Horizon MMO: Steel Frontiers Announced - Oddly Skipping PS5 At Launch: Here's Why

A Horizon MMO, titled Horizon Steel Frontiers, has just been revealed. This new MMORPG is set in the Horizon Zero Dawn universe and some players have dubbed it as the Monster Hunter Killer. Despite the origins of the franchise, the upcoming title is oddly skipping the PS5 at launch.

Horizon MMO: Steel Frontier, Launching Only On PC And Mobile

In a bold move, Sony has greenlighted letting the upcoming MMO of their own franchise launch only on PC and mobile. Although there's no exact release date set yet, the game is rumoured to come some time next year.

The game isn't developed by the original makers, Guerrilla Games. It's instead being made by South Korean developer, NCSoft, which is known for making Guild Wars 2.

We've gotten two trailers for the game: the announcement trailer, and another that's focused on the gameplay. The good news is that Guerrilla Games isn't completely off of the project as it looks like they had a hand when it comes to developing the game's lore and world.

It seems odd that Sony is allowing the game to skip the PS5 and there's no word on whether or not the game will actually launch outside of PC, Android, and iOS devices. There's a chance that Sony might just be testing the waters before releasing the game on other platforms.

Horizon MMO: Steel Frontiers Gameplay

Although the game is derived from Sony's acclaimed franchise, the gameplay is far from what Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West have played. At a glance, the game will let players work together in multiplayer dedicated zones while fighting off familiar machine-made monsters from the franchise.

The core gameplay loop is similar to the Monster Hunter franchise. Players are going to enter a map, wherein there will be smaller threats to face. There will be different goals to perform but the most common would be to take out large monsters. Since this is the Horizon franchise, those could be the Lancehorn, Sawtooth, Ravager, Thunderjaw, and more.

The large-scale monster fights are going to be long as these are bosses with huge HP. Like in Monster Hunter, the monsters will have weakpoints, breakable parts, and specific attack patterns that players will need to take advantage of.

Based on the gameplay trailer, it looks like there will be different classes in the game based on the weapons that Aloy uses in the series. We've yet to know what these are but we'll likely see Aloy's trademark bow and spear. Of course, we can expect an assortment of traps as well.

The game is set in a new region for the franchise called the Deathlands. It's inspired by Arizona and Mexico. Players are going to be machine hunters who work together, while competing with rival tribes at the same time.

Fans of the franchise will recognise familiar tribes, including the Nora, Tenakth, Utaru, and Oseram. While the exact placement of the story within the series timeline remains unclear, one notable absence stands out: Aloy, the series' iconic protagonist, has yet to appear.