I have spent hundreds of hours in Horizon, and I still remember the first time a Thunderjaw spotted me in Zero Dawn. In 2026, the franchise looks very different from that 2017 release. Forbidden West and its Burning Shores expansion are complete, Zero Dawn Remastered brought the original back with sharper visuals, Call of the Mountain gave us a VR slice of the world, and LEGO Horizon Adventures opened the door for a younger audience. Yet one idea from the old design conversations still feels unfinished to me: a proper multiplayer Horizon. Not a tacked-on co-op checkbox, but a focused, Legends-style mode that lets friends hunt machines together without compromising Aloy's single-player story.
The co-op dream Guerrilla left behind
The reference article reminds me of a fascinating detail: early prototypes of Horizon Zero Dawn once featured two-player co-op. Game director Mathijs De Jong explained that the programmers basically said if Guerrilla wanted co-op, the team would also have 50% of the features it had been asking for, not 100%. The studio chose to ditch co-op and polish the single-player experience. That was the right call for 2017. Horizon needed to establish Aloy, the machine ecology, and the tribal politics before it could support a second player. But the trade-off made sense because of the hardware and the team's limited experience with open-world RPGs, not because co-op is a bad fit for Horizon.
What Forbidden West already proved
Forbidden West took the original formula and improved it in ways that feel almost designed for team play. Traversal became easier with a grappling hook and a glider. Combat was overhauled, melee gained more options, and new weapons and moves gave Aloy better tools against tough foes. When I play now, I see multiplayer-ready verbs everywhere: grappling to a ledge, gliding into a fight, setting traps, tearing off components, and coordinating elemental damage. I can already imagine squad roles.
| Role | Fantasy | Multiplayer job |
|---|---|---|
| Trapper | Control the field | Ropes, tripwires, elemental zones |
| Scout | Read the machine | Tag weak points, mark patrols |
| Breaker | Strip armor | Tearblast, heavy weapons |
| Support | Keep the team alive | Overrides, healing, distractions |
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is the blueprint
Sucker Punch gave us the clearest example of how to do this well. Ghost of Tsushima: Legends was a multiplayer counterpart to a strong single-player game, and it did not replace Jin's story. It offered four classes, Ronin, Assassin, Hunter, and Samurai, plus quick matches, challenges, and new missions. Legends leaned into supernatural themes, and while it could be played alone, it was best enjoyed with others. Horizon could follow the same path. A multiplayer mode could introduce a compact co-op storyline in the Forbidden West, let players create their own machine hunter, and keep Aloy's campaign untouched.
The most obvious multiplayer activity is cauldrons. Exploring and completing a cauldron with friends would be an amazing adventure, and Guerrilla could keep content fresh by adding new cauldrons regularly. At the end of each cauldron, there should be a meaningful reward to bring players back. Teams could also hunt large machines, clear bandit camps, or defend a tribe from machine swarms. I love solo Aloy, but I also love the idea of friends laying traps while I draw a Thunderjaw's fire.
The 2026 reality check
Since 2022, the conversation has changed. Horizon is no longer just Aloy's next sequel; it is a franchise with VR, a remaster, a LEGO spinoff, and persistent reports and speculation around a multiplayer Horizon project. I have seen enough live-service collapses to know that this must be handled carefully. A Horizon multiplayer mode should not become a grind-heavy storefront. It should be a premium, focused experience with cosmetic progression tied to challenges, free content drops, and no forced daily chores. Keep it canon-light. Let players create their own machine hunter. Make team hunts the core.
How I would want it to work
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2-4 player co-op with matchmaking and friend invites
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Cauldron raids with puzzle phases and boss fights
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Escalating machine hunts with modifiers
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Camp clears and tribe defense events
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Cosmetic rewards tied to in-game challenges
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Regular free updates with new cauldrons and machines
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A separate mode that never gates Aloy's solo campaign
Guerrilla made the right call in 2017. But 2026 is different. A Legends-style Horizon could multiply the game's value without stealing Aloy's spotlight. I want to stand in a cauldron's core with my squad, hear the machines closing in, and plan the next override together. That is the Horizon multiplayer I still want. 🎮