Guerilla Games has announced its next project, Horizon Hunters Gathering, a cooperative action game set in the Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West universes. PvE multiplayer will let players hunt down beast machines from Horizon games to earn rewards. Horizon Hunters Gathering will release on PS5 and PC at some point, with a closed playtest planned for the end of February.
Guerrilla called the game “a new chapter in the Horizon universe,” and said Hunters’ Gathering draws from the studio’s multiplayer experience from the Killzone series. Horizon Hunters Gathering is a tactical co-op action game where teams of up to three players engage in “challenging and replayable” hunts to destroy machines. Guerrilla said the game’s combat is “tactical, reactive, and highly skill-based.”
In the accompanying announcement video, the studio details the game’s combat, modes, world, and story. Guerrilla introduces three playable characters who will be available in upcoming playtests, but the studio says the game’s hero roster will grow.
Horizon Hunters Gathering Features
The three hunters shown in the announcement have unique abilities and playstyles in the tank, support, and tactician categories. Players must work together tactically to take down machines in combat featuring melee and ranged weapons. There is a Rogue-lite perk and weapon upgrade system that allows players to increase their power with each hunt.
At launch, Horizon Hunters’ Gathering will ship with four maps, each with the titular Hunters’ Gathering at the center, where heroes can tune up their gear, upgrade their equipment, and team up for their next hunt. Players can also customize their own campsite to party with friends.
In the first playtest, the game will feature two game modes: Machine Invasion, where players battle waves of machines culminating in a boss battle; and Cauldron Descent, where hunters take on a longer, multi-stage ordeal inside a cauldron. Invasion of the Machines also features battle royale-style shrinking play areas. Guerrilla says they will improve both modes based on player feedback from playtests.
Horizon Hunters Party Game Test
Horizon Hunters Gathering will also feature a narrative campaign, which can be played solo or in co-op. Guerrilla said the game’s story will become part of the Horizon universe canon.
Sony and Guerrilla confirmed that Horizon Hunters: Gathering will support cross-platform play between PS5 and PC, as well as cross-process support when users log in and save the game using the same PSN account. A “small-scale” closed game test will be available to users of the PlayStation Beta program on PC and PS5 at the end of February.
Horizon Hunters Gathering doesn’t have a release date yet. The game will launch as part of a rollout of PlayStation’s live service, which has had mixed results in the past. While Sony-backed multiplayer game Helldivers 2 was a hit, the company’s hero shooter Concord failed to make a mark, being taken offline just weeks after launch.
Sony has also canceled several live service projects, including multiplayer games set in the universes of The Last of Us and God of War. The PlayStation parent company also plans to release Bungie’s escape shooter Marathon in March.