Hello everybody and welcome to my review of Horizon Zero Dawn. Wow, what can I say about such an amazing game, where should I even start. I'm not one to get into the whole "console wars" thing, I honestly think both major consoles are great. But I have to admit Playstation has been killing it with the exclusives this generation, and if you needed a reason to get a PS4, look no further than Horizon. This game completely blew me away with how it looked, how it played, how huge it was, and how much fun I had playing through it. Long after I finished this game I still find myself thinking about it and wanting to go back and play it again. I'm not a trophy hunter by any means, but I loved this game so much that by the time it was over I ended up with the platinum trophy for it, something I never usually get. If there weren't so many other new games out that I'm busy playing, I would start a new playthrough of Horizon, that's how much I enjoyed it.
Horizon Zero Dawn was made by Guerrilla Games, a production company best known for their previous game series Killzone, a futuristic first person shooter franchise. So for them to take such a huge risk by making a game like Horizon is really commendable, it could have gone horribly wrong. Luckily for us it didn't, and they managed to create one of the best games of this generation.
Horizon takes place 1000 years in the future, where small tribes of primitive people live in the shadows of huge mechanical beasts. The reason for such a drastic change in human evolution is not clear when you start the game, but as you make your way through the story it does explain why the world is this way. For me personally it was very well done, and I really enjoyed rummaging through the remains of the past civilization to look for clues as to what happened here. The are still small organic animals roaming the countryside, rabbits, foxes, raccoons and whatnot, but they run alongside these mysterious mechanical animals that have completely dominated the land. In the distance you can see the ruins of skyscrapers and other man made structures that would seem normal to us, but the tribes in Horizon have no idea what these are or what they were used for. They live in huts, and hunt with spears and bows, somehow devolving into primitive people, even though they are surrounded by high tech robot creatures. Horizon has such an interesting premise, and such a dense, detailed world, Guerrilla Games deserves so much credit for taking a risk like they did.
The character you play as is named Aloy, she's an orphan and an outcast from the rest of her tribe. One day as you're rummaging around in an old ruin, you come across this little piece of technology that completely changes the way you see the world. It's a small device almost like a bluetooth, that sits in your ear, and displays and explains all the things in Aloy's world. You start off as a primitive girl who doesn't understand much of anything, like the rest of your tribe. To suddenly having a piece of technology that explains everything to you, and you start to put together what's going on around here in a way that you could never explain to your tribe. Because of this you decide it's time to leave the safety of the walled in community and venture out into the unknown wilderness. That's where the game really begins in my opinion, once the entirety of the world map is open for you to explore to your liking, and boy what a world it is.
Once you're out in the wild you will come across all sorts of intimidating mechanical creatures, and if you're not careful they will kill you. Some are small like the deer type and easily dispatched, but some are freaking huge and best left alone until you're better equipped to handle them. One type of creature is like a giraffe with a long neck that you can climb up. These ones will not hurt you, so instead you must climb them to the top of their platform like head where you can survey the land around you. This will open up more of the world map, just like climbing a tower in Assassin's Creed. Even though you only have a spear and bow to take enemies down, you get many options that are well suited for getting the job done. You can lay explosive trip wires down, different types of elemental arrows that have varying effects of certain enemy types. You will eventually get a slingshot that can lob bombs, and even special arrows with ropes that will tie an enemy down so you can pummel them. The combat, while primitive, is easily the most fun aspect of Horizon, and once you know the controls well enough, you will be performing some pretty amazing take downs.
Eventually you will come across bigger communities that will have trading outposts, where you can buy and sell goods. There is also a crafting aspect of the game, allowing you to build anything you might need. This means you will be collecting every resource you come across as you travel throughout the land, from flowers to pieces of tech that came off your fallen enemies. You can get different types of outfits that all have varying stat boosts to help you in certain situations, although I wish there were a few more. Horizon always keeps things fresh and interesting, whether it's different environments, new NPC's, or the twenty something different types of machine animals, you never get bored or burnt out. This game kept my attention the whole way through and when it was over I wished there was more. Not many games have that level of variety in gameplay or setting to keep you engaged the entire time. If you haven't played Horizon yet then I highly suggest going out and picking it up, especially with the new DLC expansion coming out in November. This is truly an amazing game and definitely deserves an:
A+