Guerrilla opens second Horizon Hunters beta May 22–25

Guerrilla announced a second playtest for Horizon Hunters Gathering that will run May 22–25 on PS5 and PC. Registration is open exclusively through the PlayStation Beta Program.

Game Director Arjan Bak wrote on the PlayStation Blog that the studio is treating the playtest as an early, small-scale trial to focus on the core experience and collect player feedback before larger tests.

The studio applied a series of adjustments after the first playtest held earlier this year. The build includes tweaks to the three originally playable Hunters — Rem, Sun and Axle — and adds two new Hunters. Ensa is described as an Oseram smuggler with a mercenary past. Shadow is a Carja covert operative who commands a Stalker machine.

The test will introduce new difficulty tiers for the main modes Machine Incursion and Cauldron Descent.

The closed beta also introduces a playable Episode intended to be part of the game’s narrative campaign. Bak wrote: “Episodes play a central role in the game’s narrative campaign by introducing new mysteries, characters, and mechanics. Pick your Hunter, ready up, and head into the wilds to save Ashwater Valley from a horde of machines.”

Episodes and Machine Incursion will be available in single-player, with NPC Hunters supporting the player.

Registrations for the May test are limited to the PlayStation Beta Program. The test will run on both PS5 and PC. Guerrilla wrote it will use feedback from this playtest to validate core systems and implement changes ahead of larger-scale trials.

A public poll of nearly 5,000 respondents showed 43% of participants reported they were “already out” on the game and 22% reported they were “not feeling it.”

Guerrilla, the studio behind the Killzone series, has continued to run iterative playtests while developing Horizon Hunters Gathering.