Open-world games are best when you have a new and exciting setting to throw yourself into with lots to see and do. And when Horizon Zero Dawn released, it blew our collective minds.
What’s it about?
The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world far into the future, after the fall of an advanced version of our civilisation. Out of the ashes emerge generations of humans who have organised themselves into tribes. While Earth’s vegetation has grown back lush and green, massive robotic dinosaurs roam the lands as remnants of our dead future.
These monstrosities are a sight to behold, and raise a lot of questions. Like, how did we all die out? What made us make these robots – that too modelled after the most fearsome beasts to ever roam our planet? Did we invent those 20-ft-tall dino-bots because we felt our Roomba cleaning robots were too small?
We seek answers to these questions as Aloy, a young hunter. Cast out from her tribe at a young age, Aloy is raised and trained by another outcast, Rost.
Playing as the protagonist when she’s shunned by her people will break your heart.
It eventually sets her on a path to prove herself in a series of trials known as, well, The Proving. You see, she has a secret weapon, a tiny Focus chip embedded above her ear, which she found by accident.
The story of Horizon Zero Dawn is one we’ve heard before many a time.
However, its world and metallic creatures in it make you burn through the story at a feverish pace. Although the game does throw you on repetitive fetch quests one after the other. But the open-world setting makes it all worthwhile.
Especially, when you discover recordings and remnants of the past that let you piece together what happened. It hits all the right curiosity and emotional buttons.
How does it play?
Think of the gameplay as an amalgamation of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor . But the game has its own set of challenges, from the third-person perspective, to monster hunting and the bow-and-arrow action. At its core, you play as a squishy human taking on metal monsters with primitive weapons. It’s like bringing a switchblade to a nuclear war. The game has a fantastic sense of making you the lowest in the pecking order.
So you use your Focus chip to single out weak spots in the cybernetic dinosaurs and hit them hard with arrows imbued with elemental damage. You also have the ability to lay down traps by using your Focus to plot patrol paths. The chip also helps in tracking down people or monsters, very much like The Witcher’s sense ability. And like Shadow of Mordor , you can capture beasts and ride them to traverse long distances or into battle. Though, these games were about combat, and Zero Dawn ’s surefire path to victory is by preparing and planning every encounter.
As for the missions, for the most part, you will be running fetch quests and other menial tasks. While some may get annoyed at this repetition, there is something oddly calming about grinding through chores and getting loot. Exploration in a breathtaking environment is what the game does best.
As a PlayStation 4 exclusive, the game really pushes the graphical envelope, with 30 frames per second, while producing lush-green to snowy-white scapes with beautiful lighting effects. Plus, the holographic technology of the Focus chip pulses bright orange and blue, illuminating the crisp textures. Stand still in an open field and you will see the wind blow through the tall grass and reeds. Picture perfect. Where things fall apart is in the terrible facial animations. It undoes the detail that’s put into Aloy and the rest of the cast. Thankfully, that’s just during the various cut-scenes. The sound design too is fantastic, as the soundtrack and ambient noise oscillates between orchestra to glitch when the machines are around. The sounds of the machines themselves are binary and yet quite intimidating.
Should you get it?
Without a doubt, yes. Horizon Zero Dawn has one of the most original and compelling worlds that’s not been seen in a game for a long time.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Developers: Guerrilla Games
Producer: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Price: ₹3999 PlayStation 4
Andre Rodrigues is a product designer frequently found playing video games with his daughter.
