Horizon is officially making the jump to full-scale MMORPG territory with Horizon Steel Frontiers, a new NCSoft-developed adventure that takes the series into unexplored lands filled with tribes, massive machines, and co-op combat. It takes place in the land of machine hunters – Deadlands, a previously unexplored region inspired by real-life locations; Arizona and Mexico.
Horizon Steel Frontiers builds upon the franchise’s signature robot-hunting ranged and melee combat and combines it with classic MMO activities like large-scale raid encounters. Additionally, instead of Aloy, you play as a custom-created character and explore the world alone or with other players to hunt robot machines and gather resources.
Whether you’re a veteran Horizon fan or an MMO enthusiast curious to learn more about this latest NCSoft project, we’ve got you covered. Here’s everything you need to know about Horizon Steel Frontiers.
When is Horizon Steel Frontiers’ release date?
Horizon Steel Frontiers will launch on iOS, Android, and PC, with cross-platform support across all platforms. On PC, it will be available via NCSoft’s Purple storefront. While a release date is yet to be confirmed, the pre-alpha gameplay footage suggests it’s still a couple of years away at this point.
MMOs usually have lengthy development cycles, with NCSoft’s own Throne and Liberty taking over at least 13 years to make. That said, with PlayStation backing this project, Horizon Steel Frontiers could see the light of day sooner rather than later.
What to expect from Horizon Steel Frontiers?
Horizon Steel Frontiers features an elaborate character customization with plenty of options to tweak your character’s appearance. While it’s a Horizon game at its heart, Steel Frontiers takes clear inspiration from Capcom’s Monster Hunter series.
Character movement, melee combat, and weapon animations all feel straight out of the recent entries in the hit Japanese RPG franchise. The hub area has a certain Monster Hunter charm to it as well, where you can find tribe members serving stats-inducing meals (presumably) preceded by over-the-top cooking cutscenes, and pick up robot-hunting assignments from the quest board.
On the gameplay side of things, combat and traversal go hand-in-hand, with several new elements to keep things fresh. For instance, after destroying an enemy’s part, you can use the Pullcaster to climb over it quickly. You can also set traps on enemy weak points to deal additional damage and inflict status effects.
Horizon Steel Frontiers’ executive producer, Sung-Gu Lee, revealed that the focus was to design a combat experience “tailored for MMORPG.” As such, cooperation and strategy are crucial for taking down giant machines. With over 1000 players roaming the Frontiers, there should be plenty of opportunities to collaborate or compete against rival tribes.
We don’t know the sheer complexity of Horizon Steel Frontiers’ world, and how elements such as crafting, trading, looting, and PvP will function, but more information should be revealed in due time.
