Horizon: Zero Dawn Had Working Two Player Co-op, But It Was Cut To Keep A Larger Feature Set In

Mathijs De Jonge, Game Director of Horizon: Zero Dawn, shared several interesting tidbits on the development of the PlayStation 4 game. For instance, Guerrilla had a working two player co-op mode at the beginning but the programmers said that to keep it in the game they'd have to halve the feature set.

[ccgr]

Bummer, I love co-op

[-Foxtrot]

Good

See how things like co-op can have drastic long term effects on other features

Best to keep it out of the game if it wasn’t that kind of game which it isn’t

I applause them for thinking logically...this is why I hope co-op never comes to Elderscrolls, Witcher, Fallout and the like...think of the things they’d have to cut

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed

[Chris_Wray]

No complaints here. Co-op would have been incredibly cool, however with how the game turned out and the compromise that co-op would have resulted in, we got by far the better end of the deal.

[Cmv38]

I think it could have worked without compromises, butt we'd still be waiting on the game. Just something for the sequel.

[Chris_Wray]

I don't know. I imagine the cost would have been too prohibitive. Especially because Horizon was a brand new IP and untested. The choice to focus on what they did was the right one. At least for me anyway.

[Neonridr]

hmm.. maybe for the sequel

[UCForce]

I’m not so sure about. Even Horizon Zero Dawn is open world rpg action adventure, the game is narrative focus on Aloy and her world.

[Neonridr]

just an option.. something to consider I guess.

[fenome]

Yeah, but hunting monsters with friends is fun.

[sampsonon]

they can write whatever story they want for her in the future. hey look, she has a brother with a back story that was also involved with Horizon Zero Dawn and he was also (SPOILER!!!!) from a dish.

[Alexious]

Yeah, now they got a solid foundation and it could become feasible for the second game.

[Cyborgg]

It's like saying the Witcher 3 with co-op. Won't work

[Neonridr]

meh nothing is impossible.

[Cyborgg]

It would just make the game easier

[fenome]

I would be down with that.

[-Foxtrot]

Nah hopefully not

Don’t want any other new ideas being cut

[Goldby]

well Kojima is adding Co-op for Death Stranding so GG may take some points use the altered Decima engine that Kojima is using for the sequel

[Relientk77]

Glad it was single player and they didn't halve the feature set. Horizon turned out amazing.

[Hardiman]

No worries as it was perfect!

[Razzer]

I’m happy with the way it turned out. Looking forward to the sequel.

[Skankinruby]

Good decision, make single player as good as you can

[Avengerz43]

Damn this would have been so much fun, but it turned out to be an amazing game solo so I'm good with it.

[SlySouls]

Co-op with a friend to take down robot dinosaurs sounds like an awesome idea.

[jznrpg]

This has been known for sometime

[mockzer0]

I'm a huge fan of co-op, but this game was so enjoyable to me that I wouldn't have wanted to tamper with the experience.

[Nodoze]

GOOD CALL BRAVO. Way too many co-op games. It is nice to have a relaxing SP experience. Thanks GG.

[Godmars290]

We now know what's coming in the sequel.

[WickedLester]

They made the right choice. The game is perfect as is.

[AnubisG]

I'm happy. I much much prefer an amaing single play experience than co-op. Usually when I game I want to escape from people not deal with them. Occasional co-op is fine here and there but not at the cost of the single player experience. Co-op with friends could be great on occasion as well but not always. There is a reason why singple player games dominate the GOTY awards. Competitive multiplayer is crap in my opinion. I despise it. Full of hateful @holes and if you are lucky enough, you can even get murdered by a SWAT team if you play better than others online.

[neutralgamer1992]

i like SP but if they do a co-op i will like to see how that works

i just starting playing maybe 3-5 hours in so far i haven't been having a lot of fun, does this game really pick up after 10 hours in? and any tips or tricks?

[cd1]

I enjoyed it from start to plat - maybe its just not your type of game.

[neutralgamer1992]

sadly i think i need to play a shooter of some sort to get back to these type of games again(i know weird but lately been playing many games wit similar combat to HZD) I am gonna play doom than get back into it

[josh-eh]

It starts off kinda slow.. picks up after “the proving”. You’ll get better and more confident in combat which makes it more fun, and finding out more about the world and how it became that way Is part of the fun :) one of my favourite games!

[josh-eh]

I was telling my roomate itd be so much fun to fight robots together, since we both loved the game, but I wouldn’t want them to sacrifice features and details for coop, as I would prefer an amazing single player experience vs a game focussed on coop.

If they added coop to the sequel, I’d definitely welcome it as long as they didn’t have to take away from anything (downgrades, single player).

I’d say stick with single player unless it’s something crazy simple to tack on afterwards.. like a horde mode.

[ZombieKiller]

I absolutely love co-op and would love to see this feature in this very detailed, amazing game. Maybe in a patch in the future

[UKmilitia]

well introduce it as dlc,give people the choice to do the story as coop

[Servbot41]

Co-op DLC please. Would make one of the best games last year even better.

[sampsonon]

if they keep the performance and graphics at the level they are now and have the 2nd game release on the ps5 i could see coop feature if one wanted it. or you can have the option to raise quality if you're playing single player story mode.

[joab777]

Imagine if Guerilla combines their MP prowess with their ability to craft and create a world like Horizon for the sequel. We could get a monster-hubter esque game that is unbelievable. Though tough to top MHW right now. My GotG so far!!

[killswitch80]

I probably would of finished it if it featured coop...I was bored instantly and I wanted to love it ..the usual curse with that studio ...great games just no soul

[ShadowWolf712]

That game has a ton of soul.

[killswitch80]

no

[chaos-emeralds]

Leave co op for monster hunter. Aloy runs alone.

[TheOttomatic91]

Kinda glad they did made me enjoy the game that much more

[pody]

Good.

[iEatNapkinz]

Wow......I would play this game a shit load more if I could co-op with some friends. I already did 100% from base DLC. Co-Op missions would give me a reason to get back into it some more

[OffRoadKing]

Co-op would have been fun but sometimes concessions must be made for the greater good.

[Tross]

Well, the game is excellent. I'd rather have a great game that has one less feature and does everything it does have really well, than for a bunch of other content to be compromised to make room for just one additional feature.

[Dragonscale]

Great decision. Wasn't needed.

[zivtheawesome]

no problem, game was fantastic. if you want to add it to the sequel though i wouldn't complain, just make it playable in SP.

[Xenophon_York]

Co-op would had been nice, but not at the expense of solo player quality and polish.

And. It's. HORIZON ZERO DAWN. NO. COLON! You're effin' game journalists—do your job.

[UnderDude]

Good call, co-op would make the story even worse.

[windblowsagain]

Just turn up the difficulty for co-op, so you need to work together for takedowns.