Guerrilla Games, the studio behind the critically acclaimed Horizon series, has been steadily building its reputation with the post-apocalyptic world of Aloy and her mechanical beasts. However, this success comes at a cost for fans of the studio’s earlier franchise – Killzone. In a recent interview, Guerrilla’s art director, Roy Postma, confirmed that the studio has officially moved on from the hyper-dark shooter series.
“We were done with it as a team. As a studio, we needed to refresh the palette. It was, by choice, the opposite of Killzone,” Postma told The Washington Post. The shift towards Horizon was a deliberate creative decision, marking a break from the gritty, militaristic world of Killzone.
Guerrilla Games entered the gaming scene in 2003 with Killzone, a dystopian sci-fi first-person shooter that quickly became a hit. The studio continued to develop the series, delivering a total of five Killzone games, four of which were created after Sony acquired the developer. However, with the launch of Horizon Zero Dawn in 2017, the studio decided to focus its efforts on this new, innovative IP, leaving Killzone behind. The last entry in the series was Killzone: Shadow Fall, released in 2013.
Since then, Killzone has been largely absent from Sony’s roster. While there were a few cameos in Astro Bot, a game featuring characters from PlayStation history, the franchise has largely been sidelined. Furthermore, the servers for Killzone: Mercenary on PlayStation Vita were shut down in 2020.
While Guerrilla Games has embraced a more family-friendly direction with the upcoming Lego Horizon Adventures, the studio is also working on a “Horizon online” project and a third mainline Horizon game, indicating a strong commitment to the franchise’s future.
As for Killzone, the future remains uncertain. Despite the recent trend of remasters and remakes, there has been no official word from Sony or Guerrilla about a potential revival of the series. However, given the popularity of the franchise and the growing trend of bringing back classic titles, a Killzone revival is not entirely out of the question. For now, fans of the series can only wait and see what the future holds for the gritty, dystopian world of Killzone.
