Reviewed: Horizon: Zero Dawn

One of the PS4-games I picked up relatively early (back in 2017), was Horizon: Zero Dawn. I loved the aesthetic of the trailer, and hoped I’d find it enjoyable. Here are my thoughts:

• Game: Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Publisher: Guerrilla Games
• Platform: Playstation 4 (also available on Microsoft Windows)
• Genre: Action RPG

In Horizon: Zero Dawn you play Aloy, a young girl outcast from the tribes of the Nora in a post-apocalyptic setting. Sentient machines live alongside humans, who hunt the machines for resources. The beginning of the game – essentially its tutorial – centres on exploring the lands of the Nora, learning to hunt machines, and preparing for the Proving. If succesful, Aloy will no longer be an outcast, and can join Nora society as a member.

I absolutely adore Horizon: Zero Dawn. Aloy feels like a complete character, and the societies with which she interacts feel real. The shunning of the Nora is portrayed in a believable way, and Aloy’s pain at being an outcast feels very real. As the world grows, from the Nora’s Sacred Land to a much larger world where many other people live, you get to interact with a number of other tribes and cultures.

The many political struggles in which you, as a player, take part add to the game while not feeling tacked-on – much the opposite, they feel relevant to Aloy’s position within the world. Gameplay is excellent, from story mode to the harder gameplay modes – there are modes to suit every type of player, a good thing as it allows anyone to enjoy the story.

Ah, the story. There are a number of storylines running concurrently, from Aloy’s personal storyline, to the storyline of the apocalypse whose aftermath many years ago ended with the tribes we encounter in the game.

TL;DR: Horizon: Zero Dawn is one of my absolute favorite games ever. I’ve played through the entire storyline twice already, and am looking forward to starting a new game sometime in the future. 10/10.