Horizon Zero Dawn was one of the hit Steam releases of the year. A port of a PS4 exclusive, a classic of the generation, finally available to play on PC. Like many PC ports before it, Horizon Zero Dawn was faced with serious performance issues.
Guerilla Games have addressed the performance issues on PC. This new patch, 1.04, is out today (September 7th) with the intention of addressing some of the crashing and performance problems.
We’ve just released Patch 1.04 for #HorizonZeroDawnPC! In this patch we’re addressing additional crash fixes, as well as several gameplay and performance improvements.
Thank you for your continued support!
🗒️ Patch notes here: https://t.co/evypyDv5eo
https://t.co/JUgV7to4qw pic.twitter.com/V9qxAngHSZ— Guerrilla (@Guerrilla) September 7, 2020
First up, the patch notes state that Guerilla has fixed 10+ crashes for the Horizon Zero Dawn PC version.
This includes two types of AI crashes (during combat or during the event messages), the annoying start-up crash that no one could find a solution for (something to do with the temp folder), and a fix for memory corruption during AI routines.
Although this is just the start – there are several other crashes still sitting in the “Known Issues” block in the patch notes – at least Guerilla is making good on their promise to make sure Horizon Zero Dawn runs well on PC.
On that note, the Patch Notes for 1.04 also claim that they’ve addressed CPU performance. Depending on your GPU or CPU speed, you might see an increase of 1-10% in performance. Not bad.
Other issues with porting the game over from PS4 have also been addressed. Aiming with the mouse should now feel more consistent, the cutscenes shouldn’t have “popping” textures all over the place, and issues with lighting and adaptive performance have been addressed.
https://twitter.com/JohnersTV/status/1302913517784305664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Some of the issues still waiting to be addressed include GPU-specific performance problems – always a difficult area – and the “out of memory” error that is linked to the game’s optimization process when you first start the game.
Although Horizon Zero Dawn had a rocky launch on PC, the team at Guerilla has provided consistent updates and good communication with the community.
Reviews on Steam are still mixed, with many claiming that the game performs terribly and that players should wait for a sale before investing in the title.
On the other hand, many players are now claiming that the game is running the best it ever has, and this most recent patch should improve performance even further.
Once fully optimized, Horizon Zero Dawn should outperform the PS4 version, with better frame rates and performance. If you’ve been waiting on purchasing the game, now could be the time – but keep that 2-hour Steam refund in mind!