Horizon Zero Dawn – Game Review

Blogmas!

December 4th Game Review: Horizon Zero Dawn

Horizon Zero Dawn is an action role-playing video game developed by Guerrilla Games and published for PlayStation 4 and released in early 2017.

Before I get into anything else I just have to say…this game is marvellous! Interesting narratives. Beautifully crafted scenery. Amazing gameplay. This is exactly what Horizon delivers.

The plot revolves around an outcast hunter, named Aloy, living in a world in the distant future overrun by robots. Having been an outcast her whole life and being treat differently and looked down on by members of the tribe, she sets out to discover the dangers that she was sheltered from. The character uses various weapons to deal with the enemies in which she encounters like: A spear, a number of bows (Normal and long range) and her own abilities like stealth and acrobatically taking down enemies from above. She can learn new abilities as she levels up from the skill tree, like the stealth and takedowns as mentioned before.  The game features an open world environment for Aloy to explore, divided into tribes that hold side quests to undertake, while the main story guides her across the entire map.

Visuals: 10/10

A visual masterpiece. I often found myself stunned by beautiful scenery, taking screenshots in photo mode constantly.  The art direction is consistently impressive across the world (which is impressively large) and the attention to detail throughout the whole game is so fascinating.

And of course I have to mention the main focus of the game, the machines. The machines are amazingly similar to real life animals but just mechanised. The attention to detail from the armour of the various machines to the wiring that are classed as “weaknesses” that deal more damage when hit.

Gameplay: 10/10

Horizon’s gameplay is one of the core strengths that makes it unique and better than its peers. Taking down machines is challenging but not necessarily in the controller smashing kind of way. It’s the challenge of figuring out how to progressively dismantle these mechanical beasts where you’ll find the sense of accomplishment comes from.

My Personal Rating: 10/10

Definitely a contender for game of the year and arguably one of the top games on the PS4. One of the most enjoyable and beautiful games I’ve played in a long time. So far my favourite game since the PS2 era of games.