While I may not be the biggest fan of PlayStation remasters, I can acknowledge that they are exciting. It’s always nice to see a beloved game return to the spotlight in a completely new way. However, with a remaster comes the comparison between the previous version and the new one. A tweet shared by Jan-Bart van Beek, the Studio Director & Art Director at Guerrilla Games, gives fans a glimpse at what Aloy will look like in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and I gotta say, maybe PlayStation needs to start using a new remaster machine.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the comparison is night and day… literally. The left image references the original game, which shows more shadows to her face and liveliness in her eyes. When I look at the image on the right, I can’t help but compare it to the washed-out smoothing effect that AI generators give human faces.
Fans in the replies were quick to agree, with one simply saying, “Original looks better 🤷♂️.” I don’t blame them; the original does look significantly better concerning the display of human emotion and realism that Guerilla Games strove for. In some ways, it feels like the developer had all of its hard work washed away with the Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster.
Despite the game’s appearance at first glance, van Beek pairs the images with the information that this is being done to match the lighting style developed for Horizon Forbidden West, saying, “The lighting on the skin now uses a dual specular lobe for both direct lighting and environmental reflection to more accurately represent the epidermal and subdermal layers of the skin.” He double-downs on this change to explain, “Thin hair resolves better with improved anti-aliasing and also has a better lighting model to simulate the real-world light transfer on the inside of hair strands.”
At first glance, I can’t say that I particularly like the look of Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster, but that might change when I see it. Another commentator best expressed my feelings in the replies: “If the upgrades are there, people will see themselves, mate.”
