Horizon Forbidden West will arrive early next year in several different editions, but only some of them will entitle PlayStation 4 players to the game's PlayStation 5 upgrade.
The long-awaited sequel to 2017's open-world RPG Horizon Zero Dawn is on track to arrive in early 2022 for both PS4 and PS5 consoles, and PlayStation took the opportunity to unveil various editions of the game, along with their contents and pricing. Horizon Forbidden West is poised to launch in five editions: Standard, Special, Digital Deluxe, Collector's and Regalla. Most editions will come packaged with various digital and physical goodies, but only the more expensive bundles will entitle buyers to both the PS4 and PS5 editions. Every other buyer will have to choose between one console generation or the other.
As the PlayStation 5 continues to boom in popularity, various PS4 games across the board have offered free PS5 upgrades for their players. These upgrades are optimized to take advantage of the PS5's next-generation features, granting its games better visuals, shorter loading times and the new immersive qualities of the DualSense controller. Players who purchase the Special, Digital Deluxe and Regalla editions of Horizon Forbidden West will be offered these next-gen improvements, but the standard and Special editions will include no such benefit.
Ever since its launch, the elusive PlayStation 5 has been notoriously difficult to find due to high player demand and an army of scalpers pouncing on each and every listing. Horizon fans who want a PS5 may not have one in time for the release of Horizon Forbidden West. If they buy the game at release but can't get the console until later, they will have to fork over some extra cash if they want to upgrade Horizon for their PS5. To keep the door open to upgrade later, they will have to purchase either the Digital Deluxe Edition at $79.99, or the Collector's or Regalla Editions for much, much more.
The standard edition of Forbidden West will cost $59.99 for PS4 and $69.99 for PS5, and will solely include one digital or physical version of the base game. The Special Edition, weighing in at $79.99, will include a physical game disc, a SteelBook, an art book and the game's digital soundtrack. In addition to both generation game versions, the Digital Deluxe Edition will include digital copies of everything from the Special Edition, plus the PS5 upgrade, the digital Horizon graphic novel and some additional in-game content like gear and cosmetics.
At $199.99, the Collector's Edition will include a cross-gen digital game copy, everything from the Special and Digital Deluxe Editions, even more in-game content and statues of Aloy and the Tremortusk. Finally, at $259.99, the Regalla Edition will add to the Collector's Edition with a unique Regalla theme for the statues, a canvas map, art cards, replica strike pieces and a replica focus. Every edition will also throw in Aloy's Nora Legacy armor set and spear as a pre-order bonus.
Developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, every edition of Horizon Forbidden West will hit PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on Feb. 18, 2022. The game was originally set to drop in late 2021, but was delayed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Source: PlayStation