Horizon Forbidden West PC review: An excellent PC port of a phenomenal PlayStation exclusive

Horizon Forbidden West on PC is probably the definitive way to play Guerrilla Games' open-world magnum opus. Nixxes Software are literal wizards when it comes to translating these big-budget AAA PlayStation exclusives to PC, while also making sure the whole thing runs great, not only on the latest and greatest PC hardware but also the more modest configurations, as well.

I have always been a fan of Nixxes' work since their time on the PC ports of the Tomb Raider Trilogy. Being someone who primarily plays on PC, I've grown accustomed to getting shoddy console ports on the platform, which usually take upwards of a year to get to a stable and playable state.

However, when it comes to Nixxes, I've rarely (if at all) seen them mess up a PC port, and Horizon Forbidden West is no exception to this rule. In fact, I think Horizon Forbidden West's PC port is perhaps the best PC title that's released so far in 2024. Period. While yes, there are some issues, with the game, the port, for the most part, is as stellar as it gets.

One thing that you cannot fault any major PlayStation exclusive for is their presentation. From Uncharted to Ratchet & Clank, every PlayStation exclusive packs some serious punch when it comes to their visual fidelity, and Horizon Forbidden West is no different. It might very well be the best-looking PlayStation game to date.

While there isn't any ray-tracing involved here, the lighting is on par with some of the best implementations of RTGI (ray-traced global illumination) I've seen on PCs and consoles. The screen-space reflections do look a tad dated though, but that's also somewhat remedied by the stellar transparency post-processing effect.

Horizon Forbidden West already looked leagues ahead of any other