Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)
I play a lot of video games and mostly I play for simple escapism, entertainment or whatever you want to call it. For me it's a good way to rewind after a hard day's work while still actively participating in something versus passively watching TV e.g. Then every once in a while there comes a game that not only provide simple entertainment but once again confirms to me why I love playing games. Horizon Zero Dawn is such a game.
Horizon Zero Dawn draws inspiration from many of my favorite games like Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Tomb Raider and The Witcher without being a direct knock-off. It blends action, adventure and mystery perfectly and sucks you into it's fascinating world. It ticks all the right boxes. Beautiful, vast and living open world. Check. Likable, interesting and badass protagonist. Check. Challenging and fun combat. Check. Epic story and ending. Check mate.
The fact that Horizon Zero Dawn was developed by Guerrilla Games who had previously only made the Killzone series is pretty astonishing. They took a huge risk in developing something completely new but in the end it paid of. Horizon Zero Dawn is the second best selling Playstation 4 game with over 3.4 million copies sold.
Like I said most parts of the game is very well done and well polished. It just feels like a complete game from start to finish. The story in particular is very compelling, contemporary and most of all important. Unfortunately I don't want to go into it too much since it might spoil the experience. Like most games it is best to start playing without knowing too much.
The game is set in the future in a post-apocalyptic world where humans live quite primitive lives in small tribes and the earth is inhabited by machines with an unknown origin. You play as Aloy from the Nora tribe, who finds out she's not like the rest of her tribesmen. This realization sends her on a journey across unexplored and dangerous lands to find out the truth about herself, the machines and the ones who came before.
Aloy, voiced by Ashly Burch (Life is Strange) is simply a great character. She's likable, interesting, funny and cool. Along the way she also meets other interesting characters. Sylens, voiced by Lance Reddick (John Wick) is one that is particularly good.
Before you learn to control the machines, they are your main enemy. Different machines have different abilities and require different combat approaches and weapons. Stealth is sometimes an option but you also need to kill machines for their parts. Using these parts you can craft ammo, weapons and armor. There are some encounters with hostile humans too but after bringing down huge machines they tend to be quite easy.
Horizon Zero Dawn has just the right amount of side quests and side activities to not make it feel to repetitive and boring. Still aside from the main story there is a lot to do and I recommend you do it to level up and get better gear for the final quests.
Now that I finished the game after about 70 hours, doing every possible side quest and earning all trophies I feel I don't know what to do with my life. It's been on hell of a ride and I'm sad to see it end. I'm really hoping for a sequel here and I pretty sure there will be one.
I paid 35 € for the game but this is easily worth the full price of a new game about 60 €.
Screenshots
Horizon Zero Dawn draws inspiration from many of my favorite games like Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Tomb Raider and The Witcher without being a direct knock-off. It blends action, adventure and mystery perfectly and sucks you into it's fascinating world. It ticks all the right boxes. Beautiful, vast and living open world. Check. Likable, interesting and badass protagonist. Check. Challenging and fun combat. Check. Epic story and ending. Check mate.
The fact that Horizon Zero Dawn was developed by Guerrilla Games who had previously only made the Killzone series is pretty astonishing. They took a huge risk in developing something completely new but in the end it paid of. Horizon Zero Dawn is the second best selling Playstation 4 game with over 3.4 million copies sold.
Like I said most parts of the game is very well done and well polished. It just feels like a complete game from start to finish. The story in particular is very compelling, contemporary and most of all important. Unfortunately I don't want to go into it too much since it might spoil the experience. Like most games it is best to start playing without knowing too much.
The game is set in the future in a post-apocalyptic world where humans live quite primitive lives in small tribes and the earth is inhabited by machines with an unknown origin. You play as Aloy from the Nora tribe, who finds out she's not like the rest of her tribesmen. This realization sends her on a journey across unexplored and dangerous lands to find out the truth about herself, the machines and the ones who came before.
Aloy, voiced by Ashly Burch (Life is Strange) is simply a great character. She's likable, interesting, funny and cool. Along the way she also meets other interesting characters. Sylens, voiced by Lance Reddick (John Wick) is one that is particularly good.
Before you learn to control the machines, they are your main enemy. Different machines have different abilities and require different combat approaches and weapons. Stealth is sometimes an option but you also need to kill machines for their parts. Using these parts you can craft ammo, weapons and armor. There are some encounters with hostile humans too but after bringing down huge machines they tend to be quite easy.
Horizon Zero Dawn has just the right amount of side quests and side activities to not make it feel to repetitive and boring. Still aside from the main story there is a lot to do and I recommend you do it to level up and get better gear for the final quests.
Now that I finished the game after about 70 hours, doing every possible side quest and earning all trophies I feel I don't know what to do with my life. It's been on hell of a ride and I'm sad to see it end. I'm really hoping for a sequel here and I pretty sure there will be one.
I paid 35 € for the game but this is easily worth the full price of a new game about 60 €.
9.9/10
Screenshots
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