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A Multiplayer Leak for Horizon Forbidden West Displays an Old Build with Fortnite-Style Characters

• Jacob Chambers
• January 30th, 2023

An intriguing leak from Horizon Forbidden West is currently making the rounds online. The video appears to be from a previous alpha version of the open world adventure and depicts a four-player multiplayer mode that was once under development (and probably still is, as pointed out below).

The main talking point, however, is that despite maintaining the realistic environments of Forbidden West, the character models are incredibly cartoonish, immediately evoking comparisons to the aesthetics of games like Fortnite. Male and female avatars in various outfits and armor are shown in the leaked video, and the characters appear to be able to run and slide in the same ways as Aloy. But there isn’t any overt fighting between the characters.

What happened to this collaborative project, then? As far as we know, it’s still a possibility. You might recall that Guerrilla Games announced late last year that it was hiring specifically for an online Horizon project with “a unique stylized look.” The start of that project is probably represented by this leak.

What do you think of a multiplayer Horizon game? Do you prefer realistic models to cartoon characters, or vice versa?