Horizon Forbidden West has leaked online ahead of its release on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 in February this year. Images have begun circulating across social media, so anyone looking to play the game unspoiled should show caution in the coming weeks.
It's believed that a PS4 build of the upcoming action RPG has been obtained, though it's unclear whether this is due to a hack or from a retail copy. A number of hackers claimed to have jailbreaked a PS4 console in December, which may have led to the game being made accessible.
Images first began appearing across Reddit and Twitter but are being "removed in response to a report from the copyright holder". This only adds to the legitimacy that these are in fact official Horizon shots. Naturally, this hasn't stopped the web from sharing them as far as wide as possible and it's unlikely Sony will be able to remove them all now.
This isn't the first time Sony had had to deal with leaks prior to a major release in its catalogue. Spoilers concerning The Last of Us Part II heavily spread online more than a month before release, with rumours pointing to a "disgruntled Naughty Dog employee" being the cause, according to GamesIndustry.biz. Let's hope this isn't down to the same reason.
Like a lot of others, Horizon was one of the biggest highlights of the PS4 generation and the sequel is up there for most anticipated games of 2022. From everything we've seen, it looks like it's going to be something spectacular so while spoilers are now out there, it's probably worth hanging on that little bit longer to experience the game completely fresh.
T3 has reached out to Sony for comment. Horizon Forbidden West is due to launch across PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on February 18th, 2022.
