Recently, Sunggu Lee, Executive Producer of NCSoft’s upcoming title Horizon: Steel Frontiers (tentative Chinese title; original title: Horizon: Steel Frontiers), gave an exclusive interview to IGN, revealing key details about this highly anticipated project for the first time. According to Lee, the game will be a multiplayer title supporting cross-platform play between mobile and PC, and is heavily inspired by the Monster Hunter series.

Developed in Unreal Engine 5 — Not Decima

Addressing speculation about the game engine, Sunggu Lee confirmed that Horizon: Steel Frontiers is not being developed with Guerrilla Games’ iconic Decima engine. Instead, it is built using Unreal Engine 5.

He praised the Decima engine for its tremendous contributions to the Horizon franchise, noting that it “delivers stunning visuals.” However, he acknowledged that migrating the original franchise’s high-quality assets into a new engine poses “no small challenge.” Through close collaboration with Guerrilla, the team aims to preserve the Horizon series’ signature graphical fidelity while leveraging UE5’s graphical capabilities to deliver “breathtaking visual effects and smooth multiplayer gameplay” across both mobile and PC platforms.

Monster Hunter as a Key Inspiration for Cooperative Hunts

When asked whether Monster Hunter influenced the game’s design, Sunggu Lee gave a clear yes:

“Yes, that’s right — Monster Hunter is indeed one of the key inspirations behind Horizon: Steel Frontiers.”

He explained that when the team sought to expand Horizon’s core concept of “hunting massive machines” into a multiplayer experience, Monster Hunter’s cooperative hunt structure naturally became a significant reference point. By combining Horizon’s unique machine ecology, part-breaking mechanics, and deep narrative elements, the team aims to deliver a truly distinctive experience.

Collaboration Between Guerrilla and NCSoft: A Perfect Match of Strengths

Lee also detailed the collaborative structure between the two studios — a model built on complementary strengths:

• Guerrilla Games oversees IP integrity, reviews new machine designs and story components, and ensures that all content aligns with the Horizon universe’s worldbuilding and visual identity.
• NCSoft
  Leverages its extensive experience in cross-platform development, MMO systems, and cooperative combat, building new gameplay experiences on that foundation.

Lee acknowledged that coordinating globally distributed studios presents challenges, but emphasized that the clash of different development cultures and perspectives ultimately makes the game better.

A Promising New Multiplayer Horizon

Although Horizon: Steel Frontiers does not yet have a confirmed release date, the interview paints a clear picture of a title powered by strong technology and enriched through the fusion of a beloved IP with proven cooperative gameplay conventions. The result is a project that already has Horizon fans and co-op game enthusiasts eagerly awaiting more.

The above content is compiled by ModeZone, a fashion and entertainment magazine.