Recs.
Updated
Horizon Zero Dawn is an open world action-RPG. You play as Aloy, a hunter trying to survive in a world overrun by robots.
Specs
Pros
Pro Intriguing world
At first glance the world seems simple. Tribes-folk living in beautiful landscapes of snow, sand, and lush green, trying to get by through hunting and gathering. Then you get introduced to the other inhabitants – the machines. It suddenly makes you wonder about their origin, their appearance and their purpose. What lead to their creation and why did civilization regress to pockets of tribal settlements. You'll be interested in exploring the world and finding out for yourself.
Pro Exciting hunting gameplay
The main focus of the game is hunting robotic creatures also known as "machines". They are similar to real animals in both appearance and behavior, so a lot of them move in packs. You have to be careful in how you approach them, because provoking one of them will also provoke the others.
You can hide in tall grass and attract them one by one with whistling. This way you can take them out silently with your spear, minimizing the danger.
Or you can get into a direct confrontation, which is a lot more intense when there are multiple enemies. You'll have to learn their patterns, so you know when to dodge or attack with your weapon (usually a bow or slingshot). When you finally manage to defeat them, it truly feels like an achievement.
Pro Each upgrade and skill feels meaningful
Most games nowadays are plagued by needlessly high level caps, useless skills and meaningless upgrades. In Horizon Zero Dawn Each upgrade and new skill unlock actually helps you become a more efficient hunter.
There's Silent Strike, which lets you perform silent takedowns on enemies, both robotic and human. Enemies that would've taken a lot of effort to beat previously, can now be taken out in one hit. However, on its own it's mediocre at best, so you have to get other abilities to make it more effective. One such ability is Low Profile, which makes you less visible when you're crouching. This lets you to sneak up on enemies much easier, allowing you to use Silent Strike more often.
There's also the upgrades, which can be either a boost to your damage, rate of fire, an increase to your carrying capacity or a unique technology such as the cloaking field. The damage and rate of fire upgrades are very straightforward, allowing you to defeat machines in a shorter amount of time. The carrying capacity upgrade helps you go on longer hunts without having to make a return trip. The cloaking field makes it a lot safer to travel and a lot easier to get the jump on enemies.
Cons
Con Wonky Camera Placement
Horizon: Zero Dawn is one of my favorite games ever created, save for one bizarre design choice: camera placement. While you can rotate it, the shoulder which it chooses to hover over feels downright random at times (& there’s no function to choose whether it’s over your left or right, like RE2 Remake, or any other number of 3rd-person games). At times, Aloy (our protagonist) will be all the way to the right of the screen, making it near-impossible to effectively peek around corners to check enemy placements. The camera will seemingly randomly float from your right shoulder, to your left, to the center, then eventually settling back over your right, despite player attempts to straighten it back out. This extends to free roaming as well; many beautiful bits of scenery are obfuscated, & your pathway may be out of view due to the camera’s nature. This can be worked around to a degree by using your scan function (to see enemies through walls to tag), but tagged enemies seem to become un-tagged constantly, perhaps due to the distance between them and the player growing too great.
That said, that’s basically my only gripe. I have obsessive compulsive disorder, and nitpick to the high heavens. Everything else about this game is masterful, & it has the best sci-fi story I’ve seen in a game to date. Don’t miss playing this one!