A Horizon Forbidden West fan has created their very own version of Aloy's world in Dreams, and Guerrilla should hire them it's that impressive.
Earlier this week, Dreams artist Martin Nebelong shared a video of their Horizon Forbidden West project to Twitter, explaining that it was made entirely from scratch using only Media Molecule's software Dreams and a PS5. "In my opinion," Nebelong writes in the tweet, "[Dreams is] the most powerful UGC platform in that it allows the artists expression to show in a way that is very difficult to achieve with other tools."
Every time we see one of these Dreams recreations we're always in disbelief at how accurate they are. We probably shouldn't be too surprised at Nebelong's efforts though, since they're the same artist that created the jaw-dropping Unreal Engine 5 train station demo that looks so lifelike you'd be forgiven for thinking it was real video footage. You can see Nebelong's Horizon Forbidden West fan art below.
Here's the interactive collection of all my #HorizonForbiddenWest fanart, all made from scratch on my PS5 in the creative software "Dreams". In my opinion the most powerful UGC platform in that it allows the artists expression to show in a way that is very difficult to achieve… pic.twitter.com/lfUqsI4jpkJuly 19, 2023
"One of the main difficulties of making this project was that I set out to get as close to the visual quality of Horizon: Forbidden West, as the engine and my skills would allow," Nebelong tells GamesRadar+. "At the same time, I didn't want to spend weeks on each scene but was aiming for more of a 'speed sculpting' flow." To be clear, this isn't an exact replica of the Guerrilla game, instead it's "more of a series of scenes from the game that the Dreams community can enjoy and browse through."
On the topic of Horizon Forbidden West's incredible visuals, Nebelong adds: "The visual bar is set very high here and Dreams doesn't automatically lend itself well to photorealism or very detailed graphics." The developer continues: "It's amazing for more painterly and expressive projects. [...] As you get more experience with the toolset of Dreams, it's easier to push the style of your projects toward almost any style."
When asked how long the whole thing took to develop, Nebelong told us: "It's difficult to put a number on, but generally Dreams is a very fast tool to work with compared to more traditional 3d tools or game engines." All this hard work has clearly paid off for the artist as the project is complete and fully playable through Dreams itself. So far, Nebelong's version of Horizon Forbidden West has been played 476 times by Dreams players, and might not be the last Horizon-themed project from the creator, as Nebelong told us "I would love to revisit the world of Horizon at some point."
If you weren't already incredibly impressed with Nebelong's work, what if we told you that it was mostly crafted using a set of PlayStation Move controllers? "Working in Dreams feels like painting in 3D, especially when using the Move controllers which I do 95% of the time," Nebelong explains, "I usually don't use the VR headset though, which a lot of people assume when they see me working with the Move controllers. Now and then I do take on the VR headset for that extra bit of immersion and sense of depth."
You can find out exactly how Martin made this project by heading over to their YouTube channel and by following them on Twitter.
Unfortunately for fans of Media Molecule's game, Dreams live service ends in September as devs move onto an "exciting new project".
