We all loved Horizon: Zero Dawn's lush reveal at this year's E3 (including the introduction of Ygritte-meets-Ripley heroine, Aloy, but its arrival was hardly a surprise. Last September a bunch of concept art and information hit the web suggesting Killzone franchise developer Guerrilla was working on an open-world RPG with dinosaurs. So now that Horizon has been unveiled to the world, what does the Dutch studio think of that reveal-sundering breach of information?
"When something like that leaks, you’re not happy," muses managing director Hermen Hulst in the latest issue of Official PlayStation Magazine. "And that’s an understatement – you really don’t want that to happen. But, looking back at it, it’s probably the best possible focus test you could’ve done. We ploughed through all the comments on NeoGAF and whatever forums people were chatting about it, and it was really great for us to see that people loved the idea of robotic dinosaurs."
Despite the leaked info relating to a much earlier version of the game, Hulst says the developer (which has also chosen to avoid using guns in its new project) was bolstered by the positive reaction to what would eventually become Horizon: Zero Dawn. "It was a limited amount of information, and I think the other parts of it were very early concept work. You could see that it was this game and not something else, but it also looked a lot more cartoony. So... it happened. We were actually happy with the comments on the actual ideas, but we could not have gone out publicly at that point. 'End good, all good,' I would say!"
The latest issue of Official PlayStation Magazine, with Horizon: Zero Dawn on the cover, is out now. Download it here or subscribe to future issues.
