I'm making the most out of the fact that the PS5 is backwards compatible with PS4 games to catch up on a whole generation of games I missed. BACKGROUND:
This game was a big deal when it came out, so I've naturally heard of it. Somehow, I've managed to only see very little of the game despite it being out for several years now, but the stuff I have seen (like the unique setting and the bow-centric combat), I am very interested in. PLOT: The world of Horizon Zero Dawn seems like a unique universe, but it's actually set on Earth several centuries in the future. It's clear at first glance that some apocalyptic event took place, and that the human civilization we're familiar with today was wiped out completely as a result. The present generation of people who exist instead live in tribes with simple ways of life and much simpler technology. However, that doesn't mean the technology of the last civilization (referred to as the Old Ones by the characters) isn't present anymore. While regular animals do exist in this new world, the most prominent creatures are actually not creatures at all; they're machines with animal-like designs. The people of this world hunt them like our ancestors would hunt animals, but recently, the machines have become more hostile, and more dangerous ones are starting to surface. The game follows the story of Aloy, a young woman who was branded an outcast by the Nora tribe due to the circumstances of her birth. She is raised to adulthood by Rost, who himself is an outcast. Early on, Aloy deals with a lot of harassment and discrimination from the Nora for her outcast status, which eventually compels her to seek answers as to why she was branded one in the first place. Aloy demands answers from Rost, who can't really offer any, but he does say that she can earn the right to demand those answers from the Matriarchs of the Nora if she wins the Proving (a competition that will also make her a member of the tribe). Determined, Aloy trains throughout her childhood in preparation for the Proving, eventually becoming a skilled huntress. Aloy's adventure kicks off proper when she participates and wins in the Proving, which ends up being attacked by soldiers in masks. She narrowly avoids death, and during her recovery, one of the Matriarchs reveals to her why she was branded an outcast. It becomes apparent that the secrets of Aloy's past is tied to the Old Ones (a subject that Aloy has always been curious about), and thus she is sent by the Matriarchs to find answers (as well as avenge the attack on the Nora). After this point, Aloy sets off to explore the world (well, some of it, anyway), where she interacts with and learns about other tribes like the Carja, visits many settlements, helps all sorts of people, and learns of various historical events like the Red Raids (a massacre perpetrated by the Carja's previous king). Most of what she learns here is expanded upon in the game's many side quests, each of which feature a neat little story and other characters. You also learn more about the old world as you play, as optional collectibles reveal all sorts of details (from aspects of daily life, the sociopolitical climate of the time, big events like environmental disasters, and more information about the derelict ruins you explore). The main storyline eventually reveals a lot of bombshells, like the cause of the apocalypse, why the new world is the way it is (with machines existing and all that), and even how Aloy fits into all of it. I wouldn't say any of the reveals are shocking, but I found it extremely satisfying to piece everything together. The secrets of the Old Ones play into the main conflict as well, as the machinations of the villains involve them harnessing long-dormant technology for the sake of conquest. Here, what Aloy learns of the other tribes and what she discovers about the world's past converge. I'm glad that these two plot threads were connected and not just two completely separate storylines. I quite enjoyed Aloy as a protagonist. She doesn't take shit from anybody, she strives to do the right thing, and I felt for her struggle as someone who was treated horribly just because they were arbitrarily labeled as "other" based on complete nonsense. She also has a sense of humor as well as a strong desire to understand the world (something I can relate to). Overall, I enjoyed her journey to discover her place in the world, and there was something satisfying about seeing her earn the respect of people from everywhere after a childhood fraught with discrimination. Interestingly, you can choose how Aloy responds to certain situations, but these choices don't affect the outcome of the story and instead let you decide which aspect of Aloy's personality shines through (her strong will, her compassion, or her intelligence). The spotlight on other characters can vary depending on their role in the story, but most NPCs had something interesting to offer even if they only have a few lines of dialogue or a short side quest. The standouts for me are Rost (whose relationship with Aloy is the beating heart of the early game), the mysterious Sylens, and certain characters from the old world (whose stories live on through recordings and transcripts that Aloy recovers). Admittedly, I didn't really care for the main villains, but the context surrounding their actions is fascinating. Throughout the course of the game, Aloy learns of the history of the Carja, which includes the aforementioned Red Raids (which affected pretty much every other named tribe in this world), the ousting of the king responsible, and the efforts of the present monarchy to make amends. Granted, most of this backstory is told and not shown, but all this history comes across in the emotions conveyed by the people Aloy interacts with. The cultures of each of the tribes are fascinating as well. From the Nora's matriarchal society (and disturbing penchant for shunning outsiders), the Banuk's worship of machines, Carja deifying the sun, and the Oseram mostly being steelworkers, every tribe feels distinct from one another. It's also interesting to see how they view each other, and how aspects of the old world influence their religion and daily life. While the world you explore here has a lot to offer, it's very clearly a small portion of the Earth. Discovering where in the real world the game takes place was quite fun, but that naturally had me wondering how things were elsewhere. There are only hints of what lies beyond, and part of me wants to get on with the second game for some answers. The aspect of the story I enjoyed the most may just be everything surrounding the Old Ones. The eventual reveal of what happened to the world and what people did in response was such an enjoyable experience for me, and it perfectly (and creatively) explains why things are the way they are in the game's present day. Stuff like why machines exist (and even why they're designed the way they are) make perfect sense with the provided context, and I was surprised at how they made characters from this bygone era compelling simply with audio logs and transcripts that describe what they're going through and how they're feeling about the events leading to the apocalypse. Since I played the Complete Edition, I also got to play the Frozen Wilds expansion. The story here sees Aloy explore the Cut, a snow-covered land in Banuk territory, where she discovers a similar phenomenon of machines becoming more hostile as well as an ominous mountain spewing smoke. You meet a new cast of interesting characters in this expansion, and the main quest line expands upon the reveals of the base game while also building upon the past of this region and exploring the culture of the Banuk. I thought it was a worthwhile side story that adds a lot to the overall experience. PRESENTATION: It's no surprise that a game such as this looks great given it leans hard into the AAA graphics. Apart from weird hiccups like small objects blipping in and out of existence and stuff like corpses freaking out when they end up on uneven terrain, this game is quite polished between its realistic textures, lighting, and effects, smooth animations, and incredibly detailed models and environments. Speaking of environments, I enjoyed the diversity of the locales you explore. Most of the world is wilderness, but there are distinct biomes, as you can explore forests, deserts, snowcapped mountains, and lakes/rivers. The settlements of the world's tribes are scattered throughout, and the architecture is unique for each. The highlights of unique designs are obviously the machines, which strike a balance between having the natural form of the animals they're inspired by and being obviously robotic in nature. The Grazer, for example, has the natural shape of an antelope-like creature (as opposed to just being a Zoid), but you can clearly see that it's a machine with all sorts of wires and canisters poking out and their glowing robotic "eyes." Although the machines take inspiration from a wide variety of real-life animals, they do have a lot of similar design traits (white external parts, clearly metallic innards, bluish glow), which adds to the feeling that they're manufactured. While the people of this world have mostly unique outfits, aspects of their overall design reflect the tribe they are from (like the color of fabric, the types of headwear, and face paint). I also liked how their armor incorporated bits and pieces of machines, which shows how prominent hunting is in this civilization. Also peppering the landscape are the ruins of the old civilization, and the imagery is quite inspired. There's something both fascinating and eerie about seeing entire skyscrapers reduced to partial skeletons, old houses completely overrun with plants, and stuff like cars and road signs completely rusted over. The game leans more into the ambient sounds of the environment when you're just exploring, but it does have its fair share of music for cutscenes and combat encounters. A lot of the tracks sound like something I'd hear from an epic action blockbuster, but with noticeably more percussion in terms of the instruments. Pretty much all of the voice acting was great, with even minor NPCs delivering solid performances that convey a whole host of emotions well. My only gripe is how the facial expressions of the characters (which, to be clear, are phenomenal in terms of their natural-looking animations) don't always match the delivery of the dialogue, but apart from that, I think the voice cast did an excellent job. GAMEPLAY: Horizon Zero Dawn is an open world action game where you explore, take on quests, and battle both machines and hostile people as Aloy. There's a lot to discuss, so I'll talk about each main aspect bit by bit. The game's world is quite big, though a lot of it is wilderness. Most of what you'll see here are gathering nodes for resources as well as herds of machines (the map helpfully keeps track where certain machine types live in case you need to specifically hunt them). Strewn about the world are campfires which are both save points and fast travel points, as well as settlements where you can find merchants and a lot of the NPCs who give quests. There are also special areas like the Cauldrons, which are the equivalent of dungeons that give you a special reward when completed (more on that later), various ruins and bunkers (which are also dungeons, but are more often than not associated with major quests), Hunting Grounds where you can take on time trial combat challenges and get item and XP rewards, and bandit camps that you can clear out to unlock new fast travel points. Sadly, there are only a handful of each (even taking into account the DLC area), and I would have loved a few more given how interesting each one was in terms of the challenges they provided. At the start, the map isn't fully revealed, and in order to reveal more, you'll need to climb colossal machines called Tallnecks. You can think of them as the equivalent of Breath of the Wild's towers, except they move, and you have to find an elevated spot from which to jump onto them and climb on their radar head. Again, there are only a few of them, but they each offer a unique challenge in order to get close enough to climb (like a bandit camp or a herd of dangerous machines). Most of your exploration takes place on the ground (or underground), but there will be many sections where you do some on-rails platforming/climbing in the style of games like Uncharted. As is common in many modern games, the points Aloy needs to grab onto have a specific color, though I will commend them for making the visual language here more subtle than what is usually common, as they strike a balance between being clear to spot and blending seamlessly with the rest of the environment. It would have been neat to have more involved platforming (especially given that Aloy has a grappling hook that is never used except for automatic rappel points), but that's just a personal wish. Aloy has access to a highly advanced piece of tech called a Focus, which functions similarly to mechanics like Detective Mode from the Arkham games or Eagle Vision from Assassin's Creed. Their main use is to provide information on the enemies you're fighting (like general location, weaknesses/resistances, and weak points), but they're also used in quests where you highlight tracks and investigate points of interest, as well as interact with datapoints that provide additional lore. There are also a variety of optional collectibles hidden around the world aside from the datapoints, and in addition to the bits of lore they also provide, special merchants will take them and give you useful rewards in exchange. Finding them with no help is quite difficult, but you can purchase maps from certain merchants to reveal them on the map. Now, you still have to look for them, as these don't reveal the exact location of the collectibles; instead, they show you a specific area where they might be found. I thought this was a neat approach that strikes a balance between having you work for it and not making the search miserable. I thought the fact that the Focus was more augmented reality as opposed to some sort of complete filter change for the game was novel, but apart from that, it's a mostly standard take on a mechanic that's become more common in modern games. It does take away from the thrill of stealth (which is a play style I enjoy) because you can easily detect enemies, but that's more of a general criticism of the mechanic than a specific issue for this particular game. Speaking of stealth, factors like the sound of your movements, environmental features like tall grass, and the ability to lure enemies by whistling or throwing rocks can be leveraged to your advantage. It's quite fun to take down whole herds of machines or an entire bandit camp without being spotted, though the inconsistency of the AI keeps it from becoming a perfect experience. There are neat behaviors like enemies going on high alert when a corpse is spotted or enemies with projectiles aiming at tall grass that they saw you hide in, but at the same time, I found that enemies give up on looking for you too quickly, immediately forget where you just were, or just have terrible peripheral vision. Most quests involve a mix of talking to NPCs, investigation, navigation to new locations, and combat, with the occasional gathering of resources and NPC allies fighting alongside you. A lot of the investigation portions aren't that exciting (just follow the trail until you get to the action), but thankfully most quests culminate in some sort of combat encounter. Now, we get to the combat. Aloy's preferred weapon is her bow, but as you play, you'll unlock different kinds of bows (each with different sets of ammo) and entirely new weapons. You can equip four weapons at a time and switch with the weapon wheel at will (with the additional ability to select the specific ammo you want), and the variety of weapons allows you to do a lot of fun stuff when it comes to swapping quickly to get the results you want. I found it odd that the arrow types are split across three bow types instead of having one bow and a simpler way of switching between the ammo you want, but the game at least makes it so that these bows have different properties (like variation in aim and reload speed, plus the damage output of their respective ammo). The other weapons include the Ropecaster (an extremely useful tool that can briefly incapacitate machines with ropes), the Tripcaster (which can set tripwires), Slings (which can lob elemental or explosive bombs), and Rattlers (which is the closest thing to an automatic weapon). The DLC also adds powerful elemental weapons like the Icerail, Stormslinger, and the Forgefire, which are all fun to use. They all have their niches, and it's fun to switch between them depending on the situation. Each weapon has a variety of ammo, from regular damaging ammo (standard arrows and such), ammo that can inflict status effects if you hit enemies enough times (elemental arrows and bombs, Ropecaster ammo), explosives, and ammo that specializes in Tear damage (which can destroy machine components effectively). It's the variety here that makes swapping between weapons a ton of fun, because if you play your cards right, you can bully even the most powerful machines into submission with judicious use of your arsenal to deal damage, incapacitate, and exploit weaknesses. While you can buy ammo from merchants, you'll likely be crafting them more often than not using resources gathered from the environment and looted from downed machines. Many ammo types make use of Metal Shards, a resource that also doubles as currency for merchants. I never really ran into the struggle of running out of Metal Shards for either purpose, as you can sell resources you don't need easily on top of the shards you can harvest from machines naturally. Where you may struggle are the specific resources for particular ammo types, as that will typically require taking down specific machines for a chance to loot that resource. Thankfully, you can buy these resources from merchants as well, and failing that, some ammo types can be purchased straight up. If ranged combat just won't cut it, Aloy can also use a spear with a light and heavy attack. Unfortunately, that's as deep as melee combat goes, but the heavy attack does have a niche in that you can stun enemies briefly if you hit them with it enough times. You can also acquire or craft traps that you can lay down so that enemies trip on them, though I never really used them apart from one or two situations. I found that the Tripcaster accomplishes the same thing but with more flexibility since you can set the tripwires from afar. Aloy can also purchase and equip armor that provide different resistances to certain attack types, but that's as deep as it goes for most of the selection. Only very few actually offer unique passive effects like health regen, and I'm pretty sure most of them are locked behind the DLC. Both armor and weapons can have modification slots where you can attach mods that increase stats like resistances or damage output for specific types of damage respectively. You can acquire a lot of mods by chance when looting downed enemies, but you do get some as quest rewards, and you can buy treasure boxes from merchants that give you a random selection. Healing damage is accomplished one of two ways. You can either keep things simple and craft/buy potions that heal damage instantly, or you can gather special medicinal plants that you can use to heal damage over time. The former is useful in fights since you get your HP back in an instant, but the latter is also useful since all you have to do is forage a bit (which is faster than gathering the resources needed for crafting or buying potions), and your medicine pouch can store enough healing that can keep you going for a while. Inventory management can be a bit of a pain given the limited slots and how a single resource can take up multiple slots because they only stack up to a certain number. You can craft additional slots for both your inventory and your ammo capacity for each weapon, but again, acquiring the materials can be tricky, and in the case of your inventory, it won't be enough if you have a compulsion for looting. Thankfully, there's a way to salvage unwanted goods into Metal Shards if you're pressed for space. Most of the combat will be against the world's machines, of which there are a decent variety. Each one has unique attack patterns/behaviors, some can inflict status effects, and often, you'll have to deal with multiple ones at once. Even the most dangerous machines are manageable with proper use of your arsenal, but the challenge mounts when you're surrounded by more than one machine. Every machine has specific elemental weaknesses you can take advantage of, but the key to taking them down is analyzing their weak points. You can target these weak points for big damage, and if you do enough, you'll break off these components and get the loot later. Special weak points can also deal massive damage to machines if you set them off (like explosive barrels), disable machine abilities (like radar scanning or elemental attacks), and even force them to drop their most dangerous weapons (like turrets or cannons). In the case of the last point, you can even pick up these dropped weapons and use them against enemies. Once you've taken down your fair share of machines, you'll find that each one has a specific set of drops. You can use these drops to craft your ammo or to trade with merchants for specific items, though some drops are rarer than others. There will be a point that you don't need the rare drops anymore, at which point you can sell them for plenty of shards. Human enemies are less complicated, as all you have to do is shoot them in the head to deal massive damage. While I enjoy fighting the machines far more since they pose a bigger challenge, taking down bad guys is a fun break since majority of the situations you encounter them in can be done stealthily. You can also hunt regular animals for their meat, bones, and skin, which are all valuable crafting materials. They're not going to put up a fight, though, and compared to machines, they're a little harder to farm since the map doesn't keep track of where they hang out. You'll eventually unlock the ability to override machines, which can convert machines to your allies. Having them fight for you is highly situational, as ally AI is not very smart and you can't issue orders, but some machines can be used as mounts that you can ride around for faster travel. These overrides are what you unlock when completing the Cauldrons, which I think is a worthwhile reward. Defeating enemies and completing quests reward you with XP, and leveling up rewards you with skill points (as well as an HP increase). Yes sir, there's a skill tree in this game. You can unlock all sorts of useful skills, like improved foraging, enhanced combat abilities (like a slowdown mechanic for aiming, or better spear damage), and stealth capabilities (sneak attacks). If you take your time playing through optional quests, getting to the level cap and getting all the skill points you need will happen naturally, so there's no real need to grind by just picking fights with every machine you see. You can choose from a variety of difficulties to determine how you want your experience to go, from Story (which significantly tones down combat) to Ultra Hard. I decided to play on Hard this time around, which made encounters less forgiving since things do a lot more damage, but I didn't notice a significant challenge in terms of enemy behavior or anything like that. If you want more game, you can take on New Game+, which has all your usual trappings. This is the only aspect of the game I did not mess with, but it appears to be standard fare. VERDICT: Horizon Zero Dawn was a blast from start to finish, so much so that I ended up getting every trophy outside of the New Game+ achievements. From the unique world with a creative take on a post-apocalypse situation, a great protagonist in Aloy, and fun combat with a diverse arsenal and interesting machines to fight, it was a delight to explore the world, learn its secrets, and face off against its threats. If Forbidden West offers more of what I enjoyed and improves upon other elements, I definitely will play it soon. This is definitely an essential stop when it comes to the PS4's greatest hits, so if you have the means, go and play it. It's a solid open world experience that isn't overwhelming to navigate, you can choose a difficulty level depending on your experience with action games, and I think the story is well done between its world-building and its characters. You don't need to go out of your way to get a PS4/PS5 to play this, as it's been made available on PC! Here's the Steam page: Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition on Steam (steampowered.com) - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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