Horizon 3 emerges as ‘well executed’ final instalment isn’t that far away

Guerrilla Games’ next major release is Horizon Hunters Gathering, a co-op action game that precisely no one asked for.

While it looks somewhat promising, a fan vote likely would’ve placed the third and final instalment in the mainline Horizon trilogy as their most-wanted game from Guerrilla.

Thankfully, Horizon 3 does appear to be on the way courtesy of some new intel from God of War creator David Jaffe.

When Horizon Hunters Gathering was announced, Guerrilla made it clear that it hadn’t abandoned its single-player games; instead, the studio just felt compelled to briefly step away to try something new.

Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West form the first two chapters of Aloy’s journey with DLC Burning Shores perfectly setting up a third and final instalment.

Sony Interactive Entertainment

It’ll assumedly see Aloy, Sekya, and friends set off to destroy the endgame boss Nemesis, a rogue AI set on destroying Earth.

While we all assumed Horizon 3’s development wouldn’t properly get underway until Horizon Hunters Gathering was completed, it looks as if Guerrilla may have been juggling the two projects at once.

As spotted by ComicBook, God of War creator David Jaffe recently appeared on Last Stand Media alongside former IGN journalist Colin Moriaty where the duo discussed Horizon 3.

Expect more of the same in Horizon 3, but that’s not exactly a bad thing

While neither has seen the title with their own eyes, both Jaffe and Moriarty claim to have spoken to playtesters and mock reviewers, describing the game as “well executed”.

“Let’s just say people have gotten their hands on it [Horizon 3]; it’s incredibly well executed, but it’s very been-there-done-that ... It’s an incredibly well-executed thing, but we already have that thing,” Jaffe said.

Moriarty confirmed that he’d heard the game was “good”.

By the sounds of it, fans should expect more of the same, but that shouldn’t come as a total surprise.

Horizon Forbidden West didn’t do anything too wild to shake up the formula introduced in Horizon Zero Dawn, but then again, it didn’t really need to.

The second game added the Pullcaster and Shieldwing for more varied traversal as well as underwater exploration, with the Burning Shores DLC introducing flying and diving hybrid mounts.

It’s perhaps safe to assume then that we’ll get a similar sort of upgrade: new machines, a new map, a couple of new features, but more of what we know and love.

As for when Horizon 3 could surface, well, it shouldn’t be too far away. Mock reviews can be requested for in-development builds, so don’t assume that we’re talking about a final product.

Then again, if Guerrilla is calling in mock reviewers and playtesters, the game is clearly closer to being done than the opposite, so perhaps we could see it arrive in 2027 or 2028 at the latest.

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Colloquially, Horizon gets a bit of a bashing. Despite being one of PlayStation’s flagship franchises, it’s not unusual to see people asking if ‘it even has any fans’.

For those of us yearning to embark on Aloy’s next adventure though, it’s coming. We just may have to sit through the launch of Horizon Hunters Gathering first.

Here’s to hoping it launches before January 2028 so we can all pick up a physical copy to complete the trilogy.