One of Horizon Forbidden West's lead developers has confirmed the title will support ray tracing technology on the PlayStation 5 iteration. This new nugget of information comes a week after Sony and Guerrilla Games hosted a gameplay reveal during a State of Play all about Forbidden West.
The footage shown in the State of Play broadcast ran approximately 14 minutes in length, providing viewers with a much closer look at the franchise's updated combat and traversal mechanics. Melee combat evidently received a major overhaul between games; in fact, Game Director Mathijs de Jonge recently revealed the sequel will feature melee combos. Forbidden West is also confirmed to include free-climbing, a new skill that should see Aloy scaling countless cliffs and mountaintops throughout her new adventure. And gameplay doesn't constitute the only notable enhancements between the two Horizon entries, either.
Speaking with HardwareZone, Mathijs de Jonge confirmed the PS5 version of Horizon Forbidden West will take advantage of the console's ray tracing capabilities. The Game Director teased that Guerrilla is using ray tracing technology for the sound engine, rendering, and physics, though he couldn't divulge specifics because of his lack of technical expertise. De Jonge told the publication the following:
"We use ray tracing technology for a lot of things in the game. We use it for the sound engine, for the physics, and for the rendering. So we use a variety of technical setups, in terms of ray tracing. I'm not a tech engineer, so I can't explain it in much more detail than this. But yes, we are utilizing it."
Guerrilla developers previously said the eagerly-anticipated title will run well on both PS4 and PS5. The newest PlayStation console sounds as though it will represent the ideal place to experience the new adventure, however. Ray tracing only counts for half of the equation, too.
In another interview, De Jonge revealed Horizon Forbidden West will support two graphics modes on PS5 hardware - Performance and Quality. The Performance option targets 60fps gameplay, whereas the Quality Mode aims to achieve 4K visuals running at 30fps. For the time being, it remains a mystery as to what resolution the performance-favoring mode will target on the PS5.
Horizon Forbidden West is scheduled to hit PlayStation and PlayStation consoles on an unspecified date in 2021.
Source: HardwareZone