Introduction
With PlayStation‘s new strategy welcoming PC as their secondary home, this has opened the doors for some of their IPs to flourish and Horizon Forbidden West continues the success that Sony and their platform partners have been enjoying since they’ve embraced the PC. In this performance review, we’ll go over the game in our typical PC port report talking about how graceful the transition is and what performance to expect.
And just to save you time if you’re asking if this is game is worth it: if you’re system is capable of running the game then yes, Horizon Forbidden West is definitely a must-play. And that is more true if you single-player adventure games that focuses on narrative woven together by exquisite gameplay. With that said, read on to find out more about our Horizon Forbidden West PC version port report!
Horizon Forbidden West PC System Requirements
| Minimum | Recommended | High | Very High | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. Performance | 720p @ 30 fps | 1080p @ 60 fps | 1440p @ 60fps / 4K @ 30 fps | 4K @ 60 fps |
| Graphic Settings | Very low | Medium | High | Very High |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB or AMD Radeon RX 5500XT 4GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or AMD Radeon RX 7900XT |
| CPU | Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1300X | Intel Core i5-8600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | Intel Core i7-9700 or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X | Intel Core i7-11700 or AMD Ryzen 7 5700X |
| RAM | 16 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB |
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit (version 1909 or higher) | Windows 10 64-bit (version 1909 or higher) | Windows 10 64-bit (version 1909 or higher) | Windows 10 64-bit (version 1909 or higher) |
| Storage | 150 GB SSD space | 150 GB SSD space | 150 GB SSD space | 150 GB SSD space |
The table above are the official PC System Requirements for Horizon Forbidden West on PC. Unsurprisingly, this is the same as the ones prescibed for the Ghost of Tsushima PC System Requirements, coming out on May 16. 2024.
Live Steam Stats
Screenshots
Here are some game screenshots of the game but as I’ve already Platinum’d this on my PlayStation playthrough, please apologize if these photos are from the endgame of the game. Screenshots are taken in 4K resolution at Very High Quality.
Much like Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West features an internal photo mode where players can setup a virtual sandbox photoshoot featuring granular control of camera settings and angles for better composition as well as change pose Aloy and change her facial expression with options for adding filters and custom frames as well. The time of day can also be changed also as well as very precise position of the camera and its aperture and exposure settings.
That said, these screenshots are raw Steam screenshots taken on Very High Quality settings using an RTX 4080.
Gameplay Footage
No excused, I botched this combat. 🙁
GPU Performance
Horizon Forbidden West dials up graphical details up from Zero Dawn and it is the most beautiful rendition of the game and that’s already saying a lot as Horizon Forbidden West is one of the most visually stunning game on the PlayStation 5.
That said, the flexibility of the PC platform allows Nixxes Software to allow much more details in-game. The game does lose ray tracing with the PC port but the devs have commented that adding ray tracing is complicated but could also spoil the artistic intent of the current visuals. We do get DLSS, XeSS and FSR upscaling to add more performance throughout the game, more on this in the following segment.
Below are the benchmark results from the game on Very High settings using the setup below:
Processor: Intel Core i9-14900K
Memory: Kingston FURY Renegade DDR5-7600 C38 32GB
Storage: Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB SSD , 4TB+4TB iSCSI LUN over Thunderbolt 3
PSU: FSP Hydro G Pro 1000W
Cooling: ROG Ryuo II 360 AIO Cooler
Monitor: ROG PG27UQ 4K 144hz HDR1000
VGA: Listed
Note: The CPU is running with Limits Enforced due to a bug currently encountered on Intel systems. You may read more about that from this article.
Upscaling Comparison
Upscaling is big selling for this game and given then frame rate that the more affordable GPUs in our test has given on max settings, some users may want to get a bit more from their system. Herecomes upscaling technology with DLSS on the forefront of followed by Intel XeSS and AMD FSR. DLSS has both standard upscaling (DLSS2) and Frame Generation (DLSS3) allowing nearly 2x performance uplift on supported graphics cards.
XeSS and FSR is available for nearly all GPUs but you can see above the visual detail difference for the upscaling tech.
PC Experience, Port Report & Conclusion
Gameplay
Many of what I discuss here have already been discussed in my Horizon Forbidden West review for the PlayStation 5 so I’ll be echoing some of those statements especially how I feel after the Burning Shores DLC (which is already included in the PC version).
Throughout its console life, aside from auto-pickup and Aloy’s voice lines being lessened during certain in-game actions, not much has been changed in terms of gameplay which is a testament to how polished the game is. For those coming from Horizon Zero Dawn, there are many improvements in both traversal and quality-of-life. First up is the flying mount alongside Aloy’s traditional mount option, all of which has changed since Zero Dawn as instead of Striders, Chargers and Broadheads, Aloy can now choose from a Charger, a Bristleback and a Clawstrider complete with unique combat skills plus two flying mounts: the Sunwing and the Waterwing, the latter can dive underwater for underwater traversal.
As I’ve mentioned in the Burning Shores DLC review, the Waterwing mount is just gimmicky and doesn’t really have any post-DLC purpose aside from being faster underwater, something a Sunwing is much better at and is much safer with the protection of the sky.
Overall gameplay is now laid out much clearer with skill levelling and gear upgrades now more clearly detailed unlike the original. The PC doesn’t add much to this experience but mouse and keyboard control can add plenty of agility to aims for those that prefer that input method. For traditional pad players, the game retains the original layout which is very smooth and polished allowing fine control over Aloy in tense combat situations.
All of these you will need as the game loads much more side quests and hardier Apex machines to contend with. An Arena gives players extra challenges for some of the games more powerful weapons but just because its a legendary doesn’t mean its great as the right skills on the right slots on certain equipment can also give certain traits although some skills like Machine Master’s lasting override or the Utaru’s or Nora’s gear bonuses set them apart in certain scenarios, much like the other gears in the game favor varying playstyles. All of which you can customize in-game.
All in all, Horizon Forbidden West is one of my most favorite game to come out the PlayStation 5 and I’m happy to see it on finally on PC where I can enjoy max settings at more than 120FPS in either 1440p or 4K.
PC Port Report
Even on its lowest settings, Horizon Forbidden West on PC looks like a modern game. Depending on where you’re playing it though, 1080p at Very Low settings may look like a wet rag on larger screens but on handheld PCs like the ROG Ally, other handheld gaming PCs or anything with a smaller it looks really good.
Cranking that up and we get to see the detailed assets of the game that spans from the faura and fauna and the machines that roam the land. An inherent issue I have is that the game tends to reuse NPC assets and a lot of NPCs are just reused models which while understandable is still too obvious and the game really tends to drive that point further by giving these NPCs very low poly counts and fairly basic textures. Don’t get me wrong, they’re NPCs, I get that but playing in high details and then just passing by one in a settlement really takes you out of the immersion.
As mentioned, there’s no ray tracing in this game as well but with the PS5 version already showcasing how far it can go, the details don’t really go that much beyond what’s already seen. Adding in ray tracing for the sake of just having it on PC is a complicated process and forcing it in would create possible distractions on some unintended scenes as the game uses real-time in-engine cinematics.
One thing about the open world setup is that the game takes a while to load especially on initial play. Shader compilation occurs once you start a saved game/new game not when the game is loaded so this part really forces you to wait. Its best to play this game on a fast SSD as the details do tend to creep when entering a newer segment of the map and textures are just starting to load.
Overall performance is decent in-game and you don’t need to have performance cranked up to enjoy it. Even on medium settings, the game is visually rich and enjoying it on faster frame rate alongside is worth the drop in detail.
Nixxes Software have set a high bar in their recent porting works and Horizon Forbidden West is another excellent ported game that is worth playing. Consider buying and playing Horizon Forbidden West, even on sale. As I said in the opening, its a definite must-play.
