Although it’s seemingly still too early to show the game off publicly, PlayStation and Guerilla continue to publish updates regarding its upcoming live service Horizon game, titled Horizon Hunters Gathering.
Based on the open world, robot dinosaur hunting series of its namesake, Horizon Hunters Gathering is a co-op spin on the idea that hands players a roster of unique Hunters, and sets them off with friends (or NPCs) into the wilds of a familiar, post-apocalyptic USA. With various game modes, rogue-ish progression and a growing, customisable base camp it’s sounding like a fairly decent run at spinning Horizon into the whole live service track.
In its newest post on the PlayStation Blog, Guerilla reflects on the incredibly limited private playtest it ran for the game back in February, revealing that it’s since made a number of improvements to the fundamentals of the game based on participant feedback.
And so, it’s on to the next round of testing, with a second closed playtest announced for later this month, between May 22 and May 25. The process for selecting participants will be the same, with players registering their interest via this link and then waiting to hear if they’re part of the lucky few that get to try out Hunters Gathering in one of its earliest iterations.
This second round will also include new content not previously available in the February playtest, including two new playable Hunters (for a total of five), added difficulty across two returning game modes and the addition of one of the game’s Episodes – part of the planned narrative campaign structure for the full release. There will also be a new jungle-based region called Breaker’s Bounty, added Training Modules and NPC assists for solo players.
Guerilla emphasises that Horizon Hunters Gathering is still a game in very early development, so these playtests are a glimpse into that, allowing for eager fans to help shape the game before it starts to go out to a wider audience.
You can find all of the info and links to register in the PlayStation Blog post here.