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Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Coast is just around the corner, but Guerrilla has made the expansion PS5 only due to the cloud.
Senior community manager Nare Lee wrote on the PlayStation Blog that the developers have improved the cloud system so that the game’s open-world cloud aspect looks more realistic – but that’s only as far as the PS5 can go.
Principal FX Artist Andrew Schneider and Technology Programmer Nathan Voss have expanded the cloud system they developed for Horizon Zero Dawn in 2015 with voxel technology, which not only allows time-of-day changes and realistic animation, but now in Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores players can fly through clouds and Sunwing. It allows them to complete side missions as in 9.
“The cloud systems we created for Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West were faster because they didn’t store the cloud as a 3D object, but rather the instructions for creating a 3D cloud from limited 2D data,” said Schneider. “PlayStation 5 can handle large datasets. So after Forbidden West wraps, we’re going to work on writing a voxel cloud display prototype that meets our quality standards and allows the player to fly through a very detailed cloud system.”
The devs achieved this by creating what Schneider called “Frankencloudscapes”, which included large cloud formations as a background element and a recognizable environment. They then tested their quality and performance by compressing large amounts of voxel data to speed up the cloud rendering process and optimizing the PS5 code to make the result less than or equal to the cost of the current cloud system.
The PS5 has the hardware to handle that much cloud power, so don’t be too disappointed that DLC is missing from the PS4. After all, it is a 10 year old console.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is coming to PS5 on April 19th.
Christina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve as a big thing. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.
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