Sony and NCSoft Reveal Horizon Steel Frontiers, a Mobile MMORPG Expanding the Horizon Universe

After months of rumors, we finally got confirmation. Horizon Steel Frontiers is indeed a game, and it comes as a joint collaboration between Guerrilla Games and NCSoft, the studio behind big MMOs like Lineage and Guild Wars.

The game was made official via a 10-minute reveal video that showed some gameplay and spoke to the development process.

It’s pretty much what everyone was waiting for, confirming that the Horizon world is now turning into a full online multiplayer game.

Horizon Steel Frontiers brings the Horizon universe to reality as a massive online adventure

The gameplay and setting

Horizon Steel Frontiers is, in simple terms, an enormous online version of the more familiar Horizon gameplay we already know.

You will be playing as a Machine Hunter going through a dangerous new region, called the Deadlands. The place looks wild, filled with mechanical creatures and harsh environments.

The whole idea of the game is to hunt those huge robot dinosaurs together with other players. It looks a lot like Monster Hunter where you’ll need to team up, plan, and fight in big raid-style battles against giant machines.

There’s also character customization, so you can create your own hunter, change the look, upgrade the gear, and build your own fighting style.

Apart from fighting, there are quite a few social features in the game. You can join other players, team up to hunt tougher machines, or compete with them for rare resources. So, it is not just a question of fighting but of surviving and improving your hunter over time.

At this point, they haven’t mentioned much about how this fits in with the overall storyline of Horizon. There’s no clear information on whether Aloy will appear or if this is all a different timeline altogether.

But from what we do know, the game is going to be all about world exploration with other players, so it may not be as story-oriented as the mainline games.

Platforms and release plans

Surprise: Horizon Steel Frontiers is actually in development mainly for mobile, not PlayStation. At the reveal event, Guerrilla Games Studio Director Jan-Bart van Beek confirmed this, noting it’s intended to reach an even bigger audience across the world.

The game will also arrive on PC via Purple, NCSoft’s launcher. It will feature cross-platform play, meaning those on mobile will be able to play with those on PC.

What is really interesting, however, is the fact that there was no mention of any release on PlayStation, which is quite a surprise for a Horizon title-a major franchise belonging to Sony.

What’s next for the Horizon series

Horizon Steel Frontiers is just a piece of the bigger Horizon plans Guerrilla Games is working on. Aside from this MMO, they are also working on a separate live service multiplayer game for PS5 and PC that was already confirmed back in 2022.

That will have a new cast and a different art style, meaning they are experimenting with several Horizon projects all at once.

Of course, they are also working on the next single-player Horizon game that continues Aloy’s story after Horizon Forbidden West.

So, there is no reason for fans who love the series’ story side to be worried. At the same time, Guerrilla Games looks to expand on the franchise both by developing new online experiences and with the leading narrative, still pushing ahead.

Overall, Horizon Steel Frontiers looks like one major step in a new direction for the series, trying to mix open-world adventure with multiplayer action, and it just might bring a whole new kind of experience to Horizon fans.