Date played: March 1st
Platform: PS4
Horizon Zero Dawn is here and it's fucking incredible!
Guerrilla Games is known for the Killzone franchise, a series of beautiful first person shooters. I enjoyed the series, particularly the last game, Killzone Shadow Fall. This is their game that isn't a shooter, so I was really interested to see what they could do.Fair warning, there's gonna be a bunch of spoilers here, so read at your own risk.
Horizon's opening hours are really strong. The first few minutes introduce Rost, a grizzled tribesman, and Aloy, a baby girl. They are outcasts from their tribe, the Nora. The intro clearly shows that outcasts are not meant to speak with members of the tribe. In fact, it shows that the tribe has a lot of disdain for outcasts.
Soon enough, the game jumps 6 years into the future and put me in control of 6 year old Aloy. She runs into a group of children from the tribe. When she sees them gathering berries and being praised by an adult for it, she imitates them. She is quickly shunned by the tribes people who ignore her and say hurtful things.
Aloy runs away in anger and accidentally falls down a hole. So the thing is, Horizon's world is set hundreds of years after the fall of today's human civilization. Robots have become sentient and act a lot like animals. Ruins of the old world can still be found, but are a big taboo for the tribe. That hole that Aloy fell in is actually some sort of building from the old world.
This section served as a small tutorial for movement mechanics. I explored the building by jumping, running, sliding and crouching. Aloy stumbles upon a very old corpse and notices a little device still stuck on the person's skull. She grabs it and tries it on, only to discover that it's still functional. The device is a sort of scanner that highlights pieces of the environment and provides information. It also revealed some controls on a device that the kid used to escape the building.
There's a great little scene where Aloy plays a holographic message that she found in the ruins. It's a man that addresses his young son, wishing him happy birthday. That's the moment where I knew Aloy was going to be a great character... She misses human interaction so much that she keeps the device in the hopes of using it to curb her loneliness by watching holograms... It was quite sad.
When she finds her way out of the ruins, Aloy finds Rost, who is shocked to see she is wearing the device. You can feel the tension in this scene, as Rost insists that Aloy remove the device, but she refuses.
Rost is taken by surprise, but he seemed to admire her for her resolve, so he taught her how to gather materials, how to craft some arrows and how to use them. There's a whole little tutorial here that introduces enemies. Aloy can throw rocks to attract robots, and tall grass is used as cover. The bow can also be used to fight robots by targeting weak spots, which are revealed by Aloy's high tech device. It can also tag enemies and show their walking path.
Their lesson is interrupted by the cries for help of a man that is being hunted by Watchers, a small robot that is reminiscent of a velociraptor. Rost says that they can't help the trapped man, but Aloy disagrees and disobeys him!
I hid in the tall grass, tagged the roaming enemies and studied their paths to find a safe way to reach the distressed man. It was a fun little stealth section. After saving the man, members of the tribe showed up and scolded the man for interacting with outcasts... Aloy is in a rough state of mind, so she decides to go back home on her own rather than following Rost. She walks past some kids from the tribe when one of the boys throws a fucking rock at her head! I was surprised to see that this game features some conversation tress, similar to Mass Effect. I had the choice of throwing the rock back at his head, hitting his hand with the rock or dropping the rock. I chose to drop the rock, and when the boy started throwing a second rock at Aloy, another child stopped him. I loved that moment.
When she gets home to Rost, Aloy is very angry and confused. She wants to understand why she is an outcast and why she isn't part of the tribe. Rost doesn't have this information, but he knows of a way to get it. There's this thing called "The Proving", which is a sort of trial. The winner gets to make a single request of the tribe's elders. Aloy wants to win the Proving and ask the elders to tell her why she is outcast.
Rost is clearly impressed by the young girl's resolve. I was too... In fact, this scene had a huge emotional impact for me. Maybe it's because my daughter is 6 years old, just like Aloy, but boy, her bravery and determination made me cry like a baby...
This whole scene was amazing, and it really helps Aloy feel like a believable character. The next scene was a bit of a montage where we see Aloy training as a young girl, then eventually it cuts to her as an adult. She looks to be very young, less than 20 years old. Rost is still around, though he's obviously a bit older. There's only 2 days before the Proving, and Rost wants to show Aloy a few things before it's too late.
I really need to take a moment to appreciate the amazing production quality of Horizon. I'm playing this on a PS4 Pro, and it looks stunning! This just might be the prettiest video game I've ever played. Everything is highly detailed, the performance is great and the animation is very smooth. Shit, each individual thread of fabric is visible... and this is a giant open world game!
The game is now starting to show it's real colors, now that open world is available to me, at least in part. There's a very strong Far Cry Primal vibe going on, one of my favorite games of 2016. There's crafting, a skill tree, a similar quest structure, a giant map, hunting and so far, no guns. There's also a bit of Uncharted going on with the climbing mechanics. There's also a hint of God of War in the combat and the spectacle. The open world genre has been evolving a lot in the past few years, and Horizon feels like the culmination of all that.
As a young adult, Aloy explores the area near her home. There's a lot of robotic creatures and regular animals roaming around. I gathered enough resources to upgrade my carrying capacity for my bow and my carrying pouch. I also found a few side quests. One of them had me gather food and a pendant for an old, outcast woman who still shuns Aloy and speaks to her only through fake prayers to the All Mother. I saved a lady who was trapped by some Watchers. I gathered resources to craft special fire arrows. I tracked a new type of robot creature to help a woman recover her spear. Basically, there seems like there's gonna be a ton of stuff to do in this game.
I'm really impressed with what I've played so far, and I just can't wait to play it again!
Platform: PS4
Horizon Zero Dawn is here and it's fucking incredible!
Guerrilla Games is known for the Killzone franchise, a series of beautiful first person shooters. I enjoyed the series, particularly the last game, Killzone Shadow Fall. This is their game that isn't a shooter, so I was really interested to see what they could do.Fair warning, there's gonna be a bunch of spoilers here, so read at your own risk.
Horizon's opening hours are really strong. The first few minutes introduce Rost, a grizzled tribesman, and Aloy, a baby girl. They are outcasts from their tribe, the Nora. The intro clearly shows that outcasts are not meant to speak with members of the tribe. In fact, it shows that the tribe has a lot of disdain for outcasts.
Soon enough, the game jumps 6 years into the future and put me in control of 6 year old Aloy. She runs into a group of children from the tribe. When she sees them gathering berries and being praised by an adult for it, she imitates them. She is quickly shunned by the tribes people who ignore her and say hurtful things.
Aloy runs away in anger and accidentally falls down a hole. So the thing is, Horizon's world is set hundreds of years after the fall of today's human civilization. Robots have become sentient and act a lot like animals. Ruins of the old world can still be found, but are a big taboo for the tribe. That hole that Aloy fell in is actually some sort of building from the old world.
This section served as a small tutorial for movement mechanics. I explored the building by jumping, running, sliding and crouching. Aloy stumbles upon a very old corpse and notices a little device still stuck on the person's skull. She grabs it and tries it on, only to discover that it's still functional. The device is a sort of scanner that highlights pieces of the environment and provides information. It also revealed some controls on a device that the kid used to escape the building.
There's a great little scene where Aloy plays a holographic message that she found in the ruins. It's a man that addresses his young son, wishing him happy birthday. That's the moment where I knew Aloy was going to be a great character... She misses human interaction so much that she keeps the device in the hopes of using it to curb her loneliness by watching holograms... It was quite sad.
When she finds her way out of the ruins, Aloy finds Rost, who is shocked to see she is wearing the device. You can feel the tension in this scene, as Rost insists that Aloy remove the device, but she refuses.
Rost is taken by surprise, but he seemed to admire her for her resolve, so he taught her how to gather materials, how to craft some arrows and how to use them. There's a whole little tutorial here that introduces enemies. Aloy can throw rocks to attract robots, and tall grass is used as cover. The bow can also be used to fight robots by targeting weak spots, which are revealed by Aloy's high tech device. It can also tag enemies and show their walking path.
 |
| Aloy follows Rost |
I hid in the tall grass, tagged the roaming enemies and studied their paths to find a safe way to reach the distressed man. It was a fun little stealth section. After saving the man, members of the tribe showed up and scolded the man for interacting with outcasts... Aloy is in a rough state of mind, so she decides to go back home on her own rather than following Rost. She walks past some kids from the tribe when one of the boys throws a fucking rock at her head! I was surprised to see that this game features some conversation tress, similar to Mass Effect. I had the choice of throwing the rock back at his head, hitting his hand with the rock or dropping the rock. I chose to drop the rock, and when the boy started throwing a second rock at Aloy, another child stopped him. I loved that moment.
When she gets home to Rost, Aloy is very angry and confused. She wants to understand why she is an outcast and why she isn't part of the tribe. Rost doesn't have this information, but he knows of a way to get it. There's this thing called "The Proving", which is a sort of trial. The winner gets to make a single request of the tribe's elders. Aloy wants to win the Proving and ask the elders to tell her why she is outcast.
Rost is clearly impressed by the young girl's resolve. I was too... In fact, this scene had a huge emotional impact for me. Maybe it's because my daughter is 6 years old, just like Aloy, but boy, her bravery and determination made me cry like a baby...
This whole scene was amazing, and it really helps Aloy feel like a believable character. The next scene was a bit of a montage where we see Aloy training as a young girl, then eventually it cuts to her as an adult. She looks to be very young, less than 20 years old. Rost is still around, though he's obviously a bit older. There's only 2 days before the Proving, and Rost wants to show Aloy a few things before it's too late.
I really need to take a moment to appreciate the amazing production quality of Horizon. I'm playing this on a PS4 Pro, and it looks stunning! This just might be the prettiest video game I've ever played. Everything is highly detailed, the performance is great and the animation is very smooth. Shit, each individual thread of fabric is visible... and this is a giant open world game!
The game is now starting to show it's real colors, now that open world is available to me, at least in part. There's a very strong Far Cry Primal vibe going on, one of my favorite games of 2016. There's crafting, a skill tree, a similar quest structure, a giant map, hunting and so far, no guns. There's also a bit of Uncharted going on with the climbing mechanics. There's also a hint of God of War in the combat and the spectacle. The open world genre has been evolving a lot in the past few years, and Horizon feels like the culmination of all that.
As a young adult, Aloy explores the area near her home. There's a lot of robotic creatures and regular animals roaming around. I gathered enough resources to upgrade my carrying capacity for my bow and my carrying pouch. I also found a few side quests. One of them had me gather food and a pendant for an old, outcast woman who still shuns Aloy and speaks to her only through fake prayers to the All Mother. I saved a lady who was trapped by some Watchers. I gathered resources to craft special fire arrows. I tracked a new type of robot creature to help a woman recover her spear. Basically, there seems like there's gonna be a ton of stuff to do in this game.
I'm really impressed with what I've played so far, and I just can't wait to play it again!
