Horizon Zero Dawn is developed by Guerilla Games for the PS4. In contrast to their previous franchise, Killzone, which was a first-person shooter, Horizon Zero Dawn is a third-person action adventure. The game has one of the best graphics on the PS4. It is set in the future where mechanical beasts roam the fields. Technology has regressed and humans now live in isolated villages, using weapons such as bows and arrows. While humanity has adapted somewhat to live in peace with the machines (avoiding them, hunting them etc), recent changes threaten to end this stability as new, more aggressive machines, have started appearing.
The story follows Aloy from when she was first born and we quickly see her grow up to an adult. She is an outcast from the village, a harsh sentence for one so innocent. This meant she never lived in the village and had to rely on her father figure. Villagers shun them, refuse to trade with them and generally treat them with disgust. On the other hand, this allowed Aloy to get much acquainted with surviving in the wild and get proficient in hunting machines. She also has the distinct advantage of a small piece of technology that attaches to her ear, giving her insights during battle. This doubles up as an analysis option during gameplay.
The player control Aloy who is nimble, able to run and climb to many places. She has access to a variety of weapons. Initially, you only get her bow and arrows, but eventually you'll get gadgets such as shock traps and machine overrides. A big part of the gameplay is crafting. Scattered in the environments are many harvest points for raw materials. Everything you use, from ammo to upgrades, requires specific items. It can be disastrous if you try to take on tough enemies and then realize that you ran out of materials to craft more ammo. Late in the game, this becomes more of an inventory management kind of thing as you run out of room and have to decide what you want to keep.
As machines roam in herds, initially, you will tend to use stealth to your advantage. Crouching and hiding in long grass, you're able to lure the machines one by one and then take them out. Aloy has basic physical attacks but they're slow and require her to be in close range where she may get fatally hurt by the machines. Aloy is able to jump and climb all over the place. However, the parkouring system isn't as refined as some other games. Sometimes, the ledges which Aloy can grab are not obvious, at others, she refused to jump onto something you want.
The machines take on various forms and each have weakpoints, which can be revealed using the earpiece that Aloy has. They roam the environment and are aggressive, which can get annoying when a whole herd starts to gang up on you. A few times during the game, Aloy is forced into open combat which is one of the weaker parts of the game. Once the game opens up at around the 10 hour mark and introduces a bunch more varieties of machines, this is where the game truly shines. Now, you have to be a lot more strategic and careful to lay traps and use your other weapons to defeat those enemies without alerting others. The weakest aspect of the combat is when you are fighting against other humans, it's just not as epic or fun.
The open world is massive, as you would expect of games these days. Machines roam the environments with sidequests scattered all over the place. The lush green grass plains are contrasted with the hard white of the snowy mountains. Thanks to the crafting gimmick, you will probably stop quite often or go out of your way just to grab that harvest point in case it is something that you need. Later on, inventory management becomes crucial as you run out of space.
You might feel the world start to feel stagnated since it is always either snowy mountains or green grass plains. Thankfully, the environments will eventually have a little bit more variety again with a desert. Nevertheless, it still feels like the world is too big for its own sake. It actually really feels like a Ubisoft open world game with a big world, a ton of collectibles but not much meaningful content to justify its size. The world has a day night cycle and different weather effects. This serves more as an annoyance though since yes, while day and night contrasts are great, as does a dust storm reducing visibility makes the game different, it all feels superficial and a hindrance to the player. This is especially true when you are hunting collectibles at the end of the game, not only does the map not show the exact location (rather it shows a search area) but you DO NOT NEED rain or night or whatever to hide the already hard to find climbable places.
That said, there are plenty of sidequests. A lot of them are either boring fetch quests or ones where you follow tracks to your destination. However, there are some meaty ones that add quite a bit of backstory making them worthwhile to play through. Of course, there are a billion collectibles to waste your time with if you so wish. Included are of course time trials, some of which are extremely frustrating and annoying. They are poorly designed and are not fun at all. A lot of the optional side activities (but which are required for the Platinum trophy) are repetitive, bland and massive filler.
There is a heavy emphasis on role playing elements and that makes the game addictive. Leveling up doesn't feel like a chore since it is speedy but not too fast that it doesn't feel rewarding. As you level up, you gain extra health and skill points. The skill tree unlocks useful abilities. The story will eventually focus upon how the world came to be this way. Since it does take place in the far future with some incredible technologies, yet the people are living in tribal fashion, you know something must have happened. This isn't even to mention the gigantic machines roaming around. The great news is that once the lid opens for the twist, it sucks you in and doesn't let go. The story missions will then throw revelation after revelation and it is an engaging story.
It does somewhat let itself down at the end since while the final battles were epic and intense, in terms of story, it devolved into just killing the antagonist without too much fanfare. Overall, Horizon Zero Dawn really comes into its own after the somewhat boring beginning. Give it 10 hours and the story will suck you in, and the gameplay expand enough for it to be interesting. It is very satisfying when you set traps that succeed in defeating multiple machines in one go. The graphics are one of the best on the PS4, Horizon Zero Dawn is an impressive game and a must play.
----------------------------------------------------
For other game reviews, have a look at this page.