[Update]: Horizon Zero Dawn PC Update 1.05 has fixed even more crashes and performance issues.

The PC version of Horizon Zero Dawn landed onto Steam a little while ago, and unfortunately it did so alongside a variety of issues. Not only was the performance spotty at the best of times, but there were also a whole bunch of annoying crashes and bugs to contend with, even during normal gameplay.

The developers quickly set out to fix these problems, and through the next few updates have managed to significantly improve the PC version. The newly released Patch 1.04 is no exception as it brings with it solutions for multiple crashes, performance improvements, and perhaps most importantly of all, a fix for the strange mouse sensitivity issues that have been around since day one.

If you're interested in the details, here's the full list of changes and bug fixes:

Crash Fixes:

• Fixed a crash that could occur when users would create a new game and their save game slots were full
• Fixed a startup crash related to temp folder
• Fixed an AI crash that could occur during combat
• Fixed an AI crash in the EventMessageHandler
• Fixed a crash related to WorldData sampling (the callstack would end in WorldMapData::SampleAtPixel)
• Fixed a crash when users would instantly back out when changing sliders in the Settings menu
• Fixed a crash that would occur when having the “Greetings” option open in photo mode and then exiting
• Potential fix for memory corruption in AI routines which could lead to crashes
• Potential fix for a GPU hang caused by a threading issue
• Fixed a mismatch that would occur on Shader Model 6.0 and 6.1 hardware which could lead to a crash

Performance improvements:

• General improvement to CPU performance (depending on CPU/GPU speeds, this can result in a 1-10% performance improvement)
• Improved performance of camera cuts in cinematics and conversations

Other Improvements:

• HDR – Fixed colour banding issues in HDR mode
• Mouse Controls – Fixed an issue where mouse sensitivity was incorrect when framerate wasn’t constant
• Aiming – Fixed an issue where Aloy was unable to shoot while being able to do a critical attack near a machine
• Cutscenes – Fixed an issue where geometry and textures would pop in after camera cuts
• Adaptive Performance – Fixed an issue where lighting glitches would occur when turning on Adaptive Performance
• Volumetrics – Fixed an issue which could cause blinking artifacts in volumetric effects, like fog
• Visibility – Fixed an issue which could sometimes cause geometry to briefly disappear after streaming

Once the next update goes live I'll make sure to let you know as I'm quite eagerly awaiting the fixes myself. Until then, you can read a little bit more about Horizon Zero Dawn and the state of the PC version over at Steam.