Horizon Forbidden West Update 1.0.37 - 1.5.80.exe 〈PLUS · Edition〉

No update is perfect. Even with this massive cumulative patch, a few quirks remain:

Guerrilla has stated that 1.5.80 is the final scheduled feature update, moving to critical security/compatibility only.

If you have the old 1.0.37 version installed (either from a physical disc or an early digital backup), and you’ve obtained the legitimate cumulative Horizon Forbidden West update 1.0.37 - 1.5.80.exe, follow this guide:

Using PresentMon data, patch 1.5.80 shaves off 8-10ms of render latency when Reflex or Anti-Lag is enabled. This is due to optimized flip queue handling in the DX12 implementation. Horizon Forbidden West update 1.0.37 - 1.5.80.exe

This update was significant because it moved the game beyond its initial launch window bugs into a more polished state.

1. Intel XeSS and FSR 3 Upgrades One of the headline features of this update cycle was the integration of Intel XeSS (Xe Super Sampling). This provided users with Intel Arc graphics cards a dedicated upscaling solution to improve performance without sacrificing visual quality. It also brought implementations of AMD FSR 3, allowing for frame generation on a wider range of graphics cards.

2. Improved Ambient Occlusion The update tweaked the Ambient Occlusion (AO) settings. Players reported cleaner shadows and less "fizzing" or graphical noise in dark areas and foliage, particularly when using reconstruction techniques like DLSS or FSR. No update is perfect

3. Steam Cloud Support A highly requested quality-of-life feature, update 1.5.x introduced proper Steam Cloud synchronization. This allowed players to seamlessly switch between devices (e.g., a desktop and a Steam Deck) without manually transferring save files.

4. Intel Arc Hardware Optimization This version included specific optimizations for Intel Arc GPUs, addressing texture flickering and stability issues that were present in earlier versions like 1.0.37.

Horizon Forbidden West (HFW), developed by Guerrilla Games, was released on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on March 21, 2024. The release was widely praised for its technical stability, a stark contrast to the problematic launch of its predecessor, Horizon Zero Dawn. The file commonly referred to as "Horizon Forbidden West update 1.0.37 - 1.5.80.exe" symbolizes the transition from the base game’s day-one state (v1.0.37) to a mature, expanded state (v1.5.80). This paper outlines the critical changes encompassed within this update trajectory, specifically focusing on the integration of the "Burning Shores" DLC and the optimization of the Decima Engine for PC hardware. Guerrilla has stated that 1

These final updates coincided with the Burning Shores DLC release on PC.

By version 1.5.80, the executable had grown to 124 MB—a 15% size increase due to embedded microcode for multiple GPU architectures and expanded shader databases.