Horizon Zero Dawn PS4 Review: "An experience not to be missed"

Horizon Zero Dawn PS4 Review

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Patch Version: Day1 --

Horizon Zero Dawn is all about the story.  This much clear right from the get....

Even before reaching the main menu it treats you to a cinematic that begins to set the scene and introduce what the world, our world, has become.

This introduction though doesn't end there; a second cinematic begins the moment you choose to start a new game that further elaborates upon the story and your character, who is a baby named Alloy that is branded an outcast because she has no mother; the reasons for this a mystery.  You are hooked and reeled in immediately.  The bond between you and her cemented in a way that few other games are able to do or even bother to attempt with any serious commitment.  A connection that is only made stronger because you begin the story witnessing Alloy's hardships as not only a newborn, but also as a growing infant. Your guardian during this time teaching the both of you the lessons you will need to survive in this cruel and metal inhabited world.

From the moment you gain control and start experiencing Horizon Zero Dawn, instantly will your eyes be astonished by not only the gorgeous environment itself, which boasts a day/night and weather system, including: Rain, Fog, Snow and Sandstorms, but also the life and greenery that moves and animates around you. It is truly impressive for an open world game of this scale, a fact made crystal the second you open the world map for the very first time.  

Take the animations of how Alloy moves through tall grass for example while she is still a child. Do so and you will witness her playful, yet subtle skip whilst stretching out her hands and feeling the foliage brush her by as you move her through it.  It's these attentive touches that echoes in all directions that lets you know you're in for a treat; aspects that in reality need not have been done, but because they are, shows the commitment to quality the developers wanted for this game.

It's not all perfect though, there are times during Alloy's adolescent period where the emotions your character is meant to be portraying look unconvincing, a fact made worse because games normally make no effort at all to do this in a truly convincing way.  It's not easy to portray how someone is feeling in a silent fashion relying on facial animations alone. Emotions are complicated to get right, it's more than just pulling a sad face, there's the eyes, forehead, eyebrows and also the very important micro-expressions to consider.

However, for the most part you understand and connect with Alloy's plight regardless; the facial animations not perfect, but not a world away from being wrong either.  And between this and Horizon Zero Dawn's skilful storytelling, it does a great job of making you feel how your character Alloy must be feeling.

Problem is, they did the job too well; your first real mission as an adult is to complete your training so you can enter into a tribal right-of-passage called the proving.  To Alloy, what she wants more than anything else is to be accepted by the same people who shun and were cruel to her as a child.  And therein lies the problem.  I hate these people for how they treated her then, and still hate them now playing Alloy as an adult because they still treat her the same.  Yet the first set of side missions you encounter all revolve around helping these people, admittedly the ones you meet seem to treat Alloy with a little more humanity, suggesting that not everyone agrees with the outcast laws, but still, it was a hurdle.

The other aspect which is proving to be frustrating right now is the sheer distance between these starting side missions and main missions. One will have you trek one way, and the second will be miles the opposite.  In itself this is part-in-parcel with this style of game, but the problem in Zero Dawn at the start it seems is twofold:

• One: it's slow moving around on foot and as yet I have no mount or ability to fast travel. 
• Two: combat feels amazing against the machines, (something I will talk about later) so much so that while you are trudging through this beautiful world, all I find myself looking for is these robot dinosaurs to engage with.  I imagine though the second I attain a mount and the ability to fast travel that this issue will vanish like Alloy from view in tall grass, but right now, when I see a mission 600+ feet away in one direction, and the other, 400+ feet the complete opposite, I can't help but sigh. This aside, everything else so far is spot on.

Another interesting aspect regarding the game's story is that during certain dialogue opportunities, in both the main and side mission related content, you have the option to choose how Alloy will respond.  Zero Dawn calling these moments Flashpoints.  You have three options during these moments represented with three icons.

• Fist: responses are more confrontational
• Brain: responses are more strategic
• Heart: responses are more compassionate

There doesn't seem to be any record detailing my past choices, and whether my choices actually make a difference I do not know.  I would have to start a new game or reload a checkpoint and answer differently to see if the scene differed. Still, the ability to have an impact on the dialogue only immerses you more.

The missions themselves are broken up into three categories. Main, Side and Errands. Errands are basically side missions too really, but you have the ability to create your own. For example: say you want to craft something, yet you are a little shy on the ingredients.  The game allows you to create a job; this creating an errand that you can track like a mission. I've not seen this feature before in a game, but it comes in very handy!
Another important note about all the missions is that they all have cutscenes with interactive dialogue options.  Every stage where you talk with an NPC will trigger one.  Not since Bioware's: Star Wars the Old Republic have I encountered such an effort.  Again, truly impressive.

The combat side of things so far feels great; I'm loving it in fact.  Your starting weapons consisting of a bow and some staff like melee weapon.  However it's all about the bow.  My first two skill points being spent on slowing down time when aiming and when sliding.  Both having a max duration and small cool down, but when you time a slide right and slow down time while a robot combatant jumps to attack, well... it feels amazing and it's very addictive!

Melee combat seems to be a distant second option right now due to the danger of death when engaging in close quarter combat. The weapon meant more for stealth strikes than physical confrontations it seems in the beginning, yet there's skills dedicated to improving that aspect, so it may become more viable as you play on.
Pressing R1 will do a quick strike, whereas holding and releasing R2 will do a heavy strike. Again, it's all about the timing.

After an hour or so of fighting and completing quests I attain enough shards  to purchase a trip caster, 'shards' the name given to in game currency, but you can also trade items you have looted too.  The trip caster is a weapon that allows you to fire out an electrified rope that trips and stuns robotic enemies for a short time making them vulnerable. There are other weapons too, but at the moment are too expensive to purchase, yet there doesn't seem to be any caveat requiring a level, so the second I can afford them I can buy and equip them.
You can assign four weapons at a time to the game's weapon selection wheel menu once purchased. Certain weapons having multiple ammo types that you can select from the same menu.

You can swap between assigned weapons and ammo during combat rather fluidly via this wheel menu too; the menu slowing down time while it is open.  This not only gives you sufficient time to switch and change up your approach mid fight, but also serves to keep the flow of combat going without braking from it in a disjointed fashion.  You can also craft ammo from this wheel menu on the fly.
Interestingly the game is designed in a way that for players who want to min/max their damage or armour and cater for every scenario going they can.  So owning the same type of weapon is allowed, the difference being that the same weapon could be modified towards more fire damage and the other frost, but you can only use the ones assigned to the wheel menu as described above.  Same goes for armour, but equipping this must be done in the full menu, which in effect will pause the game.  So doing so in combat, though allowed, will disjoint the experience.

However, it's Alloy's tech that she found as a child that is probably your best weapon.  The tiny device, which is called a focus, is attached to the side of your head that allows access to certain abilities:

• Detection, storage and playback of recordings from the old world that detail fragments of the game's lore.
• Scanning the environment and revealing certain things of interest.
• Scanning creatures and machines to give you information about them.
• Highlighting enemy weak spots and what they are susceptible too. The weak spots remaining highlighted for a limited time allowing you to target them more easily after deactivating your focus.
• Highlighting enemy patrol paths
• And lastly, a function that is similar to Batman's detective mode, which enables you to track someone or something over great distances.

It's a well constructed and implemented feature that is utilised to great effect.

The skill tree has three paths.  (Prowler.  Brave.  Forager.)  You are free to spend points in any of them however you see fit. You can attain points from levelling up your character and completing certain quests. There is no indication as to the level cap, or a way to re-skill, so spending your points carefully is advised.

Crafting is a big part of Horizon Zero Dawn too it seems.  Not only your ammo, but you can craft healing and damage resistance potions, traps, and upgrade every aspect of your carrying capacity.  You can also apply modifications to your weapons and your armour to improve damage and resistance.  All of these ingredients being either foraged from the world or looted from the kills you make.

Horizon Zero Dawn's healing mechanic is somewhat unique too.  It does not regenerate. Instead you need to forage healing herbs. These herbs being stored in a pouch that is represented as a green bar under your red health bar. Pressing up on your d-pad at any time will convert the green bar into health.
There seems to be plenty of healing plants to find in the world, and you can add an additional pouch via the skill tree to double your healing bar.  This represented with a little green cross that indicates how many pouches you have when the first bar is full.

Because your health does not manually regenerate, making sure you are ready for combat is integral.  However, it does make situations more hairy when suddenly you find yourself in tall grass having inadvertently run into some herd. 

Initial Impressions

Horizon Zero Dawn is a truly immersive and detailed game with more depth than I've experienced for a very long time.

Its level of detail in every degree is off the charts. I'm yet to find a single feature or mechanic that seems unpolished or half implemented, though I'm still very much in the early stages having not left the starting area, even though technically it seems I'm free to go anywhere I see fit.

My only gripe right now is the distance between missions in the beginning. The fact that side missions are always off from the main is a tad tiresome.  However, I imagine that the second fast travel and mounts become available this issue won't be a problem.

This aside, Horizon Zero Dawn has truly impressed me.  I eagerly look forward to my next session; though completing it I imagine will be no meagre task considering I've not touched upon Cauldrons, which are the game's dungeons. Outposts, which are bandit related bases. The long-neck encounters that serve as the game's towers, which unhides the fog of war for areas not yet explored, and refreshingly there only seems to be four maybe five of them. Corrupted areas.  The hunter related challenges. And the plethora of mechanical archetypes that I'm yet to encounter, each one different in strengths and weaknesses keeping the encounters diverse.  Not to mention the human enemy archetypes I'm sure to face at some point.

Pros

• Beautifully rich and well told story
• Graphically it's amazing for an open world game
• No loading screens as you move about
• Plenty of features and mechanics
• Combat is fun, fluid and engaging requiring you to actually plan your attacks and aim strategically, especially when targets are moving.
• The mechanical archetypes are diverse, well designed, animated impressively and have good A.I.

Cons

• The placement of quests at the start will see you trekking great distances on foot since there is no mount or fast travel features available early on.
• The cutscenes at times do not follow normal cinematic rules, instead make use of jump cuts in a manner akin to Jean-Luc Godard's work, and so do not appear smooth when transitioning from certain shots, and to most will appear odd and inherently wrong.

Initial Score after 2hrs of play

Full Playthrough Score after 55hrs

Overall Verdict.

In the ocean of open world games nowadays, it's hard to find a game that feels different and unique enough to hold your attention, let alone one that can retain it through to completion. What’s more, each new I.P. has the daunting task of making a game that can compete with the more established titles in the genre.  Occasionally we are surprised:  Shadows of Mordor. The Witcher.  But for every new success there is an equal number if not more that fail.

Enter Horizon Zero Dawn.

Not only does it hold its own, it sets the bar for all new and established open world games to come.  It is a perfect example of what gamers should expect from their open world games nowadays.

Graphics aside, which are gorgeous, bordering close if not equalling the stunning scenes of Uncharted 4, it's the detail, diversity and thought that clearly went into each and every feature and mechanic that makes Horizon Zero Dawn stand out.

Too often are we forced to sit through a half-arsed story that is poorly set up with no lore that fizzles out like cheap fireworks.  You know the kind, they are often littered with side missions designed and implemented with little thought; their purpose simply to pad out your experience in the most fickle way possible.

However, in Zero Dawn, not only is the main story well told, impactful and coherent, each step is done with cutscenes that are animated and voice acted to a standard befitting a film. In truth, the only game I can think of that beats it in this department is Uncharted 4.  On top of this, each side mission you encounter is equally set up to the same standard. Sure, if you break them down to their core concepts they are all go here do or collect something type missions, but the reasons and the setup makes you want to.  Some of the characters you meet are even woven into the main story giving it more depth and connecting you to it in a way that few games manage.

However, it's the combat where Horizon Zero Dawn succeeds the most though.  Never did I feel so powerful, whilst at the same time feel so vulnerable.  I played the game on hard and the experience was challenging, but most importantly exceptionally fun and entertaining.

One moment you'll be stealthily taking out your enemies one-by-one, the takedowns themselves varied and slick, and then the next you'll be dodging or sliding out of the way for your life in battles that will have your heart pounding.

At the centre of all this is the mechanical beasts that makes Zero Dawn so intriguing. And when you dive in to the world they do not disappoint. Each beast is diverse; each demanding your respect just as much as your full attention; each requiring you to approach it in a different manner keeping the encounters fresh.  But it's the scale of them that is impressive, and I'm not just talking about the amount of archetypes either.  (The game being filled with 25 of them for you to meet and master.) It's the fact that some are absolutely huge! Their scale more befitting bosses than just wandering enemies roaming the world for you to contend with.

Regardless of their size, each encounter will require you to think.  There is rarely any fight that will be a walk in the park.  However, each machine has a weakness, each one an achilles heel for you to exploit that once you learn will make them more manageable.

It's not all roses though.  One aspect where Horizon Dawn falls short is the human element. On the outside the human enemies are perfect.  Guarding, patrolling, investigating; they will even dodge and weave when under attack, but the second you are discovered is where the curtain falls.  Their instinct to swarm being their primary objective above anything else.  And unless you '300' them, your only option is to run.  Your weapons not suited for engaging multiple enemies of such numbers.   And it's this aspect which disappoints.  They don't seem to flank and seem fine with just running to their death.  It's an aspect a lot of games struggle with, and sadly there doesn't seem to be anything to disguise or lessen this gaming problem in Horizon Zero Dawn.

I also noticed a few bugs along the way in my time with the game; namely your body momentary vanishing when stealth killing someone from below and the enemy corpse subsequently vanishing, which was odd considering how polished everything else was, but nothing at all occurred in my playthrough that broke the game or forced me to roll back to a previous save.  There was also the problem that two skills reduce your footfall when dropping from a height and when sprinting to increase your stealth ability, and though both work, there is no change to the audio you hear as a player to reinforce the fact the skills are working.

However, do not let these tiny blemishes dissuade you.  In the grand scheme of things, nothing I encountered spoiled or tainted my view of the game, and considering how long it took to complete, the scale of the environments and the amount of content within, the low encounter rate of bugs is impressive.

Gameplay wise, there is everything you would expect from an open world game and more to sustain and keep you occupied.  The blending of primitive tech with the more sophisticated works well and doesn't feel unrealistic.  Furthermore at no point did I feel bored or like I was just doing the rounds.  What’s more, there are so many aspects of the game where there are these subtle finishing touches that makes the game stand taller than most.  Even the most mundane of tasks will sometimes surprise you.

With regards to the weapons at your disposal, they do not disappoint either.  The majority bought, but the best earned through certain missions.  However, it's the manner you use them in conjunction with one another that sells the experience.   No one weapon being the be all and end all. Each encounter demanding you switch up not only your tactics, but requiring you to switch the weapons you use and also the ammo you fire.  The system that allows you to do this being both fluid and easy to use, keeping combat smooth and engaging.

Skill tree wise, by the time I hit the game's level cap I had already attained enough skill points to max it out.  So unless you gun through the game, ignoring everything but the main story, maxing the skill tree won't be a problem.  One point to note though about reaching the level cap is that you stop receiving the XP feedback from kills.  And it’s sometimes hard to tell when the larger machines are dead. So don't approach a downed machine too rashly.

Overall it took me 55hrs to 100% complete Horizon Zero Dawn; this included doing every single side mission.  The final chapter of the story building to an ending that culminates spectacularly, leaving you both satisfied and wanting more.   After which you are returned to the game world to clean up any content that you may have missed; albeit at an early point before having completed the main story.  I won't explain the why, spoilers, but the reason makes sense and it is by no means a cheap copout.

Horizon Zero Dawn for me surpassed my expectations.  It is a must own for PS4 fans who love the open world genre and is worth every penny of your hard earned cash.  If you can get it at a discount when the price lowers, all the better, but considering how much of a success it is, that time may be a long ways off.

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Horizon Zero Dawn:  PS4 Cauldron Gameplay

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