Horizon Forbidden West launching in February 2022

Horizon Forbidden West, the sequel to 2017’s hit action game Horizon Zero Dawn, will launch Feb. 18, 2022, on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, developer Guerrilla Games announced during Gamescom: Opening Night Live.

This represents a bit of a delay — Guerrilla and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment had previously said they planned to release the game in the second half of 2021. Sony will begin taking pre-orders on Sept. 2.

Sony last showed Horizon Forbidden West in May with a 14-minute gameplay video during an episode of State of Play. At the time, Guerrilla said the game had just hit a major development milestone and was on track for 2021, but noted that the studio was unable to lock down a concrete release date.

“It’s no surprise that our teams were hugely impacted by the global pandemic; we have been adjusting to new workflows, protocols, and other challenges, while keeping our teams safe and prioritizing a healthy work/life balance,” game director Mathias de Jonge said during Wednesday’s Gamescom: Opening Night Live stream.

Guerrilla did soften the blow somewhat with the surprise release of a patch for Horizon Zero Dawn. Available now, the free update adds support for a targeted frame rate of 60 frames per second — with the same 4K resolution achieved via checkerboard rendering — when playing the 4-and-a-half-year-old game on PS5.

In Horizon Forbidden West, Aloy will have to save the Earth from a dual threat: a “collapsing biosphere” caused by a “red blight” that is “choking wildlife and starving animals and tribes,” and extreme weather events that take the form of “massive supercell storms,” de Jonge said upon the game’s unveiling in June 2020 during Sony’s PS5 reveal event.