Horizon Zero Dawn Review

The PlayStation exclusive, Horizon Zero Dawn peaked interested from the very beginning. It was something that looked different from the off set with its giant robotic like dinosaurs set in a primitive world. Horizon Zero Dawn was one of those games that instantly grabbed its audience and didn't let go, with a 40 odd hour long story and ideas that was completely out of the box, it definitely made a big first impression.

The Story

Originally the game seems to be set in the past but somehow humanity have found a way of developing technology early, this is not the case. Instead it is the complete opposite, the story itself is set well into the future, roughly 1000 years and it is the human race that has taken the step back. The way the world has ended up like this isn't very clear at first but as the story unfolds it becomes a lot clearer. The user plays as a character called Aloy, she is an outcast that tries to fit in with others but is constantly rejected. Her life soon takes a change when she finds a Focus, this is a device that can find and scan old artefacts while giving information about it. Aloy takes the device and begins to use it throughout her life and it is this that begins to slowly unravel what happened to humanity, her families past and where she comes from. It also includes where the mechanical creatures come from and most importantly why they are there.

It is the way that Aloy acts and her personality that makes her instantly likeable. Her sarcastic replies and distrust of people can be funny and make her an even more interesting character. There is the occasional corny line between characters, but it is something that you can live with. As the story develops, you meet new characters which are all in need of something and of course with Aloy's good intentions, she agrees to help. This begins to allow the others to accept her and ultimately allows her to find out who she is. In the last stretch of the game everything begins to come together, Aloy is the main link of it all and finds out that she has played, and will continue to play, a very important part in trying to piece everything back together, the way it was once before.

The Gameplay

Once the beginning of the game is done with you are opened up to the big wide world. The world features different districts which introduce new tribes, animals and mechanic beasts, forcing the player to explore and find different materials to upgrade Aloy's kit. Horizon Zero Dawn's most important feature is the combat side of things. With a variety of different tools such as arrows and upgrades in an upgrade tree the player can choose different approaches when it comes to taking down enemies. There is also 26 different species of machine, all of which have different weak spots and a special way of taking them down. Depending on how the player fights is dependent on what kind of enemy they come up against.

Aloy's arsenal is mainly made up of old technology, both her arrows and bow are upgrade-able but there is access to tools that a completely different. This includes a rope-caster which fires out ropes to stop the enemy in their tracks or a trip-caster which allows the player to set up explosive traps. These however need to be used before combat ideally, they can be slow and if you don't get them right first time they can take time, that of which you don't get when in combat.

There is also human enemies throughout the world, many of which make up enemy tribes or outcasts. Unlike the machine beasts it is best to approach the humans as stealthily as possible. Running in with all guns blazing can result in you getting into some sticky situations. Clearing out these human enemies and their camps is part of small side quests that are optional to the player, of course if you do this it makes travelling around the map a more peaceful journey. The side quests also include missions such as finding artefacts, hunting machines throughout the hunting grounds and climbing giant long neck machines to unlock new parts of the map. Carrying out all these small quests will grant the player XP and currency which can be used to upgrade or buy new weapons.

Moving throughout the world is easy and fluent, everything that can be climbed is well blended into the environment which makes climbing and dropping down cliff faces something that is really enjoyable. There is however the occasional glitch or judder when climbing things but nothing significant to ruin the gaming experience.

The Visuals

Horizon Zero Dawn's apocalyptic world allows for a beautiful looking map. With the player travelling throughout the map looking for artefacts they get to see a number of different biomes. This varies from old ruined cities, perfect for climbing and jumping about, to open deserts crawling in a number of different machines. The design of the world is as you would imagine for a post-apocalyptic situation, the destroyed cities look great in the night while the forests and flowing rivers look amazing in day. Everything the player sees is accessible and explore-able with no disappointment.

The Verdict

Horizon Zero Dawn is a game coming from the developers of kill zone, Guerrilla. It is a very different and out of the box game. This is a game that is hard to pull yourself away from without wanting more. It is extremely satisfying when taking down a giant like T-Rex machines firing laser beams and rockets, only with the use of a bow and arrow. The story itself is very interesting and something that is uncommon now, can take more than two days to complete. The side quests however can get repetitive and use a little more imagination but you're fighting giant robot creatures, what more do you really want?

9/10 - Amazing

Pros:

Beautiful looking visuals

Impressive world size

Great combat and stealth mechanics

Variety of weapons and upgrades

Cons:

Repetitive side quests

May have to grind to gain resources

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