Horizon Zero Dawn | Day and Night Cycles, Dynamic Weather System

With the release date coming up soon, you can expect to see the media powering the hype train. In the latest trailer, called “New World”, we can hear the developers talking about the game environments. The in-game footage is not something we haven’t seen before, but it is nice to be reminded of some game elements.

At the start of the video, you can hear Hermen Hulst, the managing director at Guerrilla Games. He sees Horizon Zero Dawn as a role-playing game that plays like an action game. He and his team are known for their first person shooter series Killzone. Storytelling is not something they’re known for, and it turned out to be a great challenge for all of them. It will be interesting to see how they’ve managed to combine the storytelling with the action sequences.

Further into the trailer, you’ll hear Jan-Bart van Beek. He is a Studio Art Director at Guerrilla Games. He’s talking about the significance of the different in-game ecotopes. Each of the ecotopes comes with their own machines for discover, with their own behavior specific to that environment.

Talking about how different areas in the game are, Jan-Bart van Beek describes some of them. You’ll have a part of the game with lots of trees, making them a mostly forested areas. There are also expanses of desert, high mountain peaks completely covered in snow, a jungle, etc.

A big part of the game are the ancient ruins, with a completely different feel to them. They hide a mystery, concealed behind the old debris.

The day and night cycle system is present in the game. You’ll get to enjoy the sunrise and the sunset. The colors that will appear then will for sure make for some unforgettable moments.

Beside the day and night system, you’ll get to enjoy the dynamic weather system. Different ecotopes will get their specific weather system. For example, you can expect to see a dust storm in the desert, or the fog in the forest, and so on. This will influence your approach to different situation. Reduced visibility will make certain things harder or easier.