Coffee and Horizon: Neil Druckmann Talks with Hermen Hulst



  • Horizon Zero Dawn’s core combat originally featured contemporary weapons such as machine guns.
  • The six-year development cycle was filled with trials, tribulations, and doubt. It took a full year and a half to develop the first machine: the Thunderjaw.
  • Many things changed during development, but Guerrilla had a clear vision of the game’s protagonist from the very start: an agile hunter named Aloy.
  • The full depth of Aloy came together relatively late in the production cycle. Hermen credits Narrative Director John Gonzalez’s collaboration with voice actor Ashly Burch, the facial likeness of Dutch actress Hannah Hoekstra, and motion capture from parkour performers with bringing Aloy to life.