Horizon Forbidden West: Release Times and Download Size Explained

There’s not long left until the highly anticipated sequel Horizon Forbidden West releases on PS5 and PS4 on February 18th. With initial reviews of the game positive, including those from GameSpot, here’s how you can get your hands on Horizon Forbidden West when it launches in your region.

Horizon Forbidden West Release Schedule

Horizon Forbidden West will be released on February 18 at midnight, 00:00 in your respective time zone. This release schedule means players in certain time zones will unlock the game sooner than others, so be careful to avoid spoilers on social media once players start getting their hands on the new Horizon game.

Preloading Horizon Forbidden West

The good news is that Horizon Forbidden West allows preloading on PS4 and PS5, with one exception. Players can start preloading the game from now until release, by pre-ordering the game through the PlayStation Store. Pre-ordering either version of the game will also net you a handful of pre-order bonuses, including the Nora Legacy Outfit and the Nora Legacy Spear.

The only case where preloading is not available is for players who purchase the PS4 version of the game with the intention of upgrading it to the PS5. While this method may help players save $10 on the game, players who do so will only be allowed to preload the PS4 edition of the game and can transfer it to the PS5 once Horizon Forbidden West is released.

Horizon Forbidden West file size

Players hoping to get into Horizon Forbidden West when it launches will want to take advantage of the preload period, as the file size seems quite hefty. According to the latest news from PlayStation game size on Twitter, Horizon Forbidden West will be around 90GB on the PS5, with small variations depending on your region.

• US PS5 region: 87.608 GB
• PS5 EU Region: 98.074 GB
• PS5 Japan Region: 83.797 GB

Although the account did not post the region-by-region breakdown for the PS4 version of the game, a comparison shows that it will be a bit smaller than the next-gen version, with the PS4 EU edition of the game coming in at 90.243GB, around 8GB less than the PS5 version.

While you wait for Horizon Forbidden West to drop, check out our recap of the story so far in Horizon Zero Dawn, or see what Phil Hornshaw thought of the game in GameSpot’s Horizon Forbidden West review.