Bring on the Robo-T-rex

Introduction

With its sequel coming up this year and a new port now available on PC, I thought it would be best to review Metal Gear hunter simulator, i.e. Horizon Zero Dawn. Horizon Zero Dawn, developed by Guerrilla Games, started out in 2017 as a PS4 exclusive but has now made its way to Steam in the form of a full package release. For this review, I will be using the PS4 version.

Setting

The world of Horizon Zero Dawn takes place in a distant future following the annihilation of civilisation by an unknown cataclysmic event. Mankind has been relegated to a state of savagery, worshipping mountains and the sun and armed with rudimentary bows and spears.

Weapons are well-needed, as large mechanical creatures called machines now wonder the world, interacting with their environment like regular animals. Most of these machines even resemble animals, from the horse like machines called striders to the gargantuan robotic T-Rex named the Thunderjaw.

You walk in the boots of Aloy, a former outcast and formidable hunter, tasked by her tribe to look for answers surrounding the murder of her clansmen and the appearance of a new deadlier type of machine.

Upon first playing, I was quickly reminded of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West developed by Ninja Theory. Both games take place in a post-apocalyptic setting that sees the world swarming with robots, where a main character happens to be a tech-savvy redhead. However, I am glad to say that Horizon does enough with its gameplay and setting to otherwise differentiate itself from its counterpart.

Characters

Aloy

Aloy is an exceptional heroine, even among more famous names in the gaming world. If you were impressed by Lara Croft’s T-rex fights, Aloy has you covered. A trickster who uses a combination of traps, arrows, and information gathered from her focus, a miniature computer clipped to her ear, Aloy is a competent huntress who can beat the DOS files out of machines ten times her size.

As a character, Aloy feels like determination personified, having to prove herself to her people after being exiled for the crime of not having a mother. I hate to imagine the fate of orphans in this village! Her strong will carries her past the bounds of her village trails, where she becomes a seeker – an agent of the tribe.

Her journey is different from most heroes as it is mainly one of self-discovery. Aloy’s desire to know more about her past becomes the driving force throughout her adventure. At times, however, her desire to learn more about herself makes her self-centered, which, from a normal “hero” perspective, makes it seem like she believes she has better things to do than save the world from another apocalyptic end. This is pointed out by other characters throughout the game, meaning it wasn’t something the creators just overlooked, making it more interesting to discuss.

A follower of her curious nature, Aloy can be considered to be one of the most learned people in her world. Nonetheless, she respects seemingly more “primitive” cultures and does not object or try to change their beliefs as a sign of respect. While endearing, as someone with a background in programming, listening to her talk about computer jargon in the form of wonders and spirits to groups of clueless tribesmen is definitely amusing.

I was surprised to learn that Ashly Burch voices Aloy. Burch is the same voice actress who played Tiny Tina from the Borderlands series: a small psychotic girl with all of the energy and explosiveness of a nuclear reactor. However, in Horizon, Ashley plays a much more serious character who, by just standing in the background, can have the same intensity as a Lord of the Rings general scaling up their opponents.

Sylens

Sylens is an enigma who assists Aloy through the course of her adventure. He is voiced by and modelled on Lance Reddick, who is known for his work on the John Wick series as the intercontinental receptionist, Charon. When first introduced, I initially mistook the man for artificial intelligence due to the cold smoothness of the man’s voice. I found it to be a deep contrast to those of the other tribesmen.

Sylens’ craving for knowledge about the ancient civilisations is almost as intense as his coldness towards those around him. He is prepared to go to great lengths to achieve the knowledge he desires, even if that means accidentally creating exceptionally deadly foes for Aloy to fight as a by-product of his investigations. He chastises Aloy frequently over her self-centred priorities that obstruct their common objectives, wanting her to view the bigger picture behind her actions and discoveries.

Gameplay

Combat

While Aloy does use a spear to hunt down machines, she also has quite the arsenal in her disposal. Aloy’s preferred weapon is a bow that she can use to target opponent’s weaknesses with incredible accuracy. She also has a device called a trip caster, which is used to quickly dispense tripwires, towards which she can lure hostile machines. Then there is the rope caster, a tool that can hold an enemy down long enough for Aloy to get some good solid hits on them.

A lot of these machines have their own unique elemental weaknesses, such as cold, fire, and electricity. Aloy can use supplies found in the field and customize her ammunition to correspond to the best element needed to tackle a specific machine. These giant death toasters also come with various weak points across their bodies, such as explosive fuel canisters. Exploiting these weak spots by using the correct ammunition type can cause grievous damage and even cripple the machine, making securing the kill a lot easier.

I like how the gameplay mirrors Aloy’s developing confidence in her own abilities. In the beginning, the player is taught to sneak and stalk enemy machines from bushes, learning their weaknesses and routes through a device called a focus; relying more on traps and tripwires than actual direct confrontations to take down your prey.

Later in the game, once your technique has sharpened enough, it’s possible to take down the larger and deadlier robo-dinos with relative ease, making you feel like an expert predator -calculating every move before securing the kill.

Aloy also has the option of converting hostile machines to her side by hacking them with the use of her modified spear. Once converted, they will attack the nearest hostile machine they see, or can be used as mounts in combat. Watching your mount hoof a bandit in the face does bring a little satisfaction to one’s life!

Horizon Zero Dawn’s crafting system is generic, to say the least. Taking inspiration from titles such as the Far Cry and Tomb Raider franchises, it revolves around hunting down creatures and resources to combine to create an assortment of clothes, ammunition and item pouches. What makes the game different is the inclusion of the killer robots into the mix.

Horizon Zero Dawn includes three skill trees that improve Aloy’s stealth, combat and passive abilities. The Frozen Wilds DLC offers a fourth tree that emphasises mounted combat.

Exploring the World

Being an open-world game, Horizon Zero Dawn has a lot of stuff to offer outside the main campaign.

The most basic of these are side quests, which earn one slick weaponry, items and even extra content relating to the main campaign.

While these side stories are interesting, I tend to prefer the hunting challenges. These tasks require you to complete a set number of tasks in an allotted time, which really requires thinking outside the box. One of my favourite challenges includes having to hack this gigantic murder machine on to my side, then making it go full terminator on the rest of them in the hunting grounds within a time span of two minutes.

There are also more traditional open-world missions, such as clearing bandit hideouts and climbing towers for vantage point information. However, Horizon does these tasks justice, particularly with tower climbing by removing the tower and replacing it with a humongous, long-necked giraffe-like machine called the walker. Climbing these graceful behemoths reminds me of the colossi from the PlayStation 2 era classic Shadow of The Colossus.

Graphics and Presentation

The design of the expanse of Horizon Zero Dawn is stunning, littered with large open vistas filled with the ancient ruins of a once-thriving world. Staring into the expanse of these breath-taking views is truly a site to behold. The photo option allows one to capture these incredible moments, and it’s impossible not to go slightly overboard collecting snapshots.

The focus’ Augmented Reality HUD will probably take some time to get used to. Initially, I did find myself misinterpreting enemy weaknesses: probably making them stronger as they tried (and often succeeded) to crush me. However, once I got that handled, I felt like a big game hunter stalking and studying their prey.

Conclusion

Horizon Zero Dawn is an interesting premise that, while not providing any innovation to the open-world genre, seeks instead to perfect them. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? To a large extent, Guerrilla games does succeed with its robo Godzilla hunting simulator. Battling these deadly murder machines gets the heart pumping similar to Dark Souls boss-battle levels, and I just can’t get enough of it. However, its generic crafting system somewhat sucks some fun out of the game.

If you are a fan of games with bright post-apocalyptic settings such as Enslaved: Odyssey to the West or prefer the open-world combat of 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima, then I suggest giving Horizon Zero Dawn a try.

This is a game that one can play for hours on end, and still want to play more of. If you have only played the base game, I do suggest purchasing the Frozen Wastes DLC, which provides even more content on top of the main game’s already extensive 40 hours of play.