In just a matter of weeks, Ghost of Tsushima and Death Stranding have started a new trend among PlayStation exclusives: the Director's Cut. Just like Director's Cuts or Extended Editions work in the film industry, these editions expand upon the original game from both a narrative and gameplay standpoint. Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut is adding the Iki Island story expansion while the Death Stranding Director's Cut promises new missions and expanded storylines woven into the base game. Both are adding either new or enhanced mechanics to the existing games.

With two big PlayStation exclusives getting a Director's Cut announcement in such a short period of time, it's possible that even more exclusives like Horizon Zero Dawn will be getting the treatment soon. It's a nice way to allow players to keep interacting with their favorite franchises while they wait on future installments and IPs from the studios involved. If more games get Director's Cuts, Horizon Zero Dawn could be at the top of the list. But should it be?

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Horizon Zero Dawn Deserves a Director's Cut

Horizon Zero Dawn Aloy Looking At Tallneck

As one of the best open-world games of the PlayStation 4 generation, Horizon Zero Dawn definitely seems like a good candidate for a Director's Cut. There are several opportunities for narrative expansions and lots of ways that the gameplay could be improved upon. With such a beautiful and expansive world, it wouldn't be difficult to convince players to explore it some more and a Director's Cut could enhance many of the features Horizon Zero Dawn didn't integrate as successfully.

The emphasis on ranged combat and overly simple climbing mechanics are some of the most heavily critiqued aspects of the first game, but with a few easy fixes, a Director's Cut could massively improve the overall combat and traversal experiences in Zero Dawn. Horizon also lacked compelling side characters and side quests; it had a lot of interesting ideas, but many of them weren't fully realized in the game. A Director's Cut could deepen characters like Petra, Vanasha, Nil, and Varl, all of whom deserve more character development than they got.

There are a ton of great opportunities for a Horizon Zero Dawn Director's Cut, however, fans shouldn't get their hopes up. With Horizon Forbidden West still scheduled for a late 2021 release, the timing doesn't make much sense. As great as it might be, the stars most likely are not in alignment and Horizon Zero Dawn might have missed its chance.

Horizon Forbidden West's Release Date

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Of course, there's no guarantee that Horizon Zero Dawn won't get a Director's Cut. Anything is possible, and if Sony feels the venture would be profitable it may yet happen. But the timing just isn't there. Neither Death Stranding nor Ghost of Tsushima have sequels in the immediate future, and it could be years before either of those IPs get a completely new game.

For fans of Horizon Zero Dawn, that wait is almost over. While Horizon Forbidden West doesn't have an official release date yet, it is expected to release this year. It wouldn't make much sense to have a Director's Cut release after the sequel, so that would mean Guerrilla Games only has a few months to get something out for Horizon Zero Dawn. Guerrilla Games announced after Zero Dawn's latest PC patch that its team would be exclusively focusing on Forbidden West from then on, which makes it seem even more unlikely.

Seeing as nothing has been announced yet and fans are eagerly awaiting any news related to Forbidden West, it's probably not going to happen. And if it did, it might be interpreted as a prelude to a delay for Horizon Forbidden West and not be received as well. Death Stranding and Ghost of Tsushima don't have announced sequels, so the first installments are still the most relevant. Horizon's time in the spotlight is coming but in the form of a full-fledged new game rather than a Director's Cut of the first.

Releasing a Director's Cut of Horizon Zero Dawn now isn't currently needed to generate hype, though it might be a strong case to keep it relevant in the future, much like the PC port. But with Forbidden West getting closer by the day, Sony should let the sequel have the full spotlight before revisiting Horizon Zero Dawn.

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A Horizon Zero Dawn Director's Cut Could Come After Forbidden West

While it's unlikely that Horizon Zero Dawn will get the Director's Cut treatment before Forbidden West releases, that doesn't mean it's out of the picture entirely. Far from it. Horizon has established itself as one of PlayStation's biggest exclusive IPs, and Horizon Forbidden West is unlikely to be the last installment in the series. There will probably be several years between the second and third Horizon games, but the larger time frame makes a Director's Cut feel more likely.

For Horizon Zero Dawn, a Director's Cut could come in the form of an ultimate edition released after Forbidden West has had its time to shine. It could include a remaster of the original to bring it up to next-gen standards, extra missions, new machines, and expand the map further out towards the Forbidden West. An ultimate edition, Director's Cut, or any kind of major Horizon Zero Dawn update won't come before Forbidden West, but there's a good chance it might come after.

Even though Horizon Zero Dawn isn't that old yet, a lot of somewhat recent games are starting to get remastered. Marvel's Spider-Man and even last year's Final Fantasy 7 Remake have already gotten visual improvements to catapult them into next-gen, so it's very possible Horizon could be somewhere in that lineup. Considering The Last of Us is probably slated to get a full remake sometime soon, a remaster for Horizon Zero Dawn definitely seems possible.

So far, nothing is on the schedule for Horizon Zero Dawn other than Forbidden West, which remains one of the most highly anticipated games of the year. The future is definitely bright for the franchise as a whole, so even if a Director's Cut never comes for Horizon Zero Dawn, fans can expect to see a lot more of Aloy and her beautiful post-apocalyptic world.

Horizon Forbidden West is slated to release in late 2021 on PS4 and PS5.

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