Horizon Steel Frontiers: The Promise of a New Horizon

Just a few days after my last article that focused on how there wasn’t much to root for in the MMORPG space going forward, NCSoft revealed Horizon Steel Frontiers, a game that a lot of people – myself included – will be rooting for. How quickly things change.

Made in conjunction with Horizon creators Guerrilla Games, Horizon Steel Frontiers – or at least our first glance at it – looks like it takes everything players loved about the Horizon games and weaves it all into a top-of-the-line MMORPG. You’ll explore a vast and mostly untamed post-apocalyptic world, embark on hunts against mechanized beasts in the wilds of what once was the southeastern United States, and spend your downtime upgrading your gear or socializing in cities.

It all sounds, and looks, great, but so do a lot of MMOs at this early stage of development and reveal. I’m going to try to put on my feel-good shoes and dive into why I’m optimistic about the game … at least for the next few paragraphs, after which I’ll revert back to my normal cynical self.

Flying High

Deadlands, but full of life. The Horizon universe is rich with lore and eye-popping scenery – in my opinion, it’s one of the best-looking and well-written post-apocalyptic game worlds out there. While Steel Frontiers will take place a good way away from the location of Aloy’s adventures, there’s still plenty of space and stories to be told in the Deadlands, even if iconic characters from the other games are unlikely to appear, at least initially. That might not be as big a letdown as some people might think, as it will allow the players to feel like the main characters rather than being overshadowed by popular NPCs, as often happens in other licensed games.

Undaunted combat. Executive Producer Sunggu Lee has said in an interview that the Monster Hunter franchise was “one of the key inspirations” for Steel Frontiers, and it shows in the gameplay sizzle reels we’ve seen. With the recent demise of Dauntless, a new free-to-play game in that mold is sure to be a winner. I, for one, was never that into Monster Hunter or similar games, but seeing that kind of gameplay mixed with an IP that I love has me salivating.

Mobile game. Speaking of the combat, let’s take a look at how smooth-flowing and natural it seems. Obviously, we’re getting a look at the best of the best in the videos NCSoft is feeding us, but it does seem more dynamic than what we saw in Dauntless, whose big battles always felt too drawn-out and slow-paced for my tastes. Toss in the movement options, like subduing and taming your own mount or hitching a ride on a flying machine, and the world is looking to be just as enjoyable to traverse as it is to do battle in.

Staying Grounded

Monster ganker? If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my thousands of hours in Guild Wars 2, it’s that multiplayer battles against giant bosses are actually pretty dull. Once you get over the thrill of seeing a giant dragon on the screen, it’s just 50 or more players whacking something for five minutes until it falls over, with little to no chance for individual skill expression. Lee acknowledged this and said that they’re still working on exactly how many players battles will include. It’s a fine line to draw between having a game with an open world that’s full of life but not overpopulated, and I hope NCSoft and Guerrilla can find that sweet spot in between the two extremes.

Sneaking out. The Horizon single-player games also feature a strong focus on stealth-based gameplay, setting up traps and luring monsters into them to gain an advantage. That’s hard to do when there are potentially dozens of players – or even just two – running around. I think this is an aspect of the single-player games that will have to be more or less abandoned to work in an MMORPG, which is a shame.

Face the music. Finally, let’s talk about those faces. Oh, the faces. If you’re like me, you saw the fast-paced third-person combat and thought everything looked fantastic … and then it cut to the town scene and you were greeted with Korean waifus (I know, that’s a Japanese term but it seemed appropriate) with perfect porcelain features that looked like they came straight out of a fashion show or, well, an NCSoft game. For a game ostensibly set in a post-apocalyptic American Southwest, it’s about as immersion-breaking as can be. Lee is confident that the final set of character creation options will satisfy all players, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

There’s plenty to like in what we’ve seen so far from Horizon Steel Frontiers, but, as is my norm, I’m tempering that optimism with more than a few dashes of caution. While NCSoft does get its fair share of grief, I feel like it’s one of the less offensive free-to-play Asian developer/publishers out there. If its generally well-received relationship with ArenaNet for Guild Wars 2 is any indication, then there’s hope that it will work smoothly with another Western dev in Guerrilla Games on Horizon Steel Frontiers.