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Was Horizon Zero Dawn ever bested on a visual level?

Belthazar90

Belthazar90

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Jun 3, 2019
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At least for me the level of polish when it was released was unparalled, specially for an open world game and it's still unimaginable how a game can look like that and run so well on a base PS4. So the question is... during those 3 years since its release, did we have a game that looked that good or better? Or is it still graphics king?
 
Serene

Serene

Community Resettler
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Oct 25, 2017
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RDR2 tops it for me

Though I am very much looking forward to seeing how Horizon looks on PC
 
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--R

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Oct 25, 2017
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Death Stranding.
 
RoboPlato

RoboPlato

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Oct 25, 2017
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Death Stranding showed some key improvements to the engine, particularly in regards to character modeling and animation, but Horizon's art style still puts it near the top.
 
Sky87

Sky87

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Oct 27, 2017
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Plenty of games. RDR2, GoW, Gears 5, Battlefield 5, Metro Exodus, Modern Warfare, etc etc.

Not to take away from the game though, it still looks gorgeous.
 

Deleted member 1589

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Yes.

I played it again the past week and some parts have been surpassed by other engines, and its own with Death Stranding.
 
Whatislove

Whatislove

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Jan 2, 2019
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Only DS beats it because the other games that look better have god awful HDR which HZD absolutely shines with.
 
Cleardata

Cleardata

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Nov 1, 2017
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RoboPlato said:
Death Stranding showed some key improvements to the engine, particularly in regards to character modeling and animation, but Horizon's art style still puts it near the top.
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I think this is key. DS was produced in the same engine. So I'd think that the improvements and advances made will be built upon in Horizon 2. Which is extremely exciting.
 
Shoichi

Shoichi

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Jan 10, 2018
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Death Stranding facial animations are a notch above HorizonZD. Game is still a feat though
 
Hate

Hate

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Oct 26, 2017
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Out of the ones I've played. RDR2 looked better in some ToD. HZD was more consistent though but that was because it was meant to be that way. They sacrificed realistic lighting to a more stylized 'ideal' look on every ToD.
 
Snake Eater

Snake Eater

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Oct 27, 2017
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Order 1886 hasn't been bested, still the only game I thought the CGI movie was still playing till I realized I was actually in control of the character and had to start moving
 
Jessie

Jessie

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Oct 27, 2017
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My problem with RDR2 is that if I want to look at real life I'd look out the window.

Horizon on a giant 4K HDR screen is like an out of body experience. It's more than real life.
 
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Falchion said:
Most people say Red Dead 2 passed it but I would take Horizon Zero Dawn still.
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Me too.

Gonna sound weird, but I actually found the first Red Dead Redemption more appealing visually than 2...

2 obviously has it beat on a technical level, but it never had me ooh and aah over the landscape like the first game did. Maybe because the first game was, I don't know, first?
 

dedge

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Sep 15, 2019
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RDR2 and DS are better probably but I just played Frozen Wilds and that is still incredible to look at.
 
Nazgûl

Nazgûl

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Dec 16, 2019
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Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC is the best looking game ever, but even on PS4 looks better than HZD
 
Cloud-Strife

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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.
 
Aurongel

Aurongel

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RDR2's aggressive approach to a naturalist visual style and superior animations put it at the front of the pack for me. Death Stranding probably has the most impressive character animation though.

RDR2 just brings a scale to everything that neither HZD or DS even attempt, this is even more clear on the PC version.
 
Cactuar

Cactuar

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Nov 30, 2018
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Nah, not for me. Not if we add gameplay in the mix. Red Dead has better faces in cutscenes (that was Horizon's weak area), but shit gameplay. The combination of graphics + gameplay I haven't seen better 3 years later.
 
Trieu

Trieu

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Feb 22, 2019
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For me Red Dead Redemption 2 (especially on PC), Death Stranding, Metro Exodus (PC RTX) and I really love Uncharted 4 + LL but one could argue that Horizon looks better than Uncharted, but imho Uncharted has much more attention to detail which stands out for me.
 
Tetra-Grammaton-Cleric

Tetra-Grammaton-Cleric

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RDR2 not only looks better but it also enjoys better animations and physics and is more densely packed and populated.

That said, Zero Dawn is a gorgeous game.
 

Deleted member 679

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Oct 25, 2017
14,741
While I loved the game itself, I wasn't that impressed with the visuals, to be honest. RDR2 and Death Stranding are much more impressive to me, at least from videos.
 
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Belthazar90

Belthazar90

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Jun 3, 2019
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RoboPlato said:
Death Stranding showed some key improvements to the engine, particularly in regards to character modeling and animation, but Horizon's art style still puts it near the top.
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Click to shrink...
Yes, it does look better in some aspects... But I feel like there's not much going on in those environments, so I don't see it as such a good looking game, as it looks really drab to me (which was the point, obviously).
 
Cloud-Strife

Cloud-Strife

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Sep 27, 2019
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The big deal here is that the combat in Horizon Zero Dawn vs machines in the best this gen in open world games.. RDR2 combat is really lackluster and clunky.. graphic wise both game are excellent but the thing about a beautiful open world is being able to have good gameplay on it and Horizon is 10X better than RDR2 on the gameplay department.
 
KrillinLikeAVillan

KrillinLikeAVillan

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Nov 8, 2017
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Stockholm, Sweden
Death stranding took the crown for me, the environments are absolutely breathtaking and the character rendering is on another level, granted there is less going on in the world during gameplay but overall i think it is number one right now.

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It's a crime that it doesn't have a photomode, i am really looking forward to the pc version, i hope the port really makes use of the more powerful hardware.

Metro exodus is a close second, fully maxed using ray tracing straight up looks like really good cg at times, but i still give the crown to death stranding because they were able to squeeze it out of the puny aging ps4.
 
Putty

Putty

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Oct 27, 2017
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It's a stunner, so is DS, but RDR just edges ahead of both. The 3 of them beat each other in various areas but as a whole package, i think RDR JUST pips DS with HZD a bit further back in 3rd.
 
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