the new zelda because i never saw too many enemies onscreen at once in any demo they showed.

[UKmilitia]

the most diverse landscapes/zones ever.
never got bored traveling anywhere,
its the first open world game ever that i have never felt like any of it was a chore.
masterpiece .

compare that to wildlands (a game i like and having a blast on)which is stuipid in size yet traveling round is a pain in arse.

[DanteVFenris666]

It sure looked pretty. But their wasn't much to do besides killing monsters in the open world. No objectives or secrets.

Quests did that. Quest deseign has been fantastic so far for me. But the open world itself not really special besides how gougeous it is.

[TheKingKratos]

Non of this explain how a game can have Cgi like graphics in a massive open world and run at near locked 30fps on BASE PS4 that look better than any open world game i have seen in my life as Pc and playstation gamer

ND/SSM/GG are really using some kind of bkack magic

[GTgamer]

Exactly having a big Map filled with empty places is pointless.

[mafiahajeri]

Not really. Although I agree in most cases that a large empty map is useless.

That wasn't the case in RDR. The large empty landscapes only added to the atmosphere with the harsh barren wide open plane. You felt alone, and it always felt hostile, and that's why it was special when you saw a bear or mountain lion or a random occurance like a looting or those random missions that would pop up around the map.

It would have lost abit of its magic if there were NPCs littered all over the place.

[3-4-5]

* It's why old Legend of Zelda games were still fun even though the maps weren't that big....they were packed with stuff to do.

Both Botw & Horizon got this write by learning from past games and doing what made sense.

Yea Botw's world is probably larger but both are great games with large great open worlds.

It's about what there is within the world and a few games over the past couple years have really gotten it right.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Agreed. Devs need to start getting away from worrying solely about map size. Those days are done, now ppl want a map worth exploring regardless of size. Density > map size.

[DanteVFenris666]

Density of what? Machines? Quests are only located in towns. Towns just display on your map. Theirs nothing to do in the wild unless you like grinding and killing machines all day.

The open world was horizons poorest aspect. Now for that sacrifice they nailed the story, presentation, the gameplay and some characters. But horizons open world wasn't inspiring albeit from how pretty it is. It's the definition of an empty map.

More secret areas such as cauldron type dungeons that weren't displayed on your map would have been cool. Hated that even the cauldrons were just plastered on your map as well. I felt no sense of discover for what should have been.

Not trying to hate the game I love it. But it's clearly it's weakest point you fanboys don't need to think it does everything right. A sequel can improve a lot from their first instalment.

It would be like someone saying zeldas botw strongest point was their dungeons.

[AspiringProGenji]

The density of the biomes, which he is right. The open world is actually Horizon's best feature because of the environments and the machines. You are supposed to be hunting machines! There are stuff to do, lots actually. Not overwhelming like an Ubisoft game thank god, but it had lots to do.

The moment you call everyone fanboys for having positive feedback I stopped reading. if you can't respect others opinions, then don't comment

[KwietStorm_BLM]

The density of the environment, smart guy, you know, the topic of the discussion. We're talking about the relationship between map size and density. Did you read anything above you or is it just easier to call everyone a fanboy?

[cyclindk]

Abc

[lxeasy]

I think that as long as the experience is amazing, which it was then size doesn't matter

[KwietStorm_BLM]

heh

[Patriot4Life]

;)

[Bathyj]

Phrasing

[Krysis]

That's what she said

[TheKingKratos]

@_@
Go on!! Where can i watch the rest ?
I hate porn trailers...they are such a tease :p

[UCForce]

You got that right.

[bow2yoda]

your girlfriend is lying to you lol

[windblowsagain]

Open world does not mean quality. Size does not matter:)

[ThePope]

I thought the open world was gorgeous but it felt empty to me. I compare everything to TW3 and I wish there was just more to it. But man were the Cauldrons cool.

[DragonDDark]

Lol empty? Really?

[Trez1234]

Empty ? Are you for real? It's not as big as the witcher 3 but you can't possibly say horizon has more empty spaces than witcher 3. Empty ? Lol