Sony announces first Horizon Hunters Gathering playtest is coming this weekend, right in the middle of Marathon's server slam because the Horizon curse is eternal

Players will get to try that Horizon multiplayer game soon, when the first playtest for Horizon Hunters Gathering kicks off in just a few days. There's a small problem though: it's occurring right in the middle of Marathon's server slam.

The inaugural closed beta for the upcoming co-operative take on Aloy's adventures from Guerrilla Games begins on Friday, February 27, and it'll run through to Sunday, March 1. Included are three characters, Rem, Sun and Axle, and you can put them through their paces across two modes, Machine Incursion and Cauldron Descent.

Of these, Machine Incursion is described as hard and normal, while Cauldron Descent is just normal. The one area will be Colorado Springs, an area you'll perhaps recognize if you're familiar with the series thus far.

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There'll be a hub within the multiplayer, called the Gathering, you can also make use of to co-ordinate games together and potentially find others to team up with. The test is occurring across PS5 and PC, making sure nobody is left out. All in all, it sounds like it'll be a good demo for those keen, but it's a pity people's attention will be split, since Bungie's hosting a pre-launch event for Marathon during the same period.

Marathon's upcoming server test runs from Thursday, February 26 to Tuesday, March 2. You can see the predicament caused here. What's funnier here is that both of these studios are owned by Sony; Marathon is Bungie's first new release since being acquired.

It furthers Horizon's rather unfortunate trend of always competing for people's attention. The first debuted around The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, while Forbidden West stood in the shadow of Elden Ring. Now this has Marathon on its tail, at least for now.

This seems likely a wholly avoidable situation, but maybe I'm exaggerating and Horizon and Marathon crowds are two distinct groups. You won't have any shortage of things to play this weekend if you've got some free time, that's for sure.

After swapping Metroidvania icon Ori for Soulslike RPG No Rest for the Wicked, studio boss tells Horizon devs not to sweat it "too much" if fans don't like their multiplayer pivot "just yet"