Play This PS5 AAA Exclusive For Free, No PS Plus Needed

If you’re short on plans this weekend, I may have something of appeal.

Upcoming PlayStation 5 console exclusive Horizon Hunters Gathering is set to hold its very first playtest in just a few days time.

As a reminder, the game will launch on PC via Steam too where a playtest is also due to be held; both will run from 27 February to 1 March.

Horizon Hunters Gathering is Guerrilla’s very own in-house multiplayer spin-off, and isn’t to be confused with Horizon: Steel Frontiers from NCSOFT.

The upcoming playtest is a closed playtest, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to get involved.

All you need to do is sign up to the PlayStation Beta Program which is where invitations are being sent out for this one on PS5.

I can’t guarantee that signing up to the Beta Program will definitely nab you an invitation, but it’s your best and only bet.

Horizon Hunters Gathering, Credit / SIE

Plus if you miss out this time, you’re already in the best place for the next time a playtest rolls around.

If you are already a Beta Program member, be sure to see if you have been invited.

A Tactical Co-Op Action Game With Several Modes To Choose From

Horizon Hunters Gathering is a tactical co-op action game where players will select from a number of heroes as they attempt to defend the world from deadly machines.

Those are new heroes made for the game but by all accounts, familiar faces like Aloy and Erend are due to appear.

The ‘gathering’ in the title essentially refers to a faction of warriors who have set out to defend innocents and settlements from machines.

Horizon Hunters Gathering boasts a Fortnite-esque art style and a number of different combat styles. For example, one hero is a melee specialist whilst another specialises in ranged combat.

The Hunter’s Gathering is the name of the game’s hub with a couple of modes having already been unveiled.

In Machine Incursion, players will stop an assault on a tribe that’ll end in a huge machine boss fight, whilst Cauldron Descent is a multi-stage dungeon mission, with cauldrons functioning similarly to how they do in the mainline entries.

I’ll be honest, I’d rather Horizon 3 have dropped or been announced but I do love Horizon’s world, so I’ll definitely be giving this game a try.

Online, many are currently too wrapped up in the fact that the ‘Horizon Curse’ has struck again.

At launch, Horizon Zero Dawn went head to head with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild whilst sequel Horizon Forbidden West battled against Elden Ring.

Now, Horizon Hunters Gathering’s beta is running concurrently with Marathon’s, but I don’t really take all that much notice of the so-called curse.

Horizon’s success has never been harmed. Let’s hope Horizon Hunters Gathering delivers just as every other franchise entry has so far to date.