Guerrilla Games has been working on the Horizon series for years, and it shows no signs of slowing down, which is bad news for fans of Killzone, its initial franchise. In a new interview, a Guerrilla developer said the studio was “done” with the hyper-dark shooter series when it pivoted to making Horizon Zero Dawn.
“We were done with it as a team. As a studio, we needed to refresh the palette. It was, by choice, the opposite of Killzone,” art director Roy Postma told The Washington Post.
Guerrilla Games officially began making games in 2003, and its first big hit was Killzone, a dystopian sci-fi first-person shooter. It went on to make five Killzone games in total, with four developed after Sony purchased the developer. However, when it pivoted to making Horizon, it left Killzone behind, capping off the series with Killzone: Shadow Fall in 2013.
There haven’t been many mentions of Killzone from publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment, either. There were three Killzone cameos in Astro Bot, which pulled characters from all of PlayStation history, but that’s about it. Servers for Killzone: Mercenary on PlayStation Vita were shut down in 2020.
The studio didn’t go too much lighter in tone with Horizon Zero Dawn, but it’s going down the family-friendly route with its next release, Lego Horizon Adventures, on November 14. It’s a retelling of Horizon Zero Dawn, but with blocky characters, a more playful sense of humor, and simplified gameplay. In a preview at Summer Game Fest, we found it had a “childlike charm” that can help parents share the series with their kids. The team is also releasing Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered on October 31. Recent reports also claim that Guerrilla is working on “Horizon online” ahead of a third mainline game.
Don’t expect any Killzone news from Guerrilla, but who knows, maybe with the recent trend of remasters and remakes (Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is coming to consoles on December 10, as one example), we can see something from another studio.
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