Bad news, owners of extra widescreen monitors. The PC version of Horizon Zero Dawn will not allow players to change the default field of view. In a move to keep the game’s PC port comparable to its PlayStation 4 counterpart, Guerrilla Games wants to dictate the game’s display options.
One of the great joys of PC gaming is customization. Indeed, it’s necessary for PC games to be flexible to allow for a myriad variety of hardware requirements. Nevertheless, Guerrilla Games community manager Anne van der Zanden states that this won’t be possible.
In response to a query on Steam, she stated: “We will add several ways to customize your settings for Horizon Zero Dawn for PC. However, we feel that changing the FOV compromises the original Horizon Zero Dawn experience and visual style too much, so you will not be able to change this.”
It’s interesting to learn that some customization settings will be offered in the game’s PC port. Guerrilla will no doubt need to be aware of varying display equipment for PC and plan accordingly. It does sound, though, that the studio is aiming to keep HZD on PC relatively close to the more rigid experience of playing on PS4.
Outside Guerrilla’s field of view
For all that van der Zanden claims that changing Horizon Zero Dawn‘s FOV would compromise the intended experience, fans are understandably disappointed that they won’t have greater control over the game. The problem is that the PS4 default field of view has been calibrated for console players. These players sit on a couch, far away from the screen. PC players sit close to their monitors, and the same FOV could make them feel claustrophobic and possibly even nauseous.
Of course, players will likely take field of view control out of Guerrilla’s hands. With a PC port of Horizon Zero Dawn comes the opportunity for modding. Better display customization options are often among the first mods that fans develop.
Once fans get to work improving the game, it will likely change a lot whether Guerrilla wants it to or not. It’s more accurate to say that Horizon Zero Dawn on PC doesn’t have field-of-view customization yet.
