Horizon Zero Dawn is Guerrilla’s new IP (Intellectual Property), exclusively for PS4, PS4 slim, and PS4 pro. The game was released at E3 of 2015 and you can watch the trailer here. Early rumors of the game were announced a few months prior to the event ,the game still stunned audiences. Guerilla is mostly known for its FPS series Killzone alongside their long-standing partnership with Sony and their console series the Playstation. The review will be conducted through three main sections: story, gameplay, and visuals.

*Spoilers below

The game takes place in a post, post-apocalyptic future, roughly 1000 years after the mid-21st century. In the early game these mysteries of what happened to the “old ones,” the people of our generation who lived during the cataclysmic event, is left unknown. The remainder of humanity in this future live in primal tribes, some have formed actual civilizations like the “Carja,” some are nomads, like the “Banuk,” tinkerers like the “Oseram,” and primal hunter gatherers like the “Nora.”

You follow Aloy, a young woman of the Nora tribe, a matriarchal society, who was cast out for having no mother to claim her. The early story is driven by Aloy’s search for her origins, to understand why the Nora cast her out, but as the game progresses she begins to uncover some of the hidden truths of the old ones and how deep her history goes. The early game is a basic tutorial hidden well through guidance given through Rost, another outcast who was told to raise Aloy by the matriarchs.

In the early game you are also given an object called a focus, the game’s scanner and HUD (heads up display), which also carries many plot points. The tutorial really ends after an event called “the proving” where the Nora compete to become Braves, the tribes warriors. The winner also receives anything they want within the tribes capabilities. The ending left off with a massive cliff hanger and questions left unanswered, with things unachieved leaving us with the knowledge that there will be a sequel in the future, and leaving us hopeful for an expansion in the near future. The main story is well-written and engaging, with likeable characters and complex enemies.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Horizon Zero Dawn is solid with excellent combat and fun mechanics. The combat of the game is engaging and fun with styles and actions being left to the player’s choice. The player really gets to focus their combat style with the game’s upgrade and skill progression system.

Players get skill points at the end of major missions and as they level up, leaving them to choice from the three majorbranches. There is the hunter branch that leads to more stealth-based combat and sneaky skills used to quietly cut through enemy soldiers and wild machines. This branch has options like silent strike, quiet sprint, and strike from above. Each of these allowing you to move or kill more efficiently and quietly in combat and the world.

The brave tree is more focused on headstrong combat, rushing in and using powerful melee attacks with your spear and better bow skills. The brave tree teaches you skills like stronger strike. Players use these abilities to be able to move more swiftly take down larger machines. Each different weapon can offer different kinds of attacks and ammunition. Things like hunters bows are low damage but are quicker with reloading their shots, making them optimal for smaller machines and human targets. Carja sharpshooters bows offer high damage arrows and arrows designed for removing armor and weapons from machines. best for the bigger, more heavily armored behemoths. War bows deal elemental damage making them optimal to use against a weak point on machines that can be blown up or are weak to a certain element. Things like slings can launch bombs for massive AOE damage. Rope casters can tie down machines making them vulnerable to hacking and stronger, more powerful attacks.

After you learn to override machines, you can hack them and ride certain machines. You can disable the ability for your machines to follow dirt paths and tracks and that really opens up your ability to move through areas and allows you to move around faster and explore more.

The machine Ai really works well giving a sense of animalistic behaviors based on the creatures the machines appear to be akin to. To add to all of this, there are over 15 kinds of unique machines each acting like a real life animal from one point in our planet’s history. While each machine fills out certain roles, like scouts, decomposers/ scavengers, or armored war machines, the “Tallnecks” are the most unique. These machines tower over a ten-story building and act as localized satellite and reconnaissance towers, circling an area and marking out the local region, revealing machine grounds and areas of interest.  Despite all of this, the machines take a little too long to respond and investigate you when you use your ability to attract their attention by whistling.

The game also contains massive dungeon-like experiences called Cauldrons that you can defeat to gain more machines to override. Cauldrons usual consist of some enemies and minor puzzles, with a boss enemy or enemies at the end. The Cauldrons do not provide much of a challenge if you are higher level than recommended because they do not scale to level and the boss is the same level as it’s normal, wild version.

Graphics

While seeming like an irrelevant topic on console, the graphics are able to look excellent and perform well. However, the game works the system to its very limit leading to beautiful scenery, high quality textures, and high quality lighting. There isn’t much more than to show you what i’m talking about:

Conclusion

Horizon Zero Dawn is a wonderful game, with a massive open world, combat and gameplay to love, and visuals that really express the PS4 and PS4 pro’s power. Most of all I found myself enjoying the game, with its side quests, main missions and cauldrons. Even taking down something like a Bellowback, or a Snapmaw, or the higher level Thunderjaws and Stormbirds actually felt like a challenge and a sort of achievement.
Overall, the game earned a solid 9.5 only hindered by the fact that the faces were somewhat poorly animated and the early game was repetitive and slow due to the fact that you had no machines to ride. If you have a PS4 system, this game is a must-buy this season. If you are considering getting a PS4 slim or Pro this game is a major factor, don’t exactly go out and get a new console for just this game. However, If you are considering, this game makes the whole thing worthwhile, especially on the Pro.