Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)

I really liked the game overall, but there are a few things I didn’t enjoy. First, the characters are not deep enough; they feel too shallow and empty. Take the main antagonist, for example. It is an AI, which makes it hard to give real depth since it is essentially just an algorithm. Even looking at a human character like Helis, he lacks proper motivation. He is portrayed as a religious fanatic who uses faith as a reason to wage war, but there is no real development or explanation behind his actions.

The dialogue in the game is also weak. It feels like something from a Marvel movie, and that style already feels dated. Since the game is nearly ten years old, it might have been considered top-tier writing at the time, but now it has not aged well.

That said, I loved the machines and the mix of bow and spear combat with futuristic dinosaur-like creatures. I absolutely loved that part. The gameplay and open world are amazing, but the storytelling is weak in comparison.

Nothing I can add to the large amount of what's been said about this game, but it is my personal benchmark that I compare other games to and it is my favorite game, push come to shove. The worst thing I can say about it is the face animations are bizarre sometimes but even that kind of gives me a chuckle of enjoyment because the rest of the game, the environmental art and design, the combat and skill tree system and especially the story, all really hit the mark for me. I was effortlessly immersed completely.

Funnily enough, I got stuck about halfway through the game, one of those camps with multiple enemies and after a few days of not being able to get past this level, I moved on to another game in my embarrassingly big library. About six months went by, HZD sometimes popping up as a nag in my brain, until I finally loaded it back up. I had forgotten how to fight, forgotten how the controller is mapped and so now I was even worse than when I got stuck originally. I thought - oh no, I'll have to start it all over from the beginning to tutorialize myself again. I let a night go by and reloaded the next day with the notion that I'll give it one more shot, if Aloy dies, I'll go back to the beginning - amazingly, I made it though that battle on the first try (only because I chanced upon a really choice hiding spot to take them out one by one) and I was back in the saddle. I ended up putting over 100 hours into it, maxing out everything, getting every collectible and it was the first game I got a platinum trophy for.

My peers are not into gaming and couldn't relate to how much enjoyment I'd gotten from this experience. "Aren't you a little old to be playing video games?" is something I hear a lot. But Horizon Zero Dawn showed me a lot about how I have progressed as a gamer, it taught me some valuable gaming lessons all while telling a story I got emotionally wrapped up in with characters that will always be in my head. And that intro cinematic is better than just about every movie I've seen in the last 20 years.

I've played through Horizon before on PS4 so I feel justified in giving my opinion on it now despite me not being able to get through my playthrough here. I remember enjoying most of Horizon back when I first played it but I can comfortably say I enjoyed it significantly less this time around. More than halfway through the story and nothing has improved. The writing has consistently been either mediocre or straight-up bad. The narrative has compelling elements, such as figuring out how the dangerous world came to be, but the dialogue and character hold it back significantly. I can only say I somewhat enjoyed combat with how fast and slick it felt. It isn’t anything original or mind-blowing but I don’t believe that was the goal. I could tell this by how the rest of the gameplay was comprised of bog-standard open-world affairs. Collect items that have no real narrative or interesting gameplay purpose, clear out bandit camps full of lackluster AI and interact with lifeless NPCs for forgettable side quests. Audio logs and other lore-specific collectibles were the only worthwhile items worth exploring for. Even then, however, I had to swift through dozens of blandly written and mundane ones to get to the interesting stuff. That’s basically how I’d describe my whole experience. There were moments where combat encounters were visually and mechanically impressive while certain narrative beats gave way for intrigue. But those moments were not worth experiencing the dull writing, plain characters, and generic open-world activities. I’m hoping the sequel takes it up a notch in every area, but only time will tell.

QUICK SIDE NOTE: If you enjoy open-world games and believe this game looks interesting I would recommend it. Most people enjoy it and maybe you will too!

After 27 hours, with the DLC left for the future, it is time for Aloy and I to part ways with each other.

Could've been worse, could've been better! The plot is definitely the weakest point, and the final part of the game consists on walking down hallways listening to exposition of things that happened offscreen instead of showing them or letting the player discover it by themselves, bringing down a game with sincerely fun mechanics. One-shooting machines never gets old.

I've been told the writing in the DLC is better, and I will check it out at some point, but I really, REALLY need to just go play something else for a while.

Pros

• Many ways to approach an enemy/fight
• Has a good skill tree that doesn't make you want to gouge your eyes out
• Great theme in the game's story
• You can do things at your own pace
• Unpredictable Story

Cons

• A little fidgety when it comes to movement
• Leaves a lot to be learnt after the tutorial
• There are some questionable choices when it comes to the narrative

Post-apocalyptic games are pretty common, but none have been so visually vibrant and awe-inspiring as Horizon Zero Dawn. The gorgeous forests, mesas, and the cold mountain tops contrast starkly to their bizarre and mechanical “robot-life.” The human cultures living in the biomes are also just as strangely colorful, their primitive garbs adorned with modern materials. The creativity is amazing, and extends to the writing as well. The lore and worldbuilding around these vistas are just as detailed, making this setting such a treat to explore and discover.

And of course, it has robot dinos. These guys are just as cool as they look, and very fun to fight against. Battles are not just a chore to do in order to gather craft materials, but more of a learning experience. Each robot has different weaknesses and strengths, and sometimes these get quite specific. A blaze canister can be targeted with fire arrows to make them explode. A container can be knocked off for extra loot. These are small details, but they add up to make combat more meaningful and clever.

I have to mention the story and the questing as well. In open world games, I am often weary of side quests and collectibles because I feel they generally add busy work and water down the core narrative. Horizon Zero Dawn is not immune to this, and feels slow paced in the middle because of all the side content. The vessel and flower collectibles are not very interesting in my opinion as they don’t add much to the story. However, I think the sidequests are worth doing as they are very well crafted. None of these reduce Aloy into some boring errand girl doing mundane tasks for random NPCs. I guess technically they are all some variation of fetch quests and kill quests, but the story surrounding these and the personality of the involved characters make them interesting.

The main story is also very good. The best stories are the ones that make us sit back to think about it from time to time, and Horizon Zero Dawn accomplishes that for me. There are two narratives, one that takes place in Aloy’s time, with the tribal politics, religions, and conspiracies. The other is a story of the past, of the ancient ones who died and left only their great technological marvels. Each part is well-developed on its own, and the ending is a satisfying one that brings these narrative halves together but also leaves some mystery behind for the sequel.

Well, I guess I’ll be waiting for Horizon Forbidden West now. Horizon Zero Dawn is a strong game that overcomes some of the hurdles of the open world genre with great writing, while still allowing players to explore this vast and lore-rich setting. I certainly can’t wait to see more of this world.

The game is beautiful, the world is a joy to explore, and the combat mechanics are engaging and interesting.

Having completed a playthrough of the original game shortly after launch, I just recently picked this one back up to play through the Frozen Wilds DLC, and it was worth it.

Picking up the game after a long break was very difficult. I had almost no memory of what the controls were, or how to do combat correctly, which is a BIG problem in this game. Unlike most third-person adventure games, the combat was very different from "dodge around a bit, maybe take some cover, shoot/whack things, and repeat"... in HZD, you really have to know what you're doing to take down most of the machines. Even though I was stepping back into a playthrough that had a fully-upgraded skill tree and all the best equipment one could have, I still struggled at first to remember how to hunt and kill the machines. To me, this really illustrates the quality of the mechanics, because it also serves to keep every fight engaging, even as you and your weapons become increasingly powerful.

Another thing worth noting was how pleasantly surprised I was with how much I would love this game and its narrative, dialogue, and aesthetic. I feel like from the outside it looks like just some kind of weird scrip-flipped sci-fi where cavemen on a strange planet fight super-advanced robot dinosaurs, and well... it kind of is! But the plot and milieu also have very strong post-apocalypse flavors, which I find very appealing and would have been more eager to dive into had I known beforehand.

Well, after three years of its launch, I finally played and finished (100% completion) this great game.

Horizon takes us through amazingly beautiful landscapes and very well built scenarios worth our time as gamers. The graphics and the mechanics are all there - luscious forests, amazing snow effects, day/night cycles, detailed textures, you name it. Kudos to the graphics team. The main story arch is quite interesting, with its funny secrets (many of which you could clearly understand from the begining of the game).

It's a visual masterpiece, but a hollow one. Side missions were quite standard. You go here, do this, do that, kill this guy. Bye. I couldn't care less about the fate of the characters, except for one or two along the massive campaign. There are a few choices one can make, but don't change the ending or the way the story unfolds. In that sense, it felt as a rather generic RPG.

The mechanics were so-so. During fights, so many times I would lose sight of the character, hidden on the corners of the screen or couldn't see the obstacles when dodging an attack. That felt bad. Some room for improvement, there.

Far from the best game or remarkable game I've ever played, but entertaining enough.

If a sequel comes (which most likely will), I will play it and follow the path of our dear Aloy. :)

Played and finished it after 63 hours, including the Frozen Wilds DLC. I loved this game for a few reasons.

The story was great sci-fi and intriguing as well as emotional. I really wanted to know how the story would continue. Aloy was a great main character, loved her personality and voice. The fighting with the bow, but also by setting traps with the tripwire, was great fun. As someone who always chooses to be a bow fighter whenever possible, his game seems like it was made for me! The monster design is gorgeous – especially the Thunderjaw and the Stalker. The sidequests were almost all interesting, as they were embedded in a narrative that goes beyond the usual fetch quest.

The only aspects that I didn’t like very much were the climbing and the riding, as they feel a bit tacked on and not realized as well as the rest of the game.

In any case, Horizon Zero Dawn is without doubt one of the best games on the PS4.