Horizon Hunters Gathering: Multi Online Game Reveals Cartoonish Art Style akin to Fortnite

Guerrilla Games has ended years of speculation by officially announcing Horizon Hunters Gathering, a multiplayer project set in the Horizon universe. This is a strategic move by Sony to expand its popular single-player franchises into cooperative and multiplayer experiences. However, the studio faces significant challenges, especially given previous unsuccessful attempts in this space. Horizon Hunters Gathering is unrelated to Horizon Steel Frontiers, the MMO project outsourced to NCsoft. Guerrilla Games is developing Horizon Hunters Gathering in-house as a distinct expansion of the franchise, aiming to succeed where studios like Naughty Dog have faced setbacks, such as the cancellation of The Last of Us Online. Developed for both PS5 and PC, Horizon Hunters Gathering distinguishes itself with a stylized, cartoon-like aesthetic—a departure from the series' usual realism. This stylistic choice likely serves to differentiate the spin-off from the main Horizon games while aligning it visually with popular multiplayer titles such as Fortnite or Overwatch.

PlayStation users will be interested to learn that the game features a narrative campaign playable solo or cooperatively. Guerrilla Games emphasizes that this campaign is integrated into the Horizon universe, focusing on exploring its lore, mysteries, and machine-ravaged world, even within a multiplayer context. Two modes have been highlighted: Machine Incursion, which features intense battles against waves of machines culminating in a boss fight, and Cauldron Descent, designed as a cooperative dungeon crawl. Players can try these modes and three hunters in the first closed beta test at the end of February for PS5 and PC via the PlayStation beta program.

Horizon Hunters Gathering: Socializing and Preparing at the Hunters Refuge with Crossplay & Cross-Progression Features

Between missions, players can socialize and prepare for hunts at the Hunters Refuge. This central hub serves as a social area, a base of operations, and includes shops and gear upgrades. From there, players can access the game's crossplay and cross-progression features between PS5 and PC, powered by the Decima engine. The game will require PlayStation Plus, suggesting it will not be free-to-play. Currently, there is no release date, as the developers plan to incorporate player feedback to refine the game's balance, structure, and content. Guerrilla Games' commitment to incorporating player feedback suggests a measured approach to ensuring Horizon Hunters Gathering finds its audience.

In Case You Missed It

In an industry grappling with concerns over the quality of AI-generated content, Sony stands tall as a champion embracing artificial intelligence. In "Sony Unafraid of AI" (), Carlos Mendoza explores how Sony's CFO Lin Tao views AI not as a replacement, but an enhancement to artistic creativity. Meanwhile, Guerrilla Games is branching out from their single-player roots with 'Horizon Hunter Gathering', an upcoming cooperative multiplayer experience revealed by Sophie Laurent (), promising a diverse roster of characters and challenging bosses inspired by Elden Ring's Nightreign. And if that wasn't enough, Marcus Thompson has just dropped a thrilling article titled "Horizon Hunters Gathering: The Online Cooperative Game of the Horizon Series" (), detailing this promising free-to-play cooperative action game set in the PlayStation universe, where you'll team up with two other hunters to battle mechanical threats across diverse environments. Stay tuned for more details about its monetization model and upcoming canonical story campaign!