The fact that this game is put on a pedestal as not only one of gaming's flagship titles but was nominated for multiple game of the year awards and has a sequel on its way that is one of the most anticipated releases of 2022 is something that I feel sums up everything about modern gaming.
Let's start with the positive - Horizon is a stunning looking videogame. I've gone back to my old save file - one I bailed on back in 2017 - on PS5 and I can't quite believe this is a five year old game and not a native PS5 title. The smooth 60fps upgrade is likely doing a bit of heavy lifting but even in the many screenshots I have taken from my playthrough, it is an undeniably good looking game, right up there at the very top of the pile.
That's it. That's the positive.
Christ, where do we start with the negatives? What Horizon: Zero Dawn offers is little more than a visual treat. As an open world game, it is doing nothing more than the stuff we got bored of on the 360/PS3. As an action game, it feels awkward with all of the attacks feeling far too over-animated and taking far too long to give you a snappy sense of control. The stealth elements are basic, barebones, nothing special but certainly not bad. Most of the sidequests are fetch or kill quests. The characters are all generic tropes, from the father figure who dies to give you a motive to the villain you remember from your childhood - there's not a single original character arc in the entire thing. The overall lore of the world of Horizon comes dangerously close to being actually interesting but then spaffs that up the wall by only revealing itself to you via an insulting amount of audio logs or, in two hilariously bad sections, unskippable exposition dumps.
Open world games are extremely popular and everything about this feels so fucking cynical. Skill trees lock away basic abilities because heaven forbid you have too much freedom from the word go. Yellow fucking objects show where you can climb and you better not get any ideas about climbing on anything other than these obvious climbing markers! From the lead character, sub-Netflix "box set" show storyline and game mechanics that are so well-worn that you basically know exactly how this game plays and feels before you've even started it - and this is all entirely by design. You're supposed to know exactly what you're getting in to and that is one of the main reasons behind its success. It's a game for the lowest common denominator. It's a game that doesn't want any friction whatsoever. It's the gaming equivalent of wall painted in magnolia white with a Live, Laugh, Love framed poster on it.
It is the most basic of basic bitch stuff.
I think it speaks volumes that this - the absolute fucking DEATH of the old style of open world game that Ubisoft and their ilk have been milking since the first Assassin's Creed and has been begging for death for over a decade - came out only a few weeks before Breath of the Wild showed up and instantly made anything that treads the same boards as Horizon look like a relic almost immediately.
Looks great though so you know 10/10 GOTY please tune in to the Game Awards!!!!!!
Let's start with the positive - Horizon is a stunning looking videogame. I've gone back to my old save file - one I bailed on back in 2017 - on PS5 and I can't quite believe this is a five year old game and not a native PS5 title. The smooth 60fps upgrade is likely doing a bit of heavy lifting but even in the many screenshots I have taken from my playthrough, it is an undeniably good looking game, right up there at the very top of the pile.
That's it. That's the positive.
Christ, where do we start with the negatives? What Horizon: Zero Dawn offers is little more than a visual treat. As an open world game, it is doing nothing more than the stuff we got bored of on the 360/PS3. As an action game, it feels awkward with all of the attacks feeling far too over-animated and taking far too long to give you a snappy sense of control. The stealth elements are basic, barebones, nothing special but certainly not bad. Most of the sidequests are fetch or kill quests. The characters are all generic tropes, from the father figure who dies to give you a motive to the villain you remember from your childhood - there's not a single original character arc in the entire thing. The overall lore of the world of Horizon comes dangerously close to being actually interesting but then spaffs that up the wall by only revealing itself to you via an insulting amount of audio logs or, in two hilariously bad sections, unskippable exposition dumps.
Open world games are extremely popular and everything about this feels so fucking cynical. Skill trees lock away basic abilities because heaven forbid you have too much freedom from the word go. Yellow fucking objects show where you can climb and you better not get any ideas about climbing on anything other than these obvious climbing markers! From the lead character, sub-Netflix "box set" show storyline and game mechanics that are so well-worn that you basically know exactly how this game plays and feels before you've even started it - and this is all entirely by design. You're supposed to know exactly what you're getting in to and that is one of the main reasons behind its success. It's a game for the lowest common denominator. It's a game that doesn't want any friction whatsoever. It's the gaming equivalent of wall painted in magnolia white with a Live, Laugh, Love framed poster on it.
It is the most basic of basic bitch stuff.
I think it speaks volumes that this - the absolute fucking DEATH of the old style of open world game that Ubisoft and their ilk have been milking since the first Assassin's Creed and has been begging for death for over a decade - came out only a few weeks before Breath of the Wild showed up and instantly made anything that treads the same boards as Horizon look like a relic almost immediately.
Looks great though so you know 10/10 GOTY please tune in to the Game Awards!!!!!!
15 Comments
Or to put in other words: I agree on everything you said, except maybe the combat. I don’t think that big Sony exclusive can have a shorter combat animations like in Dark Souls where you gain more control over the character but loses the presentation and spectacle due to more responsiveness and less “realism”.
Though, as I said - here it’s not an issue cause taking monster apart by different tools is still fun.
Actually, I believe that for Sony exclusive it’s one of the most interesting combats cause it’s not an easy one, which is rare for AAA title.
Though, as I said - here it’s not an issue cause taking monster apart by different tools is still fun.
Actually, I believe that for Sony exclusive it’s one of the most interesting combats cause it’s not an easy one, which is rare for AAA title.
I'd be inclined to agree with you about the world and lore but sticking it all in audio logs, which got boring and deemed as an archaic and unsatisfying way of presenting information to the player sometime around 2007, kills it stone dead.
Been gearing up to finally play this and am devastated to find that it's audio log heavy. Nothing turns me off to a game faster - been sick of it since Bioshock
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Ok, so I finished the game the second time yesterday. Yes, building up the lore and story is very fucked up. Basically, you enter a room and you see 3-4 audio logs, and you have to turn them on, and by staying still - listen to them.
On one hand - it makes sense, cause how otherwise you would be able to get info from the world that died hundreds of years ago. Animated holograms would be more entertaining but at the root - it's the same thing.
On other hand - it's just not the most interesting way of delivering the information.
I dunno why I'm so protective about this game, in any other case I'd bash it hard cause it has downsides and many of them. I think the world really stuck with me and its overall mood - melancholic, beautiful and sad (if you know the lore).
Watching the Noclip documentary was also an interesting and insightful case. Basically - Guerilla didn't know how to make open-world games at all, they haven't any story-quest department and they never worked with character lead games.
For the story-lore, they invented Gonzales - the guy who wrote Fallout New Vegas, and for quests, they invited some guys who wrote quests for MMOs...
Also, they were doing two games at the time: Horizon (the experiment) and the latest Killzone (Commercially safe game)
Plus they made a new engine that could handle the open-world types of games. Killzone was released in 2013, and Horizon in 2017. Basically, it took 4 years for actual production and 5-6 years with pre-production included.
Of course, taking into account, all production nuances isn't an excuse in any way, but it makes me appreciate this product more.
On one hand - it makes sense, cause how otherwise you would be able to get info from the world that died hundreds of years ago. Animated holograms would be more entertaining but at the root - it's the same thing.
On other hand - it's just not the most interesting way of delivering the information.
I dunno why I'm so protective about this game, in any other case I'd bash it hard cause it has downsides and many of them. I think the world really stuck with me and its overall mood - melancholic, beautiful and sad (if you know the lore).
Watching the Noclip documentary was also an interesting and insightful case. Basically - Guerilla didn't know how to make open-world games at all, they haven't any story-quest department and they never worked with character lead games.
For the story-lore, they invented Gonzales - the guy who wrote Fallout New Vegas, and for quests, they invited some guys who wrote quests for MMOs...
Also, they were doing two games at the time: Horizon (the experiment) and the latest Killzone (Commercially safe game)
Plus they made a new engine that could handle the open-world types of games. Killzone was released in 2013, and Horizon in 2017. Basically, it took 4 years for actual production and 5-6 years with pre-production included.
Of course, taking into account, all production nuances isn't an excuse in any way, but it makes me appreciate this product more.
You certainly can tell they had no experience in making an open world game!
I think my stance on lore that needs to be given to you through a load of information dumps is "if that is the only way you can do it, it probably isn't very good lore".
I think my stance on lore that needs to be given to you through a load of information dumps is "if that is the only way you can do it, it probably isn't very good lore".
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@nowitsreyntime17
I used to be a huge fallout fan. Fallout 2 probably my most played game ever.
Though now, I’m kinda neutral to its genre due to its popularity and cause I was born on post soviet area, so the entire environment used to look like a some fucking post war theatre.
The way how the world portrait in Horizon is unique and fresh (though in 2013 there was Enclave which took place in a very similar setting). Plus I feel that it rhymes with a contemporary art and state of culture more than any other modern game, at least in AAA area. Post humanism, environmentalism, trans humanism, tribalism and cybernetics. Maybe the closest games that touches some of this themes are from software games, especially Bloodborne (existentialism, trans humanism, decadence). So for me Horizon is interesting from intellectual point of view.
But again, they way how it presented if fucked.
I’d love to know more about that world, but in order to do that I have to go on IGN, look for all locations with audio and text logs, go there and check them out. Really?
Plus I realised that Aloy is boring and annoying sometimes. Sylens is more interesting character than she is.
I’m down for more female leads but it doesn’t mean that they have to be stone cold, sarcastic mercenaries.
I used to be a huge fallout fan. Fallout 2 probably my most played game ever.
Though now, I’m kinda neutral to its genre due to its popularity and cause I was born on post soviet area, so the entire environment used to look like a some fucking post war theatre.
The way how the world portrait in Horizon is unique and fresh (though in 2013 there was Enclave which took place in a very similar setting). Plus I feel that it rhymes with a contemporary art and state of culture more than any other modern game, at least in AAA area. Post humanism, environmentalism, trans humanism, tribalism and cybernetics. Maybe the closest games that touches some of this themes are from software games, especially Bloodborne (existentialism, trans humanism, decadence). So for me Horizon is interesting from intellectual point of view.
But again, they way how it presented if fucked.
I’d love to know more about that world, but in order to do that I have to go on IGN, look for all locations with audio and text logs, go there and check them out. Really?
Plus I realised that Aloy is boring and annoying sometimes. Sylens is more interesting character than she is.
I’m down for more female leads but it doesn’t mean that they have to be stone cold, sarcastic mercenaries.
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For what it is worth, I think the signs are positive for the sequel in regards to the world and background stuff because they've already gotten it all out the way. There's no excuse for massive exposition dumps and hundreds of audio logs next time around and that aspect of Horizon will be all the better for it.
oh yes, for sure!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYU-uFTx9PY
they have a podcast show about horizon world which worries me tbh, cause I don't want to listen to the podcast in order to understand the world.
I hope it's just a promo that preceds the upcoming game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYU-uFTx9PY
they have a podcast show about horizon world which worries me tbh, cause I don't want to listen to the podcast in order to understand the world.
I hope it's just a promo that preceds the upcoming game.
Very much reminds me of Halo 4, where most of the story was in a totally separate book.
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anatolikbelikov
2 years ago
Though, the lore and combat is absolutely fantastic. Being a dark souls series it’s a pure joy to play Horizon. The combat mechanic is intense, brutal and creative, both for 2017 or 2022. The closest game that a similar thing is Monster Hunter World or previously mentioned DS.
As for the the story and lore.
Initially I liked Aloy, but now playing the game second time I mostly dislike her - her character is bland, sometimes arrogant, lacks of agenda and sometimes just inconsistent in terms of motivation.
She is like a female chad.
The way story unfolds is very “open world Ubisoft” style. But man, the lore behind it is insane. I believe it’s one of the most interesting wolds that I’ve seen in fiction. I love the idea of post humanism, ecological and environmental issues, corporations and some kind of Zazen I guess. Though, we can argue about how AI portraited here (as humans), but it’s a common friction in fiction how to make them a character like but keep as an AI not a human.
Overall, it’s a beautiful game buried by some boring mechanics and outdated design.
Considering that it’s a first not Killzone game by Guerilla, I think it’s fair to give them a chance this February. I’ll give.