Horizon Forbidden West release date confirmed, Horizon Zero Dawn gets 60 FPS patch on PS5

Gamers have a lot to take in after day one of Gamescom 2021, including a concrete release date for Horizon Forbidden West.

Among the slew of new announcements from various publishers, Horizon Forbidden West managed to snag a spot where it was revealed that the game will be releasing on 18 February 2022. The news comes as a bittersweet feeling for fans as Horizon Forbidden West was earlier slated for a late 2021 release.

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Horizon Forbidden West release date gets locked in for 18 February 2022

Horizon Forbidden West is coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on 18 February 2022! Pre-orders will begin next week, on 2 September. Are you ready to continue Aloy's journey?https://t.co/aMD8LIWbf8 #HorizonForbiddenWest pic.twitter.com/bRP3kToGji

— Guerrilla (@Guerrilla) August 25, 2021

Confirming the news at Gamescom, Guerrilla Games took to their blog to further elaborate on the reasons for the delay despite early projections showing a fall 2021 release date.

Horizon Forbidden West was last seen at Sony's State of Play event where a near 14-minute trailer showing off brand new gameplay mechanics was unveiled. The developer claims that while this demo was from when the game entered its final stage of development, they were unsure of how much polish would be required before launch.

At that time, Horizon Forbidden West had just passed a major milestone and we had entered the final stage of development; on track, but a bit uncertain if we’d be able to polish the game to the level of quality we strive for. It’s no surprise that our teams were hugely impacted by the global pandemic; we have been adjusting to new workflows, protocols, and other challenges, while keeping our teams safe and prioritizing a healthy work/life balance.

With the added development time, Guerrilla Games hopes to iron out kinks in the experience so that players can experience smooth gameplay. Horizon Forbidden West will be available on the PS4 and PS5 as a cross-gen title with presumably different performance and frame rate targets for each platform.

The developers also announced that a brand new 60 FPS patch for Horizon Zero Dawn players on the PS5 has been pushed and is available for download right now.