Horizon Zero Dawn: The Steemit Review

It was almost noon, another boring day at the hospital when I my phone rang, it was the delivery man. *It has landed* that's all that went through my mind and I was so thrilled as I collected my package and headed home like a cheetah. I gently unpacked and there it was, a copy of HORIZON DAWN ZERO. Memories of watching trailers and some game-plays flashed through my mind as I placed the CD into my PS4 and viola!!!! my gaming experience began..........

It's almost 3 weeks now and I've finally completed the game including most of the side quests. The experience was so mind blowing and I craved for more. I immediately went into Google and searched for a sequel and I got to find out its having its DLC: HORIZON DAWN ZERO frozen wilds released in November. So I decided to write my review for the game especially for those who haven't played it.

For years now, the latest console generation has been on the fact of more raw power means better games. The latest exclusive from playstation 4 HORIZON DAWN ZERO is one that delivered on that promise.

To play Guerilla games HORIZON DAWN ZERO  is to feel incredible

Awe over the fact that I've not seen many kickass ladies in a first bogus big budget game, much less people of many races and color in key roles. Awe over the discovery of gigantic mechanical dinosaurs and gradually uncovering the mystery of a long and lost civilization. Awe over mind blowing mechanical magic and it's ability to be transported into a new world. I often pause the game just to marvel at it all.

Horizon: Zero Dawn is an incredible third-person action game which tells the story of a relentless young lady named Aloy, who, for unknown reasons, was cast out of the Nora tribe as a baby. She has  always been curious about her parents and why she wasn't given a chance to be a part of the society. Instead of accepting her fate, she dedicated herself to survival and combat training with her guardian. She had a goal in mind and that was to participate in a Nora ceremony Called The Proving, as custom dictates that the winner of the trial can ask for whatever they want. Aloy, determined as ever intends to find out about her parentage and why she has always been labeled an outcast.

From there, the game spreads out into a post-apocalyptic land of mechanical beasts and monsters, ancient ruins, and societies that knowledge of the old world has been lost. The intrigue of the story is immediate in Horizon: Zero Dawn, diligently woven by a former lead Fallout: New Vegas writer John Gonzalez. In the beginning, the story was my lifeline, giving me a series of threads to follow up in an open world with a number of overwhelming things to do:

As I took my time exploring the terrain before me, I felt a unique seduction take hold of me, compelling me to visit and explore each and every icon on the map. Horizon: Zero Dawn is a game about hunting, and your hunts are a kingdom of vicious metal dinosaurs:

Each metal dinosaur has a specific territory and they come equipped with its own strengths, weakness, and attack style. Initially Aloy is armed with nothing else than a bow, arrow, and spear, you must take on each monster before it tears you apart. Horizon: Zero Dawn gives you a few options for any encounter given to you. Maybe you are the stealth type who prefers sticking to the shadows, killing your enemies one-by-one without arousing any suspicion. You may like to override your foes, making them fight and battle against each other. Personally I prefer running gun blazing into my encounters, offloading my ammo whichever I could — if I hit my target, great! However this quickly invited disaster.

Horizon: Zero Dawn is a game that needs precision and planning, making you to consider your mark before taking it on. Using an advanced technology called a "Focus," you can view and scan your enemies to learn about their vulnerabilities, allowing you to direct specific attacks with purpose. There is usually some trial and error involved in learning what makes each creature tick, a quality reminiscent of Monster Hunter. 

Before I set off on a quest, I would hunt down small game to craft health potions and collect materials for traps for upcoming battles ahead. Taking a survey of the land, I set up a proximity mine explosive here, or an electric tripwire there, all as I anticipate my target's movements, once I acquired enough money which is in the form of metal shards to afford it, I also consider which was the most appropriate weaponry to use at the moment.

It's hard to hit flying enemies so by tying them down with a "Ropecaster," it's an easy kill whereas close-range guns help disperse rushing T-Rexes. Every weapon has its own feel, and it's enjoyable using them, I prefer the simple bow and arrow. I take aim, pull the bowstring back, and release!! Every single shot is unique, true, and classic.

It also have the ability to customize weapons with elemental affinity adding another dimension, allowing you to explode metal canisters with fire arrows or freeze your target with ice arrows. Horizon may be an action game, but it requires a tactician mind to navigate through it.

Every single kill and quests completed  grants Aloy XP (experience points), and each level completed  grants you skill points. This skill points can be used to unlock new abilities for combat, such as meting increased damage or the ability to shoot multiple arrows at once. I'm attached to the "concentration" ability that slows down time, allowing you to shoot specific parts of enemy armor for added damage. I admit there is so numerous options for combat that I sometimes forget to make use of them until I hit a brick wall in difficulty.

Horizon's story kept on insisting that Aloy is an extraordinary lady who will do whatever it takes to save the day, but the writing describing her does not relate that as effectively as the heat of combat. At times, I could feel my heart speeding as I made Aloy duck and roll against seemingly very impossible odds. In a particulate memorable encounter that took me hours for me to grasp, I had to take down an gigantic rock worm which was terrorizing a nearby town. At in end, Aloy stands above its smoking carcass. It was dead by the sheer force of her — and also my — will. I found myself trying to catch my breath.

The first time you hunt and take down any of the game's creatures is usually spectacular. That novelty usually fades after a repeated encounter with same types of monsters later in the game. The main storyline of Horizon ramps up by throwing more of the same stuffs at you, a strategy that technically increases the difficulty while robbing the mechs of their distinct taste. Still, the most crowning achievement of Horizon is the dinosaurs, and I find myself searching new areas on the map with the hopes of meeting creatures I hadn't seen before. In comparison to fighting humans, which is something as a player you will do a lot, is boring and blant. Unfortunately, Horizon's main quest do rely on the human encounters very heavily. I find myself taking solace in most of the sidequests just to avoid other humans.

Navigating the world is cunning, but fortunately Aloy is very free and simple. You might want to draw a comparison to Uncharted  or Tomb Raider as you climb structures of high structural integrity, or ancient ruins and "Cauldrons" with hidden treasures. In fact, Horizon seemed to lend mechanics diligently  from many other games. The dialogue feels a bit like Mass Effect, for example, in that your choices of answer are followed up with intention icons, and at times , there are future consequences for every single decision made.

Then the Focus vision, which you can use to investigate areas and scenes more closely, Batman-style. Guerilla Games had implemented these systems solidly, but none of that reaches the heights combat mechanics. They end up getting the job done.Horizon does have one unique design. Many open world games usually include towers that you must ascend to view the surrounding area, and while this is present in Horizon, it is an actual wandering dinosaur called Tallnecks.

The game makes up an interesting sci-fi world. Even though I had anticipated a few of the game's plot developments, Horizon kept me glued through believable, innocent characters who live in a world they don't understand fully. It's fascinating to hear them theorize about the way the old world used to work: they have religious beliefs and customs formed around technology that seems indistinguishable from magic. It also amazes me that Horizon's mix of high-tech and low-tech makes for a killer addiction that is further provoked through the game's distinct tribes.

 I was always excited to find new settlements, especially given the brunt description of each individual building block, but I wanted more to do in them. Towns and cities felt more still dollhouses  where I stop only to save and pile up on supplies. I didn't really interact with anybody except a few key characters in a meaningful way, nor did Horizon provide locally defined activities to enjoy.

Individual towns feel differently from each other only in an abstract way, especially when characters describe the activities going on in the background. You will learn, for example, that one city is currently at war or on the edge of collapse, but you don't actually see or feel any of it while walking its roads or talking to its citizens. Everything is just bounces for you to get back into the world to maul dinosaurs, and thankfully,that's where brightest the game shines.

Suprisingly where Horizon blew me my mind away was in the majestic, raw and untamed beauty of its canyons, mountains, and open fields. I often activate Horizon's robust photo mode just to take account of it all. This generation has seen its fair share of awesome games, sure, but the art work here is so staggering. The mere act of navigating through this rich world is enough to make me fall in love with each single rocks and clouds. Horizon has provided a compelling case for how, in the righthands, computing power can be programmed to bring a setting to life. Each area feels unique and lively through a mixture of art direction, and the unique dinosaurs across the biosphere.

Unexpected moments where different creatures would clash with one another in many ways added to the sense of wilderness. Sometimes, I'd come across humans fighting against rogue dinosaurs, or watch as robotic monsters turned on each other. I watched robotic vultures pick apart the body of another robot. During another section, while racking my brain trying to figure out how to sneak by some human enemies, only to have some titan unexpectedly swoop from the sky and destroy everyone's shit. Problem solved! Horizon is at its best when it feeds my expectations like that.

At the beginning of Horizon, most people underestimate Aloy, seeing her to be a despicable outcast or nothing more than a pretty lady. Aloy's subsequent adventure, then, is a fight against the societal rules and expectations that kept her secluded for so long. At its heart, Horizon: Zero Dawn is much more than just a game about killing giant robotic dinosaurs: it the story of a determined and focused woman who worked harder just to be accepted. Horizon is the story of a lot of ladies, really, and the ways in which they reclaim, rebuild and become worthy of a world in disorder.

Horizon isn't what you may have expected from Guerilla Games for its not usually their style. For years, this studio has been Sony's Killzone factory, producing out first-person shooters set in a grim set world. With Horizon, the studio is finally able to let loose and show us how much more they're capable of, and what they're capable of is jaw-dropping and superb..