-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Was Horizon Zero Dawn ever bested on a visual level?
- Thread starter Belthazar90
- Start date
NPC facial animations are a big knock against Horizon.
I'd give God of War and RDR2 the edge, even if Horizon has the best environmental design this gen.
I'd give God of War and RDR2 the edge, even if Horizon has the best environmental design this gen.
OP
OP
FF VII will definitely look amazing and all that... but I don't think it'll come near of what has already been done.
HZD/Frozen Wilds is still my favourite looking game this gen. I'm sure it could be argued that Death Stranding and Red Dead Redemption 2 are technically more accomplished, but HZD's combination of art and exaggerated hyper realism, not to mention the unbelievably complex and incredible looking machines, just does it for me.
You just couldn't help yourself. Can't fight your own nature. Can't fight gravity.
I know The Order cheats, but no, not for me. The asset quality in that game is still unmatched.
I don't think that there is anything in RDR2 that comes to the level of the machines in HZD alone.
Horizon Zero Dawn was a strange one to me because it had some absolutely spectacular looking areas and then it had some areas that just looked dated and bad. Specifically, some of the snowy ruins had some really low quality textures and piles of rubble that were really low detail all around.
I just think that different parts of the game got greater attention when it came to polishing the visuals.
RDR2 and Gears 5 were both better overall, IMO.
I just think that different parts of the game got greater attention when it came to polishing the visuals.
RDR2 and Gears 5 were both better overall, IMO.
Technically, I can't tell but aesthetically it has been beaten time and time again. Game looks drab, depressing and nearly monotone in color. It's also incredibly boring to play.
Many times, from games both before and after. It has some cool dinosaur designs but isn't exactly the strongest game artistically.
I dunno if it was my Pro or what, but I had a lot of issues with very close geometry/texture LOD pop-in, especially when turning the camera quickly.
So by that metric alone it was already surpassed by earlier games.
So by that metric alone it was already surpassed by earlier games.
Yep.. this game is still the king of open world games this gen.. RDR2 is close second but this game is insane and 1.5 years older than RDR2.
Is it?
RDR 2 hides its draw distance and LOD issues a lot better.
Control with ray tracing is stunning. Overall the game can lack polish in animations and character models though (that said, the underlying technology for those things are superior to both horizon and rdr2 I'd say). Metro Exodus is also absolutely breathtaking with ray tracing. RDR2 beats horizon zero dawn out when it comes to vistas as well, the amount of detail they cram into the distance is stunning, even on console. Horizon is a great use of the PS4 Pro hardware and I prefer its visuals over RDR2 on the Pro (primarily due to how resolution is handled), but it really doesn't compare to games that take advantage of higher quality hardware.
It wasn't just you. The game suffered from it quite a bit.
Character modelling isn't an engine feature though. It's just as different model.
DS May have had more detailed and more intricately rigged and captured character animation simply because of how much time the game is a cutscene.
Sam doesn't look stellar when you are out in the Normal gameplay world. There are also significant lighting and stylistic differences that make the 2 games looks different.
I think RDR2 bests it, easily, then goes a few better on PC. Metro Exodus and Control with RT enabled are also more impressive, I think. If we're talking about anything you can play, then Star Citizen might just be the single most impressive game out there at the moment.
GG does however, deserve huge praise for releasing a game that looks like Horizon on the PS4. It's still one of my favorite games of the gen, too. Looking forward to both the PC version and the sequel.
GG does however, deserve huge praise for releasing a game that looks like Horizon on the PS4. It's still one of my favorite games of the gen, too. Looking forward to both the PC version and the sequel.
RDR2's fake HDR hurts it. But also that jungle island area in RDR2 the foliage looks kinda bad, compared to the rest of the game. Also caves, there's some spots not as consistent as others.But RDR2 has big bustling cities and great rain.
Could be a toss up but I learn towards Horizon. Mainly for the HDR which is stunning. Also Frozen Wilds is insane.
Could be a toss up but I learn towards Horizon. Mainly for the HDR which is stunning. Also Frozen Wilds is insane.
In terms of organic animation( animation that doesn't look like cyborgs moving, like 95% of games) Horizon Zero Dawn and Spiderman are the best on this gen and really ahead of anything...
animation is probably the thing that need a lot of improv for next-gen, most of games have bad-robotic animation.
animation is probably the thing that need a lot of improv for next-gen, most of games have bad-robotic animation.
I still don't get the praise for RDR2 and the HDR slaps it down many notches for me.
if anyone is interested in technical bits. GDC dropped this some days back.
if anyone is interested in technical bits. GDC dropped this some days back.
Yes, that game has not aged particularly well, the terrible borders (aka actually lower resolution), high film grain and aggressive chromatic aberration gives the game a terrible muddy iq, some nice looking outfits, it has some impressive exteriors and interiors but that comes at the expense of the game basically being set in tiny corridor areas, the baked lightning and faked reflections do not look great by today's standards, character rendering is ok but has been surpassed years ago.
But it still has the best mustaches so at least it's got that going for it.
Last edited:
Panel gaming probably not, But Farpoint in VR impressed me way more because you are actually inside that sci-fi world. Seeing all that visual clarity up close and the DLC ice levels are by far some of the best visuals around in gaming let alone VR land.
Yes, it was. By a long margin.
Not getting the praise for red dead sounds like a personal choice. By all visual measures...it's a stunner in both hdr modes.
he still has the most detailed and better animated enemies ever.
also there is no other open world (or linear game) where even third rate(or worst) npc are so detailed, no rdr2, no days gone, no metro exodus, no nothing, you accept a quest from a nobody and he has almost the same details of aloy, sometimes even better.
she is petra, a tertiary character with like 50 lines total in the game?
you have less detailed main character in other triple A games...
still rdr2 take the crown for this gen, i don't think that tlou2 or tsushima are gonna surpass rockstar game for this gen.
also there is no other open world (or linear game) where even third rate(or worst) npc are so detailed, no rdr2, no days gone, no metro exodus, no nothing, you accept a quest from a nobody and he has almost the same details of aloy, sometimes even better.
she is petra, a tertiary character with like 50 lines total in the game?
you have less detailed main character in other triple A games...
still rdr2 take the crown for this gen, i don't think that tlou2 or tsushima are gonna surpass rockstar game for this gen.
The would be Bioshock 1 for me.
Though I agree that The Order still looks amazing
I'll join the chorus of people mentioning Red Dead 2. It has a far more cohesive look to me, spread over more diverse environments.
I always thought Horizon looked... off. Part of it is overdone post-processing; there are even moments where you speak to NPCs and the blur and lighting consumes their face and body.
I always thought Horizon looked... off. Part of it is overdone post-processing; there are even moments where you speak to NPCs and the blur and lighting consumes their face and body.
Red dead 2 has some really amazing looking environments (and horses) but the character rendering and facial animation falls a bit behind the cream of the crop.
Last edited:
It is a personal choice and the HDR part are you having a laugh mate?