[Timgt5]

Horizon Zero Dawn, a majestic new IP from Guerilla Games
Review By Timgt5

Guerilla Games, an in-house developer for Sony Interactive has been best known for its Killzone series, dark and gritty first person sci-fy shooters that tell the story of a war between two earth colonies in deep space. In 2011 the developer decided to challenge itself and launch a new IP in a radically different genre, the action RPG. Horizon Zero Dawn was thus born. Can Guerilla achieve greatness with something so far out of its comfort zone? Read on.

Horizon Zero Dawn
Launch Date 2/28/2017
Platforms PS4 and PS4 Pro Exclusive
Game Type Action RPG
Genre Post-Post Apocalyptic Science Fiction
Rating T (teen)

Highs: Original and interesting Concept, lush, gorgeous visuals, great sound design, deep and lengthy game play, The “robosaurs” (which are really the stars of this game) Lance Reddick( he really needs to start voicing more games, seriously)

Lows, some clunky mechanics, AI issues, inconsitent voice performances. Some of the exposition was unclear.

Setting: The world of Horizon Zero Dawn is set in a distant future. Sometime during the middle of the twenty second century, a series of Warbots goes haywire (apparantly no one learns anything from Terminator) and begin replicating at a exponential rate, consuming the world’s biomass (the soil, the plants, the animals, us etc) leaving the earth a lifeless sphere floating in space. Although scientists could not stop the apocalyptic event, they prepared a contingency plan that would restore life and make the planet liviable again once the warbots were shut down. So over time life was restored. Humans returned albeit at a Bronze Age level civilization, largely ignorant of the former inhabitants of the massive cities which are now crumbling ruins. Although the world still has smaller animals its surface are dominated by what the people simply refer to as “machines” These are the benevolent descendents of the warbots from centuries ealier, they have taken over the roles of larger animals which once roamed the land, and are shaped like various mamals, reptiles and birds. Some are relatively small and harmless like the Watcher, others like the ThunderJaw are much larger and far more dangerous. Humans hunt the machines for resources (parts have many uses) and replacements are made in hidden automated underground complexes.

The Plot: The game’s story itself concerns Aloy. A young woman who was raised by Rost, a tribesman of the Nora, living as an exile. As to who her mother and father actually were, she is not aware. As a child Aloy falls into a cavern that housed an ancient laboratory. There she aquires a device called a “focus” (it resembles a blue tooth ear piece) which acts as portable computer. The focus, can identify whatever Aloy looks at and provide detailed information. As Aloy comes of age she gets a chance to obtain answers from the tribes elders about her origins. In rite of passage ritual called the proving, Aloy must compete and win to gain an audience with the elders. As Aloy succeeds against difficult odds, the proceedings are intererupted by the arrival of a mysterious cult called the Eclypse. The Eclypse, led by the enigmatic Helis, assaults the Nora braves, and seems to target Aloy in paticular. Rost appears and heroically sacrifices his life to save Aloy.

Aloy is determined to get to the bottom of why the Eclypse was targeting her for assaination and why they were attacking the Nora tribe. The elder Matriarchs, take Aloy deep into the sacred Mountain that they refer to as All-Mother. There at the entrance devices on an unopened door scan Aloy revealling a 99% genetic compatabilty, the Matriarchs tell Aloy she came from mountain itself. In time Aloy is given the title of “seeker” which allows her to come and go from Nora land at will. Aloy then sets out on a long quest to get to the bottom of what happened and find out who she really is in all of this. Along the way she will interact with other tribes such as the Carja (an advanced and wealthy tribe with the large capital city of Meridan) and the Osream (a tribe of craftsmen and artisans) and learn much more of the world around her.

The narrative is dense and for the most part well-written. Aloy goes from getting involved in local politics, to learning of what happened to the old world and her part in events. A lot of exposition comes toward the end of the game. There are some confusing things here, but for the most part it really is a great story.

Game Play Horizon Zero Dawn is action heavy RPG played from the third person perspective. The player controls Aloy throughout the game as she seeks to obtain answers regarding her origin and deal with the threat of the Eclypse cult and their mysterious AI benefactor, Hades.

Exploration and Quests: Like most Traditional RPGs Horizon Zero Dawn consists of a series of Quests. Some involved the main narrative, others are side pieces that have important benefits when completed and others still are sort of fetch quests to pad out the game length. Quests can be switiched on the fly via the menu screen except at the very end of the main story line. The game enviornment is open world, once Aloy gets here “seeker” title she is free to go anywhere on the map. The map itself is quite vast and difficult to get across one end to other on foot, so Aloy can eventually capture and use a couple of machines which can be mounted and ridden like horses or unlock “fast travel” which allows her to quickly return to any save point she has previously visited. Quests reward Aloy with experience points, resources and needed materials to make potions, traps and weapons.

Combat: As she adventures Aloy will face opposition from a variety of human and machine opponents. The Human enemies are for the most part not terribly bright. Once Aloy’s skill tree gets high enough, most will pose little threat one on one. The machine’s are different story. The smaller ones like the 4 foot tall watchers are relatively easy to take down. On the other hand bigger more complex machines require a mix of different tactics to destroy. To handle all of this Aloy comes equipped with a set of weapons. The primary ones being a bow and lance. The bow can be modified and upgraded with different types of arrows. Some types are flaming, shocking, Freeze, delayed explosive and super sharp. Each is effective in its own way and its up to the player to determine how best to use them. The lance is used for up close melee’ combat. A secondary function is that once Aloy investigates and unlocks the Cauldrons (underground automated facitities still building machines) she gains the ability to override certain machines. This mechanic is limited but it can be useful. For instance hacking into machines can turn them temporarily against other machines and fight them. A couple of machines can be ridden like a horse.

In addition to the bow and lance, secondary weapons include a rope caster, which can be used to trip up and imobilize machines, a shock caster which is the same thing but with the ability to temporary paralze machines, like a giant tazer. There are slingshots which can be equipped with limited range bombs (shock, freeze) Aloy can also lay traps which shock or detenate machines depending on which works best. Also Aloy can aquire the “rattler” a sort of short range automatic crossbow. On some of the larger machines Aloy can dislodge weapons and use them herself temporarly. For each thing she kills Aloy gets experience points which eventually helps her level rise, giving her in tern more skills and greater hitpoints (20 per each rise in level). Upgraded experience points and levels give Aloy more access to higher skill levels in hunting, combat and foraging.

The combat can be both thrilling and frustrating at the same time. The focus becomes useful in indicating components that can be dislodged and potential weakness of the enemy in question (some are more vulnerable to fire, some to freezing etc) The AI sometimes is less than predictable and can be annoying at times. Taking down one of the more powerful machines does give you a real sense of accomplishment.

Resource Gathering and crafting: throughout the environment, Aloy will find plants and animals that can provide needed resources to make weapons, potions and armor. The system for crafting is rudimentary but as a nice touch most needed things can be made on the fly in real time. In addiition to finding things in nature, there are also randomely scattered supply crates and merchants willing to sell Aloy what she needs. The only real complaint is the wheel based menu to craft and swap weapons is a bit clunky.

Mapping: A number of games have a mechanic whereby the player can reveal more of the environment in question. Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed series for example is notable for its towers, which must be climbed for a long range view of a particular area, increasing the known information on the map. Horizon Zero Dawn takes this mechanic to a cool new level. Early on, Aloy gets the ability to hack machines called “Tallnecks” these giant Giraffe-like machines tower about 75 feet in height and walk slowly along a predestined route. Aloy must get near the creature, reach an interception point where she can climb on its neck and then make her way to the top of its saucer-shaped head. Once there she can do her hack which gives her access to everything the creature can see, revealing a large area of the map. There are several throughout the world.

Sights and Sounds. Horizon Zero Dawn is easily one of best looking console games ever made. If you are lucky enough to own a PS4 Pro and A 4K television the environment is particularly majestic with vast sight distances and incredible detail. The landscape also has a lot of variety with snow covered mountains, expansive deserts, and lush forests. It’s huge as well in fact one of the biggest I have experienced in an open world game. It reminds me a lot of MTV’s Shanara Chronicles. The games animations are outstanding as well. There was never a sputter even as the screen filled with action. The character models are not quite as convincing, they are good, and I will put in Aloy as my nominee for best videogame hair, ever to this point. Overall Uncharted 4(still the platinum standard for character models) still has this beat in terms of texture and detail on the characters, but Horizon Zero Dawn still impresses.

The sound design in the game is quite good as well. The effects are excellent, and the game makes good use of pocket sound. The voice acting is a mixed bag, the primary characters such as Aloy are good, but a lot of the more minor NPC’s are a bit flat (typical of a big RPG). Special mention should go to Lance Reddick (An actor best known for playing Colonel/Agent Philip Broyles on the TV series Fringe) playing Sylens, who shows up during the last quarter of the game to help and guide Aloy on her quest. Mr. Reddick’s super smooth baritone puts a lot of gravitas into the narrative; he really needs to be in more games. The game’s soundtrack is excellent and features a wide variety of atmospheric and theme music.

Kid’s Corner: Horizon Zero Dawn is rated T for teen by the ESRB. I think this is pretty fair assessment. There is some violence, but mostly against robots, few humans are actually killed. Blood is non-existent and there is no real graphic violence shown. The game’s dialogue has very little in the way of profanity. There is no nudity or sex depicted in the title (Aloy is waaayyy too busy for anything related to romance, although one of the NPCs, Errend, develops a cute little crush on her). I would say this would be safe for most pre-teens and up, although some of the story elements may be a little too high concept for them.

In Summary: It is not easy for any developer, even a good, well-funded one, to launch a new IP. Guerilla Games should be lauded for going way out of their comfort zone and putting a whole-hearted effort into Horizon Zero Dawn. Although it has some flaws, the overall effort here is amazing. The world portrayed is one of the most beautiful every created for a game, and I want to keep coming back to explore time and time again. There is a post-credits cuts scene that points to a likely sequel and I really look forward to having this become a successful franchise. Guerilla worked its butt off and earned this one.

Trailers