Horizon to Dive Into Co-Op with HorIzon: Hunters Gathering

1 week ago 3

Published Feb 5, 2026, 12:13 PM EST

Eric Warner is a Journalist and Multimedia Producer based in New England with over seven years of experience producing stories for multiple print, online, radio, and video publications.

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Just three months after Guerrilla Games and NCSoft announced the first official Horizon multiplayer game with Horizon Steel Frontiers, the Dutch developers have surprised fans once more with the brand-new announcement of their first three-player Horizon co-op game, Horizon Hunters Gathering.

Hunters Gathering is Guerrilla's first story-focused multiplayer Horizon spinoff, which has been in development since 2018, and the developer later described it in 2022 as featuring a new cast of playable characters with a new stylized look.

Now, about four years later, this ambitious project has finally been shown to the public for the first time, allowing players to finally explore the post-apocalyptic, animalistic, machine-filled world together with a new animated look similar to that of Marvel Rivals.

While HHG currently has no release window, Guerrilla will have a closed playtest for players to try out the game for themselves at the end of February, with more playtests and a Beta expected to become available later ahead of the title's eventual launch on PlayStation 5 and PC.

Horizon Hunters Gathering Explained

Despite the new animated look, Horizon Hunters Gathering is still canon to the rest of the mainline Horizon games, with the co-op title taking place some time after Horizon Forbidden West, with Erend being tasked by Aloy with recruiting elite warriors to fight a new technological threat.

Horizon Hunters Gathering is still canon to the rest of the mainline Horizon games

This threat isn't explicitly named in Hunters Gathering's announcement, but the purple corruption coating most of the violent machines in the trailers and gameplay suggests that the game's main antagonist will be the rogue A.I. HEPHAESTUS, as the A.I. previously showed similar corruptive effects in Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West.

Only six playable hunters have been shown so far, with most being from the Carja, Shadow Carja, Oseram, and Nora tribes, such as the Nora Rem, the Carja Sun, and the Oseram Axle, but more are expected to be revealed.

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Each hunter can have their melee and ranged weapons upgraded and be played in different classes depending on mission needs, such as Healer, Tank, Support, and Tactician.

Gamers can play as any of the hunters solo or in teams of three, in challenging, replayable hunts against machines, such as the game modes Machine Incursion, which has players fight waves of machines from underground gateways, and Cauldron Descent, which has players strive to loot multi-stage Cauldrons against brutal machines and ever-changing rooms.

Aside from these two modes, Hunters Gathering has a dedicated narrative campaign that will introduce new mysteries, characters, and threats to the tribal world and will be routinely updated and continued over seasons.

In between hunts, players can return to the social hub called Hunters' Gathering, where they can customize the hunters, visit vendors like Petra Forgewoman to purchase new gear, and customize campsites with furniture and other decor.\