Shattered Horizon

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Shattered Horizon is a single player and multiplayer shooter game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Futuremark and was released on November 4, 2009. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

Shattered Horizon is an innovative game from Futuremark Games Studio that immerses you in the cold reality of combat in space like no other game before. This first-person shooter is played entirely in zero gravity. A catastrophic explosion on the Moon has filled near-Earth space with billions of tons of rocky debris. Join intense 32 player battles to control hollowed-out asteroids, huge fragments…

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86%Audience ScoreBased on 405 reviews

graphics36 positive mentions

stability1 negative mentions

Unique and innovative zero-gravity FPS gameplay with full six degrees of freedom, allowing combat in all directions and realistic space movement.
Stunning and immersive graphics and sound design that effectively simulate the atmosphere of space and enhance the gameplay experience.
Engaging multiplayer experience with challenging AI bots and a variety of maps and game modes, plus features like suit power management and stealth gameplay.

The multiplayer community has died out completely, making it nearly impossible to find human players and limiting the game mostly to single-player bot matches.
High system requirements and lack of optimization prevent many players from running the game smoothly; compatibility issues with older hardware and operating systems have also hurt its user base.
Lack of a proper single-player campaign or tutorial makes the game difficult to get into; controls have a steep learning curve and some players find them unintuitive or disorienting.

graphics
65 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
40%
5%
The graphics are widely praised as stunning, immersive, and visually groundbreaking, especially for its time, delivering breathtaking zero-gravity space environments with impressive detail and effects. However, the game is highly demanding on hardware, requiring a DirectX 10+ graphics card and a powerful PC to run smoothly, which may limit accessibility for some players. Overall, the visuals significantly enhance the atmosphere and gameplay, making it a showcase title for graphical fidelity.
- “The gameplay and graphics are fantastic, with so much detail in the environments, including broken pieces of space stations and asteroids flying around.”
- “The graphics are amazing, featuring a shattered moon surrounding the Earth like an asteroid belt, along with various structures such as the International Space Station, a mining station on an asteroid, an abandoned research station, and the Ark (shattered remains of parts of the moon in Earth's orbit).”
- “Unbelievable graphics when all eye-candy features are enabled in settings—granted you have the graphics card(s) to support all those features without experiencing tearing or dropped frames.”
- “Considering it was developed by Futuremark, creators of those spiffy benchmark programs, the graphics were hardly as mind-blowing as I expected.”
- “However, do beware that lowering the graphics settings makes little if any performance improvement, so if you have a weak graphics card, don't buy this game.”
- “I suggest optimizing your system and graphics settings big time before getting started with this game on even the lowest possible settings.”
gameplay
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
38%
7%
The gameplay of this game is widely praised for its unique, zero-gravity, six degrees of freedom (6DoF) mechanics that offer a novel and immersive experience in three-dimensional space combat. While some find the controls and combat awkward or less engaging, most highlight the game's innovative movement, tactical depth, and refreshing take on the FPS genre, making it a standout for players seeking a distinctive and challenging gameplay style.
- “In essence it's just another 6DOF game, but the setting comes packed with some really interesting gameplay: your spacesuit has to be online to simulate audio in the vacuum of space, but you can make a tactical choice to disable your spacesuit to hide yourself from your opponent's radar.”
- “The combat mechanics are very solid, and the movement controls are easy to use once you get a feel for the zero gravity environment.”
- “Shattered Horizon probably has the coolest mechanic to appear in an FPS in years: three dimensional combat, where 'ground' is relative.”
- “The gameplay loop was sustained by release week/month hype, but outside of the community I was a part of at the time of playing, 6DOF was too much for people to really handle and you needed to have Windows Vista in order to play it at all.”
- “Although it features some unique elements such as the ambience of space and 3-dimensional fights, it is poorly optimized, has a very lazy 2D interface, and bland gameplay with very little to do besides shooting other players.”
- “The mechanics of it are awkward, and overall, the combat is lackluster.”
story
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
46%
27%
The game lacks a traditional single-player story mode, focusing solely on multiplayer team battles without missions or narrative depth. While there is a minimal backstory hinting at conflict between space agencies, it is underdeveloped and primarily serves as context rather than a full campaign. Some players express a desire for a more substantial single-player story experience.
- “There's even a bit of a storyline that could easily be the backstory for a single player campaign.”
- “Okay, so the back story isn’t the greatest, nor does it make the most sense… all you really need to know is the international space agency and the moon mining cooperative don’t like each other.”
- “This game is completely multiplayer-oriented, there is no single player story mode.”
- “This game is completely multiplayer-oriented; there is no single-player story mode.”
- “There is not a single-player story to the game; it's just a single-player practice section to get ready to play people online.”
- “I just wish there were single-player missions.”
optimization
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The game suffers from poor optimization, especially on low-end PCs, with minimal performance gains from lowering graphics settings. Despite impressive visuals and unique elements, it requires a powerful system to run smoothly, limiting accessibility for many players. Overall, the engine underperforms compared to other games, detracting from the experience.
- “FPS in space, with awesome graphics... true test of your PC's performance, and is also fun to watch people drift off into space :p”
- “Beware, it takes a bit of kit to run smoothly.”
- “However, do beware that lowering the graphics settings makes little if any performance improvement, so if you have a weak graphics card, don't buy this game.”
- “The game is poorly optimized and has very few customization options.”
- “Lowering the graphics settings makes little if any performance improvement, so if you have a weak graphics card, don't buy this game.”
- “A great game ruined by a horrible engine that performs poorly and offers nothing visually stunning compared to other game engines with much better performance.”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
17%
33%
The game excels at creating an immersive space atmosphere with stunning visuals, realistic sound design, and an eerie silence reminiscent of real space. The detailed environment, including floating asteroids and cosmic elements, enhances the sense of being in a vast, silent, zero-gravity solar system. Overall, it delivers one of the most authentic and breathtaking space atmospheres experienced in gaming.
- “Great visuals and sound make for a breathtaking atmosphere.”
- “Speaking of space atmosphere, there is sound which is 'sound simulation' from your suit (best not to think too much on that) but there is a key to turn off simulated sound giving you the eerie silence of space and the astronaut breathing (again, like 2001).”
- “Don't pay attention to facts that this is MP and DX10 only game, this is the best ever game about space I played during last 20 years, no other game before was so close to the atmosphere of real dark, empty, silent, and zero-g space!”
- “Speaking of space atmosphere, there is sound which is a 'sound simulation' from your suit (best not to think too much about that), but there is a key to turn off simulated sound, giving you the eerie silence of space and the astronaut breathing (again, like 2001).”
- “Don't pay attention to the fact that this is an MP and DX10 only game; this is the best game about space I have played in the last 20 years, no other game before was so close to the atmosphere of real dark, empty, silent, and zero-g space!”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game is widely praised for its unique, "spacy," and enjoyable atmosphere, composed by an artist known for work on Max Payne and Alan Wake. It effectively enhances the gameplay experience, drawing comparisons to iconic themes from series like Lexx and Halo. Many players highlight the music as a key reason for their enjoyment and purchase.
- “The music is created by the composer who worked on Max Payne and Alan Wake, making it totally different, 'spacey' and enjoyable, and it reminds me of themes from the TV series Lexx and the Halo main tune.”
- “That awesome music was one of the main reasons I bought this game!”
- “Music and sound are excellent as well.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted through fun and chaotic elements like stun grenades that cause hilarious loss of control, adding to the frenetic and enjoyable multiplayer experience. However, technical issues with the game engine detract from the overall enjoyment.
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is reported to be highly unstable and plagued with numerous bugs, significantly impacting the overall experience.
- “Worthless buggy game.”

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67%Critics’ scoreBased on 3 critic reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions

Shattered Horizon is a shooter game with science fiction theme.

Shattered Horizon is available on PC and Windows.

Shattered Horizon was released on November 4, 2009.

Shattered Horizon was developed by Futuremark.

Shattered Horizon has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked Shattered Horizon for its graphics but disliked it for its story.

Shattered Horizon is a single player game with multiplayer support.

Similar games include Overload, Interstellar Marines, Boundary, Orbital Gear, Section 8 and others.

Shattered Horizon

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graphics

gameplay

story

optimization

atmosphere

music

humor

stability