During a behind closed doors Q&A session for the recently announced Horizon: Zero Dawn, Guerrilla Games have revealed a very interesting tidbit regarding the game’s inspiration.
When asked by 4Gamer whether or not the game was influenced by Monster Hunter, Guerrilla Games responded:
“In Japan, the giant monster hunting action genre seems to be popular, so if people ask us whether we’ve been influenced by a particular title, I tell them frankly that we’ve gotten inspiration from Monster Hunter.”
Guerrilla Games even went on to further compare the two games. “Horizon: Zero Dawn may serve as an example of a Western hunting game,” said the developer.
Horizon: Zero Dawn is set for a release some time next year on Playstation 4.
Domhnall
June 19, 2015 at 11:29 amThe entire concept of hunting gigantic robotic dinosaurs with bows is ludicrous and I love it. Hopefully it manages to match whatever it is that makes Monster Hunter so addicting.
PenguinPlayer
June 19, 2015 at 11:30 amWell, I like them already. At least the aknowledge influnces and pay respect to the ones that came before unlike the Titanfall team that went “Mecha? What mecha? Mecha is a dirty word for us, Mecha is for nerds! Titanfall is totally original for cool guys and gals like us!” and too many other damn teams to count or remember.
That being said, Horizon does look pretty cool, I for one look foward to hunting down giant mechanical beasts.
scdk
June 19, 2015 at 11:40 amI think the MH inspiration was pretty obvious to anyone who saw the trailer. It looks interesting, although the idea of machines forming themselves into dinosaurs and animals is a bit ludicrous if you ask me. Who knows though — maybe there’ll be a good story explanation for it.
John Smith
June 19, 2015 at 11:54 amDeviljho is still scarier
Nonscpo
June 19, 2015 at 11:55 amAre you sure they weren’t inspired by Freedom Wars instead? I could see MH if the big ones looked normal, but they looked more like FW mechs.
MaidKillua
June 19, 2015 at 12:03 pmI called it the moment I saw the game
MaidKillua
June 19, 2015 at 12:04 pmI think it looks more like MH in every way EXCEPT the mechanical designs to be fair. The similarities to Freedom Wars are only aesthetic
Sati Zakito
June 19, 2015 at 12:06 pmTo obious, but the game indeed looks good.
Nonscpo
June 19, 2015 at 12:07 pmFair enough!
MaidKillua
June 19, 2015 at 12:17 pmWell I mean if human civilisation has fallen they’d have no real reason to remain in human shapes to serve people. Presumably they have AI and access to databases. I’d assume they built themselves into a shape they deemed ideal for survival based on information they found on animals and whatever parts they had access to (I do so enjoy baseless speculation)
PenguinPlayer
June 19, 2015 at 12:31 pmThat’s exactly the thing that bothered me the most. I hope there is an explanation for their existence and they just don’t go “SELF EVOLVING ROBOTS MAKING THEMSELVES LIKE ANIMALS”. That would be some Devil Gundam tier bullshit.
Domhnall
June 19, 2015 at 12:39 pmReally? I’m actually hoping there’s no explanation whatsoever. Just, “Look, here’s cool shit to fight, now go and collect robot pelts.” Mostly because I don’t think there’s any explanation that wouldn’t seem contrived or stupid.
PenguinPlayer
June 19, 2015 at 12:44 pmHaving no explanation would require more effort than having one just so it won’t seem like a cop-out.
If this was pure gameplay it would be one thing, but once you have a world with lore and characters that interact with each other with dialog, then you have a plot, and there is no way out of a plot once you have it, you have good writing or bad writing, you go big or go home.
I just hope whatever they choose to do, they do it well.
Etherblaze
June 19, 2015 at 1:42 pmNice! I can’t wait to hunt those huge assholes and make armor and weapons out of them!
sunny
June 19, 2015 at 2:00 pmThe devs already said they explain in the game how they came etc
Kiririn51
June 19, 2015 at 2:03 pmThis is one of the games that got me very excited (which is saying a lot considering all the megatons) and can’t wait to have my grubby mitts on it.
I just hope they… uh, how to say this gently… the main character talks too much during gameplay, so I hope it’s only a thing for this demo.
FalseTragedian
June 19, 2015 at 11:21 pmToo bad first-party Vita games aren’t a thing anymore. I’d love to see a port/spinoff on Vita, Killzone: Mercenary was amazing.
Clesstan
June 21, 2015 at 7:29 pmI have a feeling they’ll handle it well. Hopefully…
Clesstan
June 21, 2015 at 7:29 pmI really hope this has the addicting factors MH has! soo excited!
Gary
September 21, 2015 at 1:18 amSuper excited for this too but in order for them to reach the addictiveness level of Monster Hunter they will need to make the A.I. of the robo dinos really smart so that every hunt feels different. And of course they will need to make it difficult as well!
Dian Atamyanov
November 13, 2015 at 12:10 amFreedom Wars isn’t as big and genre-defining as Monster Hunter.