Gaming Devs Clap Back At Horizon's 'Reused' Animation Controversy
New footage from Horizon Forbidden West has caused a stir online, with angry devs clapping back at accusations Guerilla Games has reused animation from 2017's Zero Dawn.
28th Jan 2022 09:43
Guerilla Games
Gaming Devs Clap Back At Horizon's 'Reused' Animation Controversy
New footage from Horizon Forbidden West has caused a stir online, with angry devs clapping back at accusations Guerilla Games has reused animation from 2017's Zero Dawn.
28th Jan 2022 09:43
Guerilla Games
As Aloy prepares to draw back her bow for Horizon Forbidden West, Guerilla Games is caught in a storm of controversy. The much-hyped sequel to 2017's Horizon Zero Dawn is poised to be a massive PlayStation exclusive in 2022 and one of the year's biggest games. With this in mind, the critics are out in their masses.
In the OG Horizon, we followed the fearless Aloy - who is effectively a dystopian Lara Croft. In the distant future, Earth has been rebranded as a prehistoric wasteland where the human race is hunted by robotic dinosaurs. Think Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome meets Jurassic Park.
Remembering that Zero Dawn was one of the best-selling PS4 games of all time, players are expecting Guerilla to raise the bar. Unfortunately, Forbidden West is caught in a scandal of its own over accusations the devs have reused animations.
Has Horizon Forbidden West Reused Animations?
IGN shared four minutes of Forbidden West footage in a side-by-side with Zero Dawn. It didn't take Jim Ryan to figure out there are some similarities. Twitter user @JAAY_ROCK_ posted a snipped with the caption "Copy and paste." This soon took off online as the gaming community quickly turned on the AAA title and the OP in equal measure.
The QTs were particularly scathing, with one joking, "What if I told you Mario has been using the same generalized jump animation since 1985." Someone else said, "Console war clowns gonna see two people open a door in public the same way and then say lazy reused animations please just shut the f**k up." Even Gears' legendary Cliff Bleszinski said, "Another armchair quarterback spotted."
Discussing the state of the industry in general, someone else concluded, "That’s what a lot of developers are doing these days. I don’t know if it’s just lack of creativity, laziness, or just the rush to get games out. But this is very common. They even do it from game to game. Insomniac did it with Spider-man."
Speaking of which, Insomniac dev Alex Zemke lashed out @JAAY_ROCK_'s tweet and said they know nothing about game development. Although Zemke deleted his original response, he later added, "The above post was not critique or feedback. It was mockery. Spiteful, hateful mockery. Mockery born of ignorance and a desperate need to 'own' people who work harder at their craft than he will ever work on anything."
Does It Matter That Horizon Forbidden West Reused Animations?
At the end of the day, do we really care if a few frames of animation are reused? Also, are you really likely to remember every animation from a game that came out five years ago? In five years time, will we really be complaining that a hypothetical Horizon 3 has similar scenes to Forbidden West? No, probably not.
Whether you think it's laziness or just devs saving time, it's true that reusing animations has become the norm. Still, it's not exactly like the entire plot of Forbidden West will be the same as Zero Dawn. As graphics and capabilities improve, there's an increasing gap between games. If cutting a few corners means we don't have to wait until 2053 for the next game, we say go for it!
About The Author
Tom Chapman
Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.
