What to Expect From the Horizon Franchise in 2025

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 23, 2024 4 Views 11 Min Read
What to Expect From the Horizon Franchise in 2025



2024 was an eventful year for the over seven-year-old Horizon franchise. Fans new and old got to return to Aloy’s origins in two very different ways with two new game releases. In October, players got to replay Horizon Zero Dawn in its entirety on PlayStation 5 and PC with Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. Later in mid-November, players got to journey through a more comical, cooperative version of Horizon Zero Dawn’s story with LEGO Horizon Adventures for the Nintendo Switch, PS5, and PC. Horizon was additionally, heavily featured in the 2024 Game of the Year Astro Bot in September. While Horizon had several momentous releases and achievements in 2024, fans could be in for more exciting things to come to the post-apocalyptic franchise in 2025.

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What Gamers Can Expect from LEGO Horizon Adventures in 2025

With LEGO Horizon Adventures being the most recent addition to the Horizon franchise, fans can expect PlayStation, Guerrilla Games, and Studio Gobo to release more content or features relating to this game next year. LEGO and Guerrilla have already announced that LEGO Horizon Adventures will be getting its first official LEGO set in March in the form of the 768-piece Aloy & Varl vs. Shell-Walker & Sawtooth set. This will be the first time Varl, the Shell-Walker, and Sawtooth have been physically released as LEGO toys. Aloy previously made her LEGO minifigure debut in the 2022, 1,222-piece LEGO Horizon Forbidden West Tallneck set alongside a mini LEGO Watcher.

While LEGO Horizon Adventures sales haven’t been as high as Guerilla or PlayStation desired, the allure of LEGO robotic animals will likely ensure the Aloy & Varl vs. Shell-Walker & Sawtooth set will be a hit on toy shelves. Given how Horizon fans are actively trying to acquire the now-retired LEGO Tallneck set, LEGO may re-release the set as a part of the LEGO Horizon Adventures line to please both longtime and new Horizon fans. If those two sets sell well, LEGO may produce sets of other Horizon machines, such as the Corruptor, Deathbringer, Grazer, Longleg, and the gigantic Thunderjaw. LEGO may additionally make sets of huts and structures found in Adventures’ Mother’s Heart with minifigures of other characters such as Erend and Sylens.

Rumor: LEGO Horizon Adventures May Come to Xbox Consoles in 2025

Amid LEGO Horizon Adventures‘ middling playerbase, new rumors have popped up that the latest Horizon game may be ported over to Xbox Series S and X consoles in early 2025. This would be the first time a Horizon title was ever sold on Xbox platforms, but Adventures was also the first Horizon game to launch on a Nintendo platform. PlayStation might additionally allow the game to be sold on Xbox consoles in order to help boost LEGO Horizon Adventures sales. If LEGO Horizon Adventures is released on Xbox, it may be a sign of a growing relationship between Microsoft and Sony, with other rumors suggesting a Halo: Combat Evolved remake may be released on PS5 in the near future.

What Players Can Expect for New Horizon Games in 2025

While LEGO Horizon Adventures may have an extended life on toy shelves and Xbox in 2025, the Horizon franchise may also see the release of one or more games and other products next year. For several months now, rumors and Guerrilla job listings have suggested that a multiplayer, story-focused Horizon spin-off and an NCSoft MMORPG Horizon spin-off may be in development. Rumors have popped up that the multiplayer, story-focused game may release in early or mid-2025, potentially coming in conflict with the upcoming release of Elden Ring Nightreign in that same timeframe. However, given that neither a trailer nor an official announcement of these games has been released yet, they may be published by late 2025 at the earliest.

Horizon’s Multiplayer, Story-Focused Spin-off Explained

In a December 2022 open positions update following Forbidden West’s release, Guerrilla Games announced that they were working on a “separate online project set in the Horizon universe.” Guerrilla later elaborated that the online game would feature a new cast of playable characters and a unique stylized look. Since then, there have been little to no official posts about the multiplayer game, but official job listings have hinted at some features gamers can expect from the game, such as matchmaking, player progression, cooperative challenges, and new and old Horizon tribes and machines appearing as enemies. Based on other job listings, this Horizon spin-off may be structured like a more story-focused version of Destiny as Guerrilla intends for this game to entice players for many years.

Horizon’s NCSoft MMORPG Spin-off Explained

Rumors of a Horizon MMO in development by the South Korean video game developer NCSoft first began in 2022, but a partnership between NCSoft and Sony was later confirmed in 2023. Codenamed Project Skyline, the Horizon MMO hasn’t been officially announced, but job listings and anonymous reports have revealed information on the rumored project. It will reportedly run on Unreal Engine 5 and be released on PC and mobile platforms with a possible later release on PS5. Job listings of Project Skyline have suggested that it will feature player freedom and fun, systematic gameplay. The Horizon MMO is expected to launch after the release of NCSoft’s upcoming MMO Aion 2, which itself is expected to release in mid or late 2025.

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What Players Can Expect for Horizon 3 in 2025

If the multiplayer, story-focused Horizon spin-off or the NCSoft MMORPG Horizon spin-off do release at some point in 2025 or at least have official titles or gameplay teases revealed, Guerrilla Games may soon thereafter tease details of the eventual Horizon 3 to close out Aloy’s trilogy. Horizon 3 is confirmed to be in development, but it’s expected to still be in its early stages with Guerrilla focusing on other projects such as LEGO Horizon Adventures and the Horizon multiplayer spin-offs. Guerrilla’s multiplayer spin-off is believed to release before Horizon 3 sometime in 2025 as it’s been in development as early as 2018. All that’s currently known about Horizon 3 is that it will feature Aloy as the protagonist defending Earth from the incoming alien Nemesis.

By early 2025, it’ll be three years since Horizon Forbidden West was released and, while Guerrilla has been busy with multiple Horizon spin-offs, it would make sense for them to at least tease Horizon 3 at some point next year. Horizon Zero Dawn was first announced in 2015 but released in 2017. Horizon Forbidden West was first announced in 2020 but released in 2022. Based on these previous game releases, Horizon 3 could be officially announced in 2025 with a possible short teaser trailer or title reveal, but it may not release until 2027. Setting Horizon 3 for a 2027 release could be fitting as it would align with the franchise’s celebratory 10th anniversary.

There have been five Horizon games released so far, including Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West, Horizon Call of the Mountain, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and LEGO Horizon Adventures.

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