There's a lot of excitement surrounding Horizon Forbidden West and the recently announced release date, but Guerilla isn't letting fans forget about Horizon Zero Dawn, the game that started it all. With a new 60fps patch added to the original game, players are encouraged to go back and revisit the first chapter of Aloy's journey in preparation for Forbidden West, which will finally release in February.
Apart from the upcoming sequel, Horizon Zero Dawn has been getting a lot of attention recently. It's built about a successful 2017 launch with a recent PC port, crossover appearances for Aloy, a comic series, and more. Horizon Zero Dawn has established itself as one of the great PlayStation exclusive titles, even earning nods from other games like Ghost of Tsushima and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Horizon is here to stay, and based on a new change to the original logo, it might have a big future beyond Forbidden West.
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Horizon Zero Dawn is the First in a Series
The Horizon Zero Dawn franchise has expanded quite a bit since the game's original launch in 2017, and Forbidden West is probably the most anticipated PlayStation exclusive coming up this winter. Horizon Zero Dawn was a big risk for Guerilla Games, a studio that was previously known for Killzone, but it certainly paid off and led to a well-deserved sequel. Horizon Zero Dawn even inspired a comic series, and Aloy has been featured in crossovers with Fortniteand, more recently, Genshin Impact. Sony and Guerilla are doing a great job of putting Aloy in the spotlight.
The end of Horizon Zero Dawn left plenty of room for a sequel, so it wasn't all that surprising. But now, the original Horizon Zero Dawn logo has been changed to accommodate the sequel. The Forbidden West logo has a line under the word "Horizon" with a 2 in the middle. The Horizon Zero Dawn logo now has a similar line broken up by a 1. It's a very small change, and obviously Zero Dawn is the first game, but the change could have some exciting implications for the future of the series.
The Updated Logo Makes the Branding More Uniform
Now that Horizon Zero Dawn's logo has been updated to match Forbidden West's, the branding is that much more uniform. While it is a very small detail, it could speak volumes that Guerilla took the time to go back and update the logo for a game that was released in 2017. It shows that having uniform branding is important to the developer, and the only reason that would be important enough to change would be if there were even more plans for the series to continue moving forward.
Fans noticed that the logo actually changed a couple of months ago, and the change wasn't just made to the game. The new Horizon Zero Dawn comic series, "Liberation," also features the updated logo. As fans are going back to replay Zero Dawn with the recent 60fps PS5 patch, many more are taking notice of the update. Guerilla is taking a lot of small steps to make sure Horizon Zero Dawn stays relevant as the series continues, and there might be a very good reason for that.
Numbering Both Games Likely Means More Are Coming
If Guerilla Games has gone out of its way to delineate thatHorizon Zero Dawn is number one and Forbidden West is number two, that must mean that Forbidden West isn't the end of the story. A lot of fans have already predicted a third installment coming at some point, but now it seems that much more likely. If Horizon turns into a longer series, it'll be nice to have the numbered titles so that it's easier for new fans to tell which comes first since the names themselves don't offer a lot of help.
Changing the Zero Dawn logo doesn't automatically mean there will be a huge series of Horizon games, so fans should not jump to conclusions. However, it does mean that Guerilla is paying attention to the details and solidifying a franchise that started as experimental. That's a good sign for Horizon fans. Sony is obviously very committed to the series and Aloy has been everywhere recently, establishing herself as a major PlayStation mascot. Put all the pieces together, and it feels like Horizon is likely to be getting several more installments in the future.
Horizon Zero Dawn is available now on PC and PS4.
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