Enjoyment - 5/10
Difficulty - 3/10

Horizon Zero Dawn is a painfully average video game.

The visual splendour of Horizon Zero Dawn's landscapes and vistas really carries the experience. Also, traversing on your robot horse and encountering imposing machines is cool. However, all of the game's positive aspects are undercut by its conflicting mechanics and genuinely awful story.

Combat is borderline atrocious. Not once did I have a good time with battling human or machine enemies. Dodging, slow-motion aiming, melee, stealth, it all seemed to run counter to the core of the game. Repetitive mission structures and forgettable side quests also paint the game badly. If I am being completely honest, if the game had a NO COMBAT PASSIVISM lean in its framework I think it would've been a much better game with a stronger identity it could build off.

The ecological, industrial, and tribal theming of Horizon Zero Dawn was very promising. Discovering titbits of the world's history that better informs you about this video game space gave me goose bumps. Stumbling across ruined buildings that were once bustling places now turned to moss infused steel henges as a result of nature's reclamation is truly immersive. However, the world building and the overarching stories are not happily married to each other which leaves a confusing energy for its players to divorce. By the end of the adventure, it left me massively disappointed as it only told a children's first human vs. earth conflict story.

Characterization is dreadful. Predictable character arcs. Pandering story beats. Annoying and unlikeable main character. Contradictory character actions within the plot. Bad ending. Very, very poorly directed.

"If the game was five hours long, maybe it would be good" -Girlfriend.

Don't really know how to end this. Horizon Zero Dawn is an annoying ginger girl who clumsily fights robot dinosaur in attempt to do something??
🏆

I gave it a good fifteen hours but was bored. It's not terrible or anything, there's just nothing that feels new or interesting for me.

Feels like another game that's a variation on the same open-world "narrative epic" I've played a thousand times before. Picking shit up and crafting. Pinging my radar thing to find items, climbing big shit to unlock map stuff. Repeat.

No thank you.

Horizon's biggest mistake is that it launched the same year as Breath of the Wild.

No new IP could ever compete with Nintendo; much less Nintendo handing Zelda's reigns to its playerbase. This has resulted in HZD leaving a sour taste in many's mouths, because who would ever want to play HZD when BOTW is right there?

Me. I do, I'm the insane hypothetical person. HZD's personally the better game because I like plot and I like consequences to my actions. Don't misunderstand; I enjoy both games for each of their own unique merits but I prefer influenceable questlines and a plotline.

(Not to mention, there isn't some arbitrary limit over arrow count.)

I could go on for far too long about both HZD's negatives and its positives, but if you aren't repelled by more a story-driven game and you like open-world games: give HZD a chance.

BELATED AS HELL EDIT: I was re-reading my reviews and my snarky arrow limit comment made me, the very writer of this review, annoyed. What I should've said was 'you can craft arrows and can technically have enough materials to have a truly unusable amount of arrows,' because there is a faux limit. In practice it isn't really there, but nonetheless.

Bom, recentemente finalmente voltei a jogar Horizon Zero Dawn e finalmente terminei ele. Horizon sempre foi um jogo que tinha um pé atrás devido a diversos fatores e o principal motivo pelo qual larguei ele no passado foi porque a versão que usei para jogar é a versão do PC. Na época, o game tinha lançado com diversos problemas de otimização e eu não queria estragar minha experiência com um dos grandes jogos da Sony por problemas de otimização. Era isso e também o fato de eu me conhecer e saber que no momento que eu terminasse o Zero Dawn, eu ia ficar na vontade de jogar o Forbidden West e não ia ter como eu conseguir jogar porque ainda não tinha sido lançado no PC.

Lembrando que essa análise se baseia apenas em minha experiência com o PC e que, por sinal, por muitos anos, nós, que somos usuários de PC, sonhamos em ter os jogos da Sony, como God of War, The Last of Us, etc. Em nosso PC, e Horizon, se não me engano, foi o primeiro dessa leva de lançamentos.

Assim, jogando agora em 2024, foi absolutamente magnífico, o jogo me pegou demais e me proporcionou uma experiência de combate única enquanto lutávamos contra máquinas gigantes, cada uma com sua forma animal, para recuperar o planeta que perdemos para o tempo e entender por que diabos tudo isso aconteceu.

Voltando à minha experiência do passado, eu já havia jogado o game no console e lá a gente tinha o modo desempenho e o modo qualidade, como é de se esperar em basicamente todo jogo atualmente. E basicamente, em ambos os modos, a gente tinha um gráfico extremamente lindo. Aqui no PC, a gente conseguiu ter a experiência suprema com esse jogo. Jogar vários anos depois de seu lançamento no PC teve uma grande vantagem para mim, que foi o fato do jogo estar muito, mas muito melhor otimizado se comparado a tempos atrás, rodando perfeitamente no ultra com minha placa RTX 3060. Até mesmo a minha configuração secundária, que é uma RTX 2060, rodou perfeitamente na predefinição alta, e mesmo assim o jogo continua lindíssimo nesse modo.

O combate do jogo é uma delícia. No PC, a gente tem a capacidade tanto de jogar com os controles de Xbox, PS5 ou até mesmo jogar com o teclado e mouse, que é simplesmente absurdo. Em grande maioria dos jogos desse tipo em terceira pessoa, eu prefiro usar o controle, porém aqui em Horizon, como existem diversos combates frenéticos contra as máquinas, tudo no combate exige uma capacidade de mira boa e, obviamente, nessa situação, a mira com o mouse torna o combate muito mais preciso e gostoso. Torna a caça de inimigos que exigem precisão constante, o que não é incomum, afinal a gente tem vários inimigos voadores ou que correm no jogo.

Além disso, no nosso combate contra as máquinas, ao apertar "V", você consegue fazer uma espécie de scan na área, itens ou inimigos. E quando você utiliza esse scan em inimigos, certas áreas do corpo dele vão aparecer brilhando em amarelo, isso basicamente se trata dos pontos fracos que cada inimigo vai ter no game. Acertar nesses pontos vai fazer com que os inimigos percam muito mais vida e muitas vezes, dependendo do inimigo, esses pontos vão ser muito pequenos ou vão estar em locais que requerem precisão em certos segundos de movimentos que ele faça, então nesse caso o mouse e teclado tornam tudo muito mais fácil e acertar tiros precisos em pontos fracos é ridiculamente fácil.

Ao considerar que Horizon Zero Dawn é desenvolvido pela Guerrilla Games, seria fácil fazer a suposição de que se trata de um jogo linear com o gameplay focado em disparar o maior número de balas, como é por exemplo com Killzone, que é um jogo da nossa querida Guerrilla. Mas Horizon Zero Dawn é exatamente o oposto. Logo nos primeiros minutos de gameplay, você rapidamente perceberá que Horizon Zero Dawn, em cada pequeno detalhe no jogo, é feito de maneira a deixar você de boca aberta, não somente pela história que já te deixa intrigado logo no início, mas também pela ambientação que o game tem, que na minha opinião é um baita ponto positivo.

Agora, falando um pouco dos pontos que não gostei no jogo, Aloy, por exemplo, é uma protagonista que desde o início você sente uma conexão genuína com ela e também com toda a história de Elisabet Sobeck, que vai ter um papel mega importante para a história. Apesar disso, os diversos personagens que você encontrará no jogo podem ser bastante sem graça e não contribuem muito para a história geral. Nenhum personagem do jogo parece ser um personagem principal, tirando claro o nosso companheiro Sylens e o Rost, todo o resto do elenco parecem NPCs de missão secundária, literalmente todos eles. Inclusive, uma coisa que contribui perfeitamente para isso é as expressões faciais que temos no jogo que não ajudam muito, principalmente pela escolha criativa dos devs de por diálogos como se fossem uma roda de conversa, assim como é em The Witcher 3, por exemplo. Tudo isso deixa mais nítido ainda as expressões faciais zoadas, principalmente levando em consideração que grande maioria dos personagens já parece um bonecão mesmo.

Felizmente, independentemente de algumas missões de história decepcionantes, missões secundárias ridículas e personagens sem graça, o mundo de Horizon Zero Dawn é verdadeiramente rico e dá muito gosto explorar cada canto do mapa. Certamente, Horizon é um dos games mais lindos, só perdendo obviamente para o seu segundo jogo.

Um ponto que acho interessante falar aqui é sobre o mundo aberto de Horizon e sua exploração. Apesar de lindo e maravilhoso, teve vários momentos em que me peguei tentando subir objetos, barrancos, pedras, etc., e simplesmente Aloy fica flutuando no ar ou simplesmente presa em algo. Isso me causava uma sensação muito limitada porque em diversas situações eu senti o jogo falando para mim "ei, não vai por aí, pega aquele caminho destacado ali". Isso me causou muita estranheza, pois até mesmo nos jogos da Ubisoft, como os Assassin's Creed mais recentemente, você pode fazer sua gameplay basicamente do jeito que quer pulando, andando e correndo onde você basicamente quer.

Outro ponto que senti limitação foi em relação aos inimigos do game, as máquinas. Elas são o destaque de Horizon Zero Dawn. A maneira como elas parecem e se movem, bem como seu design geral, foram intrigantes e impressionantes em todo o jogo. Existem, acredito eu, que mais de 20 máquinas diferentes no jogo. No entanto, foi por volta da metade do jogo que percebi que várias delas são apenas variações leves das máquinas que você viu anteriormente no jogo, o que foi um pouco decepcionante. Felizmente, apesar dessa leve repetição no design, todos os inimigos robóticos são muito legais de lutar. Isso se deve ao fato de que cada máquina tem sua própria personalidade e age de forma diferente dependendo da situação e de outras máquinas que estão na área.

Horizon Zero Dawn, apesar de seus altos e baixos, é um jogo incrível, e se você não teve a oportunidade de jogar ele no console, certamente no PC você vai ter uma baita experiência. E se você jogou no console e agora tem um PC, recomendo demais que re-jogue ele porque certamente a experiência aqui se eleva e muito, não somente pelos gráficos como também pela gameplay com o teclado e mouse e precisão, isso certamente não tem preço.

Pontos Positivos:
- Gráficos do PC dão uma nova vida ao game
- Ridiculamente divertido em sua gameplay

Pontos Negativos:
- História um pouco chatinha em alguns momentos
- Personagens sem sal
- Missões secundárias e até mesmo as principais em alguns momentos são chatas

Versão utilizada para análise: PC

I enjoyed much of my time with Horizon, but not all of it, and having beaten the main story and the DLC story, as well as some of the side content, my feelings on it are very mixed.

On the one hand, the game is visually stunning (bar the very distracting facial animations, but Frozen WIlds at least fixes this). The world is beautifully realised and there was definitely a few moments where I had to stop to admire the view. It also runs at 60fps on PS5 and feels incredibly fluid.

The story and setting, inextricably linked as they are, are also a cut above most open world games of this kind. Though the backstory was more interesting than most of the present day goings-on, and the highlights are uncovering the mysteries of how the current world came to be.

So far I've praised the game, but beyond the graphics and stories is where it stumbles, hard. Although the combat against machines is, generally, fun (and sometimes frustrating), the rest of the game is every single boring open-world AAA game trope thrown in a blender with middling results.

Awful combat against humans? Janky climbing? Shoehorned levelling and loot mechanics that are far more tedious than interesting? A world map filled with icons and pointless collectibles? Map towers? Bandit camps? It's all here, and somehow more egregious compared to other games even though they cut down on the number of filler activities compared to your average bloated Ubisoft game. Unfortunately, less of a thing doesn't make it more meaningful. The world is beautiful but the exploration of it is mediocre. And it's perhaps because the presentation and setting are so good that the gameplay loop feels like such a let-down.

In the end, I don't think Horizon is a particularly bad game, despite its sins. I do find it to be disappointing given its status as one of the great PS console exclusives (and it seems to be well regarded on PC too), but there's a fairly solid base to build the sequel off of. I'm not hyped for Forbidden West day 1, but I'll be keeping an eye on impressions to see if it fixes what I disliked about the first game.

As with most open world games, this would've been a way better experience if it wasn't an open world game. All resources than went to making secondary missions no one cares about could've been dedicated to making the main quest better. It was still a good experience, but the open worldness just didn't add anything for me, as with most open worlds, and at some point I quit the game for weeks because I was getting bored.

The game is beautiful tho, and the PC port is very very good, which doesn't happen often.

Finally got to play Horizon Zero Dawn, a game I wanted to play for some time now.
I'm gonna be honest, the story starts off very generic in my opinion, but it gets a bit better in the process. Overall, it's a serviceable story on its own and a good introduction to the game's world, but still generic for the most part.
The gameplay is really enjoyable, the combat system is fun, it has smooth and fast animations, resource management system, a fair amount of items and some different weapon types. However, I wish there were more types of weapons overall, but it's fine.
The visuals are incredible; definitely one of the best looking Open World games I've ever played, period.
The audio design is great too and the music is nice as well.
The world looks wonderful and the machines are absolutely spectacular, the highlight of the game.
Also, there's a decent amount of side-content in the game.
The game has some major issues though; the quest design and the side-content lack depth most of the time.
Also, the characters are all forgettable, except from maybe the protagonist.
The Frozen Wilds expansion was alright; a bit tedious at times but it's okay overall.

Pros:
+ Interesting lore
+ Very good gameplay
+ Gorgeous world
+ Machines

Cons:
- Uninspiring quest design
- Repetitive side-content
- Unmemorable characters

Narrative: 6/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Content: 6/10
Characters: 4/10
Music: 6/10
Graphics/Audio: 10/10

Final Rating: 6/10
- Decent -
Despite lacking depth and being painfully generic at times, Horizon Zero Dawn is a promising beginning for a new series and I'm looking forward to playing the possible sequel whenever it comes out.

Do I recommend it?:
Yes but particularly if you enjoy playing Open World games.

Open world is beautiful and the gameplay mechanics are good enough to push me through a forty-hour playthrough but the story and presentation are so meh it almost killed the experience to me. Learning about the past was interesting at first but each mission where you delve into old research facilities are all the same.

The main human villain is also laughably dull and is given barely any screen time. My biggest gripe has to be the presentation however, not graphically, but with how conversations and cutscenes are in this game. they're so static and almost every human model except for Aloy is laughable in how awkward they look. The mouth animations in particular made me bust out in a fit of laughter more than once during scenes that weren't meant to be funny.

Apart from that, this was a fun time. It's the most typical 8th gen open-world adventure game but that's not a bad thing. This is the foundation for something much greater, so I'm hoping a sequel or sequels really deliver on what this concept has to offer, not only in gameplay but also in cool robot animals.

Post post-apocalypse science fiction YA novel with gameplay to match.

Pre-apocalypse world lore is great, though let down by the subpar writing. Instead of diving deeper in how the world, culture and language would develop in such a setting we get the most generic factions with laughable naming conventions. The story itself is subpar; a love interest was all that was missing to make this in full vein of modern YA fiction. Mary-Sue is the only one that can save the world (and the game will go through leaps and bounds to convince you of how awesome and important the Mary-Sue is), evil faction serving the BBEG, mysterious deus-ex-machina, quest for revenge/answers. Yawn. Performances were also not thrilling except Ashly Burch as

Gameplay started strong though its flaws became more and more apparent as time went on. The absence of gyro-aiming is criminal. The modification system is bloated garbage that can make you broken if you're lucky enough (2 super rare stealth mods and enemies won't see you when you're right in front of them). Overriding machines isn't worth it most of the time as overriding mid combat makes you a sitting duck and mounts are literally infinite with a certain ability. Making fast travel packs consumable while also offering an infinite fast travel pack makes the former useless. The side content, with the exception of Hunting Grounds that were alright, is run of the mill Ubisoft special: towers, camps, collectibles and the odd sidequest. On the upside, the machine variety is one of the best parts and I really enjoyed aiming for parts, though this is where gyro really would have helped.

Looks wise this is definitely on the prettier side. Got plenty of screenshots and the photo mode is more than serviceable. Music is nice when it's not interrupted by the always same stealth music when within half a mile's range of a machine.

I can see how someone can have fun with the game, but not much more than that. Won't be doing the DLC in a long time, and getting Forbidden West is even less likely.

The combat mechanics are difficult and exhilerating, every battle feels epic. Sound, level, and enemy design are top notch! The soundtrack is immersive and beautiful, and the graphics are gorgeous. Not to mention the story is a very unique take on the post-apocalypse, and the ending is superb. The Frozen Wilds DLC is just as amazing as the main story, and gives you a fresh challenge. The dialogue sequences in the DLC are interestingly more detailed than the base game's, but it doesn't affect gameplay in any way, but it does affect the immersion. I would definitely play this again once it comes to PC.

Sorry if this becomes a rant, but i think this is a legitimately disastrous game. Maybe partially due to my complete exhaustion with the Ubisoft-ified open world genre, but on top of an open world game design I do not like, there are so many decisions that detract for no reason. Disclaimer: I did not finish this game; I played about 20-25 hours. Why do I need a high level skill in order to take mods off my gear? Is that not a reasonably basic expectation, that I be able to remove and replace modifiers, in a game featuring dozens of them? Why does fast travel require resources, but few enough that it essentially doesn’t even matter? Why not just make it free like most games released in the past 10 years? Why is the melee combat so fucking bad?? Why is the voice acting SO BAD for a first party Sony game? The world is cool and the visuals are nice, and the ranged combat is decently fun, but I really did not enjoy my time with this game and I don’t plan on ever returning.

Playing it again, I see more clearly that this game is just a wrapper, and that there is practically nothing inside.

Before I thought it was a regular game, but at least it had its own atmosphere that separates it (a little) from the rest of the games in the pile. But looking at it now what it has is a ``idea'' of atmosphere.

For me, a good atmosphere in this type of open world games to spend hours is not beautiful landscapes, characters wearing invented clothes or putting dinosaur robots around the world.

That can be the basis on which a setting is built, but behind it there must be layers of depth that make that world feel really attractive and alive, where you want to learn more about the lore, about its rules, limitations and characters. If I'm going to spend dozens of hours in that world, then let it be a world, plain and simple.

But Horizon has absolutely none of this. Its characters are walking clichés, the dialogues are crappy, the elements of the scenery and nature barely interact with each other, beyond machines fighting each other sometimes, and the way to get into their world and lore is to listen to audio notes where they spout the usual bullshit with little imagination. As interesting as it could be what they have created, which it is not, it is destroyed by all this. Forgettable story, cloned sidequests, unnecessary grinding, absurd menus. All screws in the coffin of the atmosphere.

The developers have taken mechanics from all kinds of games and have put the automatic without thinking about the coherence it could have. For example, the RPG systems, what's the point of them, apart from the fact that others do it?
What's the point of the skill tree? The whole prologue is about the years that Aloy has trained to be a deadly annihilator and overcome all obstacles but it turns out that she doesn't know how to attack from heights, or shoot arrows from wires, or do silent attacks without unlocking the relevant skills first. Very logical.

Copying without thinking. For fashion and convenience. The more elements the better. So easier to reach 50 hours of content. Oh, and that Aloy has to take all the objects of the place about half a million times. That way we reach 60 for sure. If others do it so do we, let's not mess it up and create something with personality.

Ironic that a game with these ideas of dinosaur robots facing tribes with spears and bows, which may invite you to think that the developers have let their imagination run wild or are trying something different, is one of the least inspired, generic and commoditized in the industry.

Wrapping. Of ideas and world. That's what they've brought to the table. To try to sell the idea of innovation or something different. The fucked up thing is that they've succeeded.

----

Volviéndolo a jugar, veo más claramente que este juego es solo envoltorio, y que no hay prácticamente nada dentro.

Antes pensaba que era un juego regular pero que al menos tenia esa ambientación propia que lo separa (un poco) del resto de juegos del montón. Pero viéndolo ahora lo que tiene es una ``idea´´ de ambientación.

Para mi, una buena ambientación en este tipo de juegos de mundo abierto para echar horas no son paisajes bonitos, que los personajes lleven ropas inventadas o poner robots dinosaurios por el mundo.

Eso puede ser la base sobre lo que se cimiente una ambientación, pero detrás tiene que llevar unas capas de profundidad que haga que ese mundo se sienta de verdad atrayente y vivo, donde quieras aprender más sobre el lore, sobre sus reglas, limitaciones y personajes. Si voy a estar decenas de horas en ese mundo, pues que, simple y llanamente, sea un mundo.

Pero Horizon no tiene absolutamente nada de esto. Sus personajes son clichés andantes, los diálogos cutres, los elementos del escenario y naturaleza apenas interactúan entre ellos, mas allá de maquinas peleándose entre ellas alguna vez y la forma de meterte en su mundo y lore es escuchar notas de audio donde sueltan las chorradas de turno sin apenas imaginación. Por muy interesante que pudiera ser lo que han creado, que no lo es, queda destruido por todo esto. Historia olvidable, secundarias clónicas, grindeo innecesario, menús absurdos. Todo tornillos en el ataúd de la ambientación.

Los desarrolladores han cogido mecánicas de todo tipo de juegos y han puesto el automático sin pensar en la coherencia que pudiese tener. Por ejemplo, los sistemas RPG. ¿Qué sentido tienen, aparte de que lo hacen los demás?

¿Qué sentido tiene el árbol de habilidades? Todo el prólogo va de los años que Aloy ha entrenado para para ser una aniquiladora mortífera y superar todos los obstáculos pero resulta que no sabe atacar desde las alturas, o disparar flechas desde cables, o hacer ataque silenciosos sin desbloquear antes las habilidades pertinentes. Muy lógico todo.

Copiar sin pensar. Por moda y comodidad. Cuantos más elementos mejor. Así más fácil se llega a las 50 horas de contenido. Ah, y que Aloy tenga que coger todos los objetos de alrededor medio millón de veces. Así llegamos a las 60 seguro. Si lo hacen los demás también nosotros, no vayamos a liarla y crear algo con personalidad.

Irónico que un juego con estas ideas de robots dinosaurios enfrentados a tribus con lanzas y arcos, que puede invitar a pensar que los desarrolladores han dejado volar la imaginación o están intentando algo diferente sea uno de los menos inspirados, genéricos y comodones de la industria.

Envoltorio. De ideas y de mundo. Eso es lo que han aportado. Para intentar vender la idea de innovación o algo diferente. Lo jodido es que lo han conseguido.

Horizon Zero Dawn is an… interesting game, to say the least. On one hand I thought it did a great job at creating memorable enemy encounters, an intriguing backstory to explain the state of the world and exploration that felt enticing, along with a decent selection of weapons. However, these positives are weighed down by an open world formula we’ve seen done a million times, a mostly forgetful set of side characters and a lot (and I mean A LOT) of filler content which pads out the game’s playtime.

Let's begin with what I think is Horizon’s greatest aspect, it's world-building. From the get-go I think it does a fantastic job at grabbing your attention with its beautiful visuals, helping realise what Guerilla Games was trying to achieve. If you’re going to make a game based around futuristic primal exploration, fighting with bows, spears & slingshots, then having nature & machinery that looks eye-catching is key in making you want to explore more of its environments. From open fields of destroyed skyscrapers to snowy mountain vistas, the game has enough variety to make you keep exploring. There may not be any unique designs that you haven’t seen in other games (besides the main cities such as Meridian and the underground bunkers) but it's done with high detail that’ll make you venture more, I only wish there were optional ways to traverse these environments, like maybe a glider or open climbing perhaps ;)

To go along with the world, sound design plays a good supporting role. The soundtrack never shows itself too much, but when it does it fits the tone of what the world is going for, giving a mixture of calm ambience & intense combat music. Weapons sound punchy, machines are easily identifiable and the world in general feels alive and ripe to explore. The only gripe I have with sound is the menu music that replays EVERY TIME you open it. I'm not sure who thought this was a good idea but by the end I’m pretty sure I was hearing that song in my sleep and I hated opening it up. Other than that tiny problem, it does its job well.

Since Horizon has been able to create an enticing world visually & audibly, what sort of gameplay challenges does it have to offer? Unfortunately… the same things you’ve seen in most open world games of the genre. Hunting challenges, Tallnecks, Collectibles, Cauldrons, Camps & Corrupted Zones. A lot of these types have become typical and whilst I do like the switch-ups Horizon does in order to make these seem unique (like with the Tallnecks as moving ‘Far Cry’ radio towers or the Cauldrons acting as mini-dungeons), it's still the same as others before and doesn’t pave the way for much new so, however you feel about these might either make or break your experience.

Whilst decent, Horizon’s story initially had issues which made it hard to feel engaged. I liked the world & setting they created, but the storyline seemed to follow a very cookie cutter plot that wasn’t really pulling off anything interesting, mainly in the first half. You aren’t necessarily learning much about the history and are more following Aloy’s journey on experiencing the world outside her comfort zone, I understand why but it never drew me in to what was being told. I think the second half remedied this as it began to lean more into how the world ended up the way it did, finally getting my questions answered that I’ve had since the beginning. It made me want to explore more of the audio logs and entries which, up to this point, I’d mostly not cared about because I had no reason to, but as soon as the big lore dump happened I wanted to learn more as it felt like they intentionally left gaps for the player to fill in. Now every new bunker I went into I was scanning and reading everything, trying to piece it all together. It’s crazy how with just a simple change I was more intrigued with their world, though I wish it was something I felt more at the start. The ending wasn’t anything that blew me away, but I’m always a sucker for bringing all the characters you met throughout the story back for the final battle (including any side characters you’ve met personally) as it feels rewarding for your time, albeit cliche.

Speaking of characters, I think Aloy is a solid protagonist. You feel like you’re learning about the world at the pace she does and being able to play as a badass warrior fighting hordes of machines was great, she's definitely up there as one of my favourite female protagonists. Ashley Burch does a great job of emotionally portraying the character, though she doesn’t have much to go off considering the writing isn’t all that great, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t some great choices made that give her some depth.

Regarding everyone else outside of Aloy, it’s…. a mixed bag. The allies you make along your travels are either vaguely/semi-interesting or are just there to fill a role in the story, plus it doesn’t help that most of their interactions are told through automated facial animations that look very robotic. One of the more interesting characters is someone you meet in the latter half of the game, Sylens. Whilst he does help you, you soon realise it's only to help him get what he wants more than anything, knowledge. It’s a relationship that’s constantly bouncing back and forth, and because of that you never know what he might do next, so do you treat him as an ally or an enemy? This level of depth makes an encounter with him all the more interesting, it's just a shame that the rest of the characters don’t offer as much. Erend, Talanah, Petra, whilst these might’ve been interesting as ‘in the moment’ side missions, I’ve mostly forgotten their storylines, besides prophecy dude whose mission never ends and creepy bandit camp helper.

So, how are the side missions in the game? Okay, but most feel lacking in substance. Whilst there is a variety of side content with stories told over multiple missions, all of the final resolutions feel empty as they don’t give you much for your time. Take for example Erend’s final quest, which feels confused and rushed in its pacing due to all of the events happening way too quickly as it's hurrying through everything in one side mission, trying to act like a main mission. Other examples of this same issue include Talanah’s hunting missions & taking over all the bandit camps.

Discussing enemies, they’re either very good or completely worthless. For the most part I always enjoyed fighting the machines, especially ones such as the Thunderjaw & Stormbird (even though the latter could be annoying depending on the location, alongside Rockbreakers). You’re always looking at your arsenal, deciding which weapons would be best suited at dealing the most damage, learning how to mix & match to get the best outcome. It was always great coming across a new machine type & understanding how it works to see what kills it the quickest. All of these great ideas I feel sadly go out the window when you fight your typical human enemies as none of those mechanics that made the machine fights interesting matter anymore. They’re only really 2 options to taking down other tribes and that's either A) You sneak around and take them out with a strong bow, which gets painfully boring the hundredth time you’re doing it or B) You run around using whatever you want with no tactics whatsoever, which never makes you feel like you’re achieving anything, so in the end both methods suck. I think at the beginning other humans were able feel like a threat as you were fairly weak when it came to your skillset, but once you get to around a third of the way through the game these feelings vanish because the game wants you to have a fighting chance against bigger machines, but in turn makes the other tribes pointless as enemies.

Alongside enemies, the weapons all felt like they had a purpose, just more variety would’ve helped keep things new and fresh. You’re only able to pick from 6 main weapons types: Spears, Bows, Slingshots, Rattlers, Ropecasters & Tripcasters. Horizon tries its best to masquerade this by making multiple variants, which doesn’t give the fighting too much variation, just more ammo types to use & optionally more upgrade slots. I liked how each of them felt, but halfway through the game has already shown you everything it has to offer weapon wise, besides the few unique weapons you use in hunting challenges or pick up from bandits.

Finishing the main game, I realised Horizon was however able to achieve a good sense of progression. In one of the earliest missions you had to fight your first Sawtooth and afterwards you realise how weak you are compared to the larger machines, so I was worried if that would become an annoyance later on. But luckily it was able to show you getting better at the game whilst also giving you harder foes to manage, and over time what at the start of the game was giving me huge problems all of sudden felt like a cake-walk, which I think it deserves a lot of credit for.

Up to this point I’ve only really talked about the main game, but the complete edition does come with the expansion ‘The Frozen Wilds’ which has a decent amount to unpack. On the surface it may seem like more Horizon content within a new environment, but I feel like a lot of improvements were made here, the first being that conversations with NPCs no longer feel awkward and stiff as they did before. Each side mission also seemed more focused on trying to tell you a new piece of information about the world instead of existing for the sake of padding, don’t get me wrong there’s still some that have that feeling (as the challenges in the base game are still prevalent), but it feels cleaner overall. As for enemies, The new machine types are just as engaging as before, and luckily they put less focus on the bandits in the expansion so it becomes less of an annoyance. The story isn’t as engaging as the second half of the base game, but the spectacle is there and it's decent for what it is as a DLC.

Overall, would I recommend Horizon Zero Dawn? I would… but this game definitely has a lot of flaws that can dampen your experience, mostly stemming from ideas feeling overused or not polished enough. I think it does enough different to stand out in the open world game genre, with its unique weapon mechanics & surprisingly detailed world, but it's faltered by unengaging side content. If you’re looking for the next open world game to sink your teeth into, maybe there are better options out there that are more rewarding, but I don't think you're wasting your time checking out Horizon either as there are some neat ideas put to the table.

If this is how gorgeous the first game looks then idk how insane Forbidden West is gonna be on PC. A solid 3/5 game, took me some time to get used to the combat but it got more fun with time. Oh and the Shield-Weaver outfit carried my ass throughout the latter part of the game. Just walking through different locations from this game feels so relaxing and therapeutic, they really hit it out of the park when it comes to balancing fidelity and artstyle. There were some texture pop in issues especially on Meridian but you'd only see them if your playing for way too long without restarting the game. Really hope Forbidden West is properly optimised for PC 🤞🏼

This game was a massive leap for PS4 Exsclusives, showed of the power of the PS4 pro as well.
The World and Enviroments were amazing, the robots were diverse, and the weapon system was a welcome one! Really enjoyed playing this and the newgame plus mode.

The DLC is where I wanna give most of my rating to! I found the story of the game very predictable and found myself guessing what will happen about 30 percent the way through. But the DLC damn does it bring some difficulty to the game, I always found the base game WAAAAAY to easy even on the highest difficulty, but these enemies were insane! Especially the Fire and Frost bear robots!

Fun game Play it if you havent.

HZD has one of the most masterfully crafted open world maps from a AAA developer since...well, ever. If you ignore Zelda: Breath of the Wild at any rate. Still, the extreme beauty of the world and small variety of challenges works together to leave an impression.

It's a little undercut by the fact that the game is far too bloated and the inventory system is a mess. Plus, the constant collecting of herbs and slaughtering an entire jungle's worth of animals to stay alive got old 20 hours in. Constantly switching between weapons and armors gets old after 40 hours of gameplay and I found myself uninterested in tackling The Frozen Wilds expansion if it was just going to be more of the same but harder.

I would rather end the game on a high note than continue and have it become a seemingly unending grind.

Hell Yes!
I'm starting to become a real fanboy of sony playstation exclusive single player games. The game's a gem.
I've enjoyed my first playthrough through this beautiful of a game. It's big, adventurous, beautiful and fun at the same time. From the intriguing story, to the monster killing, the game kills it in most of the possible ways.
Even though I like so much about the game, let me mention a few things which seemed quite rough for a game:
1) the melee combat is just bad. Nothing to like about it and nothing to love about it. It's needed but used 1% through the whole game. And sometimes even the normal combat seemed clunky, sometimes dodge just doesn't work properly or you bump into stupid things and get killed.
2) The dead faces in dialogues. I've enjoyed main story dialogues, but some of the side ones felt like a mumbling the whole time and nothing to get interested into, nevertheless, the dead face expressions along the game, just make it even less fun. I've just came across it's DLC and can already feel the improvement, imaging the improvement in the 2nd franchise game.
3) Scene cuts, some of them have weird teleportation movements and bugs, glitches which distract at times.
4) Even tho there's a lot of weapons, items and so on. Felt limited on not being able to find even rarer collectibles or modifications throughout the game. once you get collectibles map, that's all there is to it. you won't find by accident or somehow anything else more valuable.
5) Unlocking strong items such as armor or an enchanted spear is only available after you beat 90% of the game. I've explored the world before doing main quests and did everything before and guess what, im stuck at progression through the storyline.
6) Climbing only on the yellow nipples popped out. No free climbing here. It helps but limits us.
7) Overriding things just felt so unimportant throughout the whole game. Repairing them or taking care. Just a feature if you want to have. Used it only a few times.

Other than that the game's great. Completed it on hard and still have to finish dlc and get that new game + achievement on ultra hard so more to come.

UPDATE: Just completed DLC and straight afterwards Newgame+ on ultra hard, (wasn't so hard tho') but basically rushed through the game only main quests in newgame+ since I did everything in the normal mode. Just for the last achievements, wasn't as long, completed the game in 4 hours or so and got the last 3 achievements. The game's freaking fun, can't wait for the Forbidden west to come out on the pc

It comes and age where you just start not caring about playing every game until the end if It's not worth it, and Horizons Zero Dawn made me realize that age has come for me as well.

Dropped the game without even thinking about it around 10 hours in, I just couldn't get into it.
The combat was decent and I had some fun with it, but the overall experience started dragging me down really soon.
The uninteresting plot, the akward dialogues, the unnerving cast and a map that's a mess of a design were just too much for me.