It's certainly a big year for video games. Even though major titles from Resident Evil Village to Persona 5 Strikers are already on the market, there's still plenty of other game on the way. Fans of all consoles have everything from Halo Infinite to Metroid Dread to look forward to. On the PlayStation front, Horizon Forbidden West is one of the big ticket items still meant to release this year. Guerrilla Games keeps releasing tidbits about the Horizon Zero Dawn sequel, but it has yet to confirm exactly when the game is coming out. Sooner rather than later, that needs to change.
Horizon Forbidden West remains slated for a release sometime in the second half of 2021. Guerrilla Games hasn't clarified that for a long time, which has made fans wonder for months if it'll get delayed into 2022. Ideally, it'll remain on schedule and serve as Sony's capstone for the year, but nothing is certain. If Guerrilla and Sony still plan on releasing Horizon Forbidden West in 2021, then they need to publicize the release date. Well over half of 2021 has gone by without any clarification on when to expect the game. Although there are some signs of optimism coming out of the developer, nothing is certain until Guerrilla releases details.
Horizon Forbidden West's State of Development
In June, game director Mathijs de Jonge actually commented on the state of Horizon Forbidden West's development. He claimed that the game was in its final stages, which explained why it looked so complete in the recent gameplay trailer that Guerrilla Games and Sony revealed. He said that Horizon Forbidden West's central mechanics, gameplay, and story are essentially complete and that the game still looks like it's on track for a holiday 2021 release. On the other hand, de Jonge also mentioned that development on some Forbidden West machines is behind. That certainly gives off the impression that the game needs a little extra time.
On the whole, it sounds likely that Horizon Forbidden West will make it to a holiday 2021 release. If so many of the game's central elements are done, then hopefully Guerrilla Games can pivot some resources into catching up on the machine development in order to get the game to a holiday release. If that's the case, then Guerrilla Games really ought to speak up about it again soon. Although de Jonge's comments are valuable, they're also nearly two months out of date. Horizon Forbidden West could be in a very different place by now.
Aloy's Impending Adventure
De Jonge's description of a holiday release date does put Horizon Forbidden West's release at the far end of the original Q3/Q4 2021 release window. That means Guerrilla Games is probably already accounting for the extra time it needs to catch up on lagging development aspects and polish everything else. From the time of de Jonge's comments, Guerrilla Games would've been giving itself another half a year to finish the game, which is a pretty significant chunk of time. There's a lot of Horizon content that Guerrilla Games could get ready with that kind of window, so ideally it's made the most of that time.
Horizon Forbidden West's conspicuous absence from the latest Sony State of Play might be explained by de Jonge's careful statements on the game's release. Maybe it's still a little too early to nail down a release date, which a Horizon Forbidden West appearance at the State of Play would've probably needed to be impactful. The sooner that changes, though, the better. There's still a lot of big games left to release in 2021, so Horizon Forbidden West has to get its release date nailed down so fans can prioritize it instead of focusing on other new games while Horizon waffles. The sooner fans know for sure when Forbidden West releases, the better poised it is for big holiday sales.
Horizon Forbidden West releases in late 2021 for PS4 and PS5.
