When comparing Horizon Zero Dawn vs Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, the Slant community recommends Horizon Zero Dawn for most people. In the question“What are the best story-driven games on PS4?” Horizon Zero Dawn is ranked 3rd while Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Horizon Zero Dawn is:
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.
Specs
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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 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.
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 Great story
Story based around robots and A.I. is something rare in the sea of fantasy open world games.
Pro Excellent character development
Uncharted 4 features some of the best character development in a game. The motivations, actions, and growth of your character is believable. This is achieved thanks to amazing voice acting and excellent writing. The conclusion to your character's story arc is especially satisfying.
Pro Exciting exploration
Uncharted 4 brings you to many locations and each one is very beautiful and filled with mystery. A calming beach, a vast Savannah, a snowy mountain, ancient ruins, and lost temples among many others. It's really exhilarating to see where you'll be going next in search of treasures.
Pro Decent stealth gameplay
Uncharted 4 stealth mechanics feel very good, even though you can't lure enemies or drag their bodies. If you're patient enough you can avoid an open confrontation in most levels. This is a really refreshing change of pace in the Uncharted series, which is known for its non-stop action.
Pro Great multiplayer
The shooting feels great, the movements feel really fluid, but most importantly – the multiplayer is well-balanced. When you win, you know it's because you/your team played well. When you lose you'll understand that the enemy was better. It doesn't devolve into players constantly spamming overpowered setups or abilities, making it a fair, action-packed, and fun experience.
Pro Multiplayer plays at 60fps
The multiplayer has had the resolution dropped to 900p in order to get a smooth 60fps for competitive play. While it would be nice to have a full HD resolution, smooth gameplay is important when playing competitively.
Cons
Con The game is difficult
Horizon Zero Dawn is incredibly challenging. Even players that are good at the game still have difficulties facing some enemies.
Con troublesome driving controls
The camera would spend in different directions. It would sometime go all the way around in a circle. I felt like I had to stop and go. So I could fix the camera to where I could see where I was going.
Con Troublesome controls at times
The cover system is a bit wonky at times, causing you to take cover at the wrong places. There are also some issue with platforming, causing your character to grab the wrong ledges occasionally. While both of these don't happen too often, it can cause some frustration during hectic moments.
Con Last act feels drawn out
The last third of the game can be quite repetitive, tasking the player with the same objectives over and over again. The feeling that this was done to extend the gameplay is difficult to ignore.