Horizon: Zero Dawn's PS4 Pro Benefits Detailed
1080p and 4K displays will see several improvements with PS4 Pro.
Horizon: Zero Dawn is still a few months away, but with the more powerful PS4 Pro coming this month, the post-apocalyptic adventure will feature some improvements when compared to playing it on the original PS4.
Guerilla Games technical director Michiel van der Leeuw detailed how 1080p and 4K displays will benefit from the upgraded console in a post on the PlayStation Blog. While the PS4 Pro is most useful with a 4K television, the game will feature extra detail, enhanced colors, and improved shadow maps and higher quality anisotropic filtering, which means the quality of the texture sampling will be increased, resulting in more detailed environments.
Additionally, Horizon is set to feature supersampling, which means it'll render at a higher resolution--Leeuw says "close to 4K"--and then get shrunk down to 1080p. This will result in an improved image with smoother edges.
4K televisions, on the other hand, will see a 2160p checkerboard, which is purported to be a technique that "looks incredible" on a 4K display. Leeuw says this will add noticeable detail to certain aspects, such as "stitching on Aloy’s outfit, individual leaves and branches swaying in the wind, kilometers away in the distance, and more detail in all the machines and NPCs in the world."
As for HDR support, Horizon will have it, which we already knew from the PS4 Pro unveiling event. This will give the game "brighter and deeper colors [with] more contrast and vibrancy."
Horizon: Zero Dawn releases exclusively for PS4 on February 28, 2017. A Digital Deluxe edition was announced earlier this year. It includes a couple new outfits, three resource packs, a digital art book, and an exclusive theme, in addition to the game. You can see the full details for it and Horizon's preorder bonuses here.
The PS4 Pro launches on November 10 for $400. You can see a full list of every game that is and isn't getting a PS4 Pro upgrade patch here.
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com
Join the conversation