Horizon Hunters Gathering Gets Late May PS5 and PC Playtest With New Hunters and Region
Horizon fans, mark your calendar: Horizon Hunters Gathering is getting another closed playtest later this month, and this one sounds a lot more loaded than the first beta.
After its initial closed test in late February, PlayStation and Guerrilla Games have confirmed that the next round will run from 22 to 25 May. The playtest will be available on PS5 and PC via Steam, which is good news for SEA players who don’t want to be locked to just one platform.
Interested players can sign up through the PlayStation Beta Program, but as usual with closed tests, registration does not guarantee entry. So yes, daftar boleh, but don’t rage if the invite doesn’t land in your inbox.
What’s New This Time?
The big upgrade for this playtest is new content. Guerrilla says it has also made improvements based on feedback from February’s test, although the studio is not sharing the full details on those changes yet.
For now, the confirmed additions include two new hunters. The first is Ensa, an Oseram smuggler with a mercenary background. The second is Shadow, a Carja covert operative who fights alongside a dangerous Stalker machine. More details on both characters are expected in the coming weeks.
Both hunters will appear in a new playable Episode, which is meant to give players an early look at the game’s narrative campaign and some of the bigger mysteries behind the story. That is important because Horizon Hunters Gathering is not just being positioned as a random arena co-op mode — Guerrilla seems to be testing how much story can fit into this team-based format.
New Region, Harder Modes, Solo-Friendly Support
Returning players from the first test will probably want to jump straight into Breakers’ Bounty, a new region described as a mix of dense jungle, broken ruins, burning desert edges, and deadly machines. Very Horizon, basically — pretty scenery, then something mechanical tries to delete you.
Two existing modes are also being expanded. Machine Incursion, the wave-based survival mode, and Cauldron Descent, a multi-stage trial mode, are both getting additional difficulty levels. That should give more committed players something meatier to chew on instead of just blasting through the same challenge again.
One detail that could matter a lot for Malaysian and SEA players: the game will include friendly hunter NPCs for solo players and for co-op teams that need to fill an empty slot. That is a smart move. Not everyone here can always sync schedules with friends, especially when servers, time zones, and work/classes get in the way. If the AI companions are actually useful, this could make the game much easier to enjoy casually.
Why SEA Players Should Watch This
Horizon Hunters Gathering was announced in February as a tactical co-op action game where up to three players team up as hunters to protect the world from machines. The co-op angle makes sense for this region, where squad-based games tend to travel well across Discord groups, cybercafes, and weekend gaming sessions.
The big unanswered question is still the business model. Guerrilla has not confirmed whether Horizon Hunters Gathering will be a premium game or free-to-play. For Malaysia, that matters a lot. A full-price PS5 or PC release hits differently compared to a free-to-start co-op game with cosmetics or battle passes.
For now, this late May playtest should give us a clearer idea of whether Horizon’s machine-hunting formula can work outside the usual single-player adventure structure. If the combat feels tight, the missions have enough replay value, and the solo support is decent, this could be one to watch.
Source: Eurogamer
