Rumors of a PlayStation 5 remaster for Horizon Zero Dawn percolating online quickly became yet another thorn in the side of Bloodborne players who’ve been desperately wondering when it’s going to be their turn for Papa Sony to acknowledge their favorite game.
The rumor of a Horizon Zero Dawn remaster was first reported by gaming news site MP1ST and was later corroborated by Video Games Chronicle and Gematsu. According to their sources, the remastered version of Horizon Zero Dawn will have quality-of-life improvements, new character models, updated lighting and animations, new graphics modes, and more accessibility features added to the game.
In addition to the QOL updates reportedly coming to the remaster, MP1ST reports that Guerilla Games is also working on an HZD multiplayer game for PS5 and PC. VGC corroborated this report with its sources and leaked HZD concept art from 2014 that depicted Monster Hunter-esque multiplayer battles. Sources told VGC the multiplayer game was intended to be a part of Horizon Forbidden West but was cut in favor of being utilized for a future project.
Kotaku reached out to Sony for comment.
Read More: Horizon Zero Dawn: The Kotaku Review
While the rumors of an HZD remaster coming to PS5 comforted gamers with an affinity for Aloy, it also aggravated a very sore spot for die-hard Bloodborne fans who’ve been shaking their fists in the air at the harsh reality that their game has yet to receive the same treatment. For the last couple of years Sony has been on an upgrading spree, remastering numerous popular games in its catalog with releases including The Last of Us Part I, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, and even Nioh 1 and Nioh 2. However, intellectual properties like Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, and Bloodborne have been metaphorically occupying Sony’s dark attic of video games like The Simpsons’ Hugo Simpson II.
Voice actor and YouTuber Yong Yea took to Twitter to question the prioritization of an HZD remaster over PlayStation’s stagnant Bloodborne title. Sony Santa Monica game writer Alanah Pearce replied to Yong Yea’s tweet and said the reason franchises like Bloodborne remain in purgatory is that remasters are “much easier for first-party studios” to pull off.
The Bloodborne faithful’s Sony and HZD-directed ire comes after FromSoftware players were recently duped into believing fake news of an upcoming Bloodborne remaster. In May, Twitter was ablaze with false news about a Bloodborne remastered coming to PS5 in August 2022 and PC in Q2 of 2023. This epicenter of misinformation was an account impersonating gaming news account Nibellion.
The ruse was pretty easy to suss out for those who practice media literacy given the post linked to a PlayStation blog from January 2015 about Bloodborne’s longevity. But for those who took the information as truth, Nibellion cleared up the matter in a tweet saying they didn’t have “any Bloodborne news for you today.” This statement remains true today in light of the corroborated HZD reports. Sorry Bloodborne fans, maybe it’ll be your turn next.