Sony came through and delivered exactly what fans had been waiting for – a decent chunk of Horizon Forbidden West running on PS5.
As promised, Sony delivered a State of Play live stream that included more Horizon Forbidden West gameplay than you could shake a robot dinosaur leg at. And, as expected, it looked fantastic. Luscious landscapes, a refined Aloy, and some gorgeous water scenes – it had it all. We got a look at Aloy’s new and improved combat moves, her new traversal abilities that let her zip around like Rico from Just Cause, and of course, new robot dinos. Do you know what we also saw?
30fps.
Thirty. F^&king. Eff. Pee. Ess.
Now believe me, before the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S landed in my living room late last year, I wasn’t really bothered about playing games at 30fps. I’ve always had the option to play on PC, but as a fairly simple man, I’ve always preferred the simplicity that comes with consoles, so I’ve spent most of my gaming career playing at sub-30fps. The PS3/Xbox 360 years were very rough, and to be honest, the PS4/Xbox One generation wasn’t that much better.
Now, with PS5 and Xbox Series X|S pushing higher frame rates – especially the Xbox consoles with the fantastic FPS Boost – I’ve become accustomed to 60fps. It’s a new standard now and I expect most – nay – ALL next-gen games to aim for that sweet 60. Why wouldn’t they? It’s the best way to play and I’ve seen the light and, not to sound like a snob, but 30fps is so last-gen. Show us what these expensive hunks of plastic can do. I’ve got over 1200€ worth of consoles sitting around my TV – I want to see that my money was spent well. And no, don’t tell me to buy a gaming PC. I have a work PC, and I can play Horizon Zero Dawn at 60fps on – something I still can’t do on either PlayStation console.
It’s worth noting, though, that Horizon Forbidden West is still in development and apparently it’s still on track to release this year. It’s possible, then, that the game could ship with a performance mode that targets 60fps. Or it could ship without it. Who knows? Guerrilla isn’t going to divulge that kind of information right now and if Sony is happy to show the game off at – again, here comes framerate snob Chris – at the same frame rate the game will run on PS4 (it’s a cross-gen release now) then there’s no doubt the platform holder would be happy to release it that way, too. I hope that doesn’t end up being the case, because I’m just too damn spoilt by Days Gone, God of War, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and the many more games that have opened my eyes to a world that’s twice as fast as the one I’ve been trapped in for the last couple of decades. And I don’t want to wait for the inevitable PC port. I’m not very patient.
