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In case you haven’t noticed, Horizon Forbidden West has some very beautiful cliffs, and now the creator of the franchise has an insightful answer as to why this is.
Many things in Horizon Forbidden West are visually stunning, from the verdant forests of post-apocalyptic Utah to the rocky California coast, but this week’s viral tweet focuses on the game’s stunningly detailed rock formations. “Horizon Forbidden West has some of the best textures ever made by man” – writes @ TrueGamer1111.
In fact, if you didn’t know, you could easily take the presented screenshots for real photographs of real rocks. The tweet got enough attention that Guerrilla Games art director Jan-Bart van Beek entered the conversation with a quick but technical explanation of what’s going on here.
HFW rocks use a very unique shading system. Instead of texture, a complex shader network is used that takes into account the local ecotope, erosion factors, moss and lichen distribution, dustiness and many other factors to give each rock its unique colors.
The engine that was used to create Horizon Forbidden West (and Death Stranding in particular) is used to create several new games for PlayStation Studios. This means that you can expect a lot of great PS5 games to please your eyes.
