Horizon Zero Dawn - Review @ COG

HiddenX

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COG checked out Horizon Zero Dawn:

Horizon: Zero Dawn (PC) Review - Make the World Better, Before it Ends

Walking a Fine Line

If you have yet to undergo the breathtaking journey that Horizon: Zero Dawn provides, you've been missing out. The story of Aloy and her quest to uncover her mysterious past, while taking place in a brilliant amalgamation of ancient civilizations and future utopias, is unlike anything before it. You'll find Zero Dawn consistently ending up on many critics' "top games of the generation" list. And if you spend any time at all within its world, it isn't hard to see why.

[…]

Final Thoughts

If Guerrilla Games hopes to maintain a grasp on its prospective fanbase's attention, they'll need to put a hefty amount of work into Horizon: Zero Dawn PC. The journey itself is as incredible as ever. And if you've got a computer that can run the damn thing, you're in for the pinnacle of the series. But for everyone else, I'm not altogether convinced that in its current state, spending the extra money on the PC edition is wholly justified. For now, I'd quietly keep my distance and anticipate further updates.

The Good
  • Gorgeous Visuals
  • Deep Settings Options
  • Every Piece of Content Included
The Bad
  • Optimization Issues
  • Keyboard Doesn't Translate Well
  • Unreasonably Difficult to Achieve 60 FPS
Score: 79/100
More information.
 
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The bad is ridiculous.
I've reached 60+ without any difficulty (have to admit it's on 1080p though) and keyboard translates so good I've already said I can't imagine how people were playing this game on mushrooms.
Honestly didn't research optimization so can't say anything about that, but if that's among bad because nonavx CPUs can't run the game, then it's as ridiculous as two other points.

The good… Sorry but I don't see some settings options, for example there is no tressFX on/off and as was noted in another thread, cutscenes are phoneized if the game is played on ultrawide monitor so it needed modding.

I call it a bad review, sorry.
 
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Seems like a reasonable review to me. 8/10 is about what I'd give it so far.

I personally haven't had any optimization issues myself. I wonder if this reviewer played it prior to the patch.

The visuals are indeed really good. I wasn't impressed in the beginning, but now that I've seen more of the world, I have to say they did a fantastic job with the environments. It's on par with TW3, albeit with slightly less variety.
 
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Detest the game.
 
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I expected a somewhat higher score, but here is the thing. The cons are that according the reviewer it's unreasonably difficult to reach 60FPS, the keyboard doesn't translate well and that there are optimisation issues. But the game has no cons to speak of gameplaywise.

So to someone like me that:

- Plays the game smoothly at 60+ FPS at all times.
- Is happy with the keyboard "translation".
- Has seen no sign of the optimisation issues.

It must be damn close to a perfect game.
 
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The game runs well on my PC at 4K (3840*2160). Everything is maxed but for the shadows, clouds and reflections at medium since I just don't care for those.
The keyboard implementation is good enough to not have to change a single mapping if you are used to play K+M.

I had only one crash but that was because I have the bad habit of launching a game and ALT-TAB on other stuff while it loads. It doesn't really like that.
But beside that, no issue at all.
 
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About the optimization thing: A lot of reviewers had technical problems with the game running poorly on settings above the original ps4/pro settings. Lots of very large frame drops. The sites looking specifically at performance are for example:
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/horizon-zero-dawn-pc-performance-analysis/

https://www.techradar.com/news/horizon-zero-dawn-pc-specs-and-benchmarks-one-messy-port


So it seems the graphical upgrades of the pc version are poorly optimized and the specs were for original settings on 1920x1080.
 
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I disagree with reviewers perception of k+m controls. I think this perception is strongly individual and putting it to cons is wrong. If controls were badly implemented and not working properly, that would be different story, but thats not the case. And Im glad my several years old PC can run it on high settings with no issues.

As action game with RPG elements this easily hits 9/10 for me. When Im able to find time to spend with it, Im really enjoying it.
 
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So it seems the graphical upgrades of the pc version are poorly optimized and the specs were for original settings on 1920x1080.
The problem is with 4K. For whatever reason, if I understood correctly, the game forms visuals for 4K, downsamples it to 1080p, and then stretches that 1080p to 4K. Basically, those people are getting fake 4K or so called upscaled while it hits the performance drastically.

Recheck all reports. You'll notice barely anyone complaining about 1080p performance and even then stutters/crashes are in most cases solved by things I've numbered in another thread (system tinkered to almost failing or not updated, OCed CPU, plain user rights, etc).
 
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I have 4k and I'm having no issues though I admit I'm not the most nitpicky person in that regard. I'm happy as long as there's no screen lags or freezes, and I'm getting none, together with steady 70-72~ FPS in max settings.
 
The problem is with 4K. For whatever reason, if I understood correctly, the game forms visuals for 4K, downsamples it to 1080p, and then stretches that 1080p to 4K. Basically, those people are getting fake 4K or so called upscaled while it hits the performance drastically.

So it renders at 4K, downsamples to 1080p, and upscales back to 4K? That sounds completely crazy - do you have a link to where that's discussed?
 
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I have 4k and I'm having no issues though I admit I'm not the most nitpicky person in that regard. I'm happy as long as there's no screen lags or freezes, and I'm getting none, together with steady 70-72~ FPS in max settings.
The reviewers were complaining about very noticable fps drops on a lot of different cards. In the comment sections there seems to be a lot of mixed results for people.
 
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"-This game is a bad PC port!"
"-No, it is not!"

Me:

tenor.jpg
 
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So it renders at 4K, downsamples to 1080p, and upscales back to 4K? That sounds completely crazy - do you have a link to where that's discussed?
Sorry but no.
 
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This is a game where you play an archer against robots, right? I don't see the allure, but I'm a survival game guy. Does it have parkour? I suck at anything twitch related. Do you have skill trees? Any crafting? I've never really heard of this except for a couple years ago when anyone with the right console had an orgasm on release.

I might try it once it hits a sale if it doesn't have parkour. I seem to buy everything these days.
 
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This is a game where you play an archer against robots, right? I don't see the allure, but I'm a survival game guy. Does it have parkour? I suck at anything twitch related. Do you have skill trees? Any crafting? I've never really heard of this except for a couple years ago when anyone with the right console had an orgasm on release.

I might try it once it hits a sale if it doesn't have parkour. I seem to buy everything these days.

There's quite a bit of parkour, but it's just a single button press. The game does have a lot of twitch in general though. Skill trees yes. Crafting yes, but not the kind you're looking for.
 
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It's really an action/exploration game with a nice story (which you may or may not enjoy). You have a kinda morality system that allows you to choose whether Aloy is aggressive, cunning or kind in her behavior, andyou can approach combat using stealth, ranged, melee, or gadgets /explosives, or any combination of them, though there are specific gear sets and mods to excel at that which you enjoy most.

Think a The Witcher 3 kind of game, really. Not the heaviest of Rpgs, but works as a tale being told.
 
It's really an action/exploration game with a nice story (which you may or may not enjoy). You have a kinda morality system that allows you to choose whether Aloy is aggressive, cunning or kind in her behavior, andyou can approach combat using stealth, ranged, melee, or gadgets /explosives, or any combination of them, though there are specific gear sets and mods to excel at that which you enjoy most.

Think a The Witcher 3 kind of game, really. Not the heaviest of Rpgs, but works as a tale being told.
That's a good summary of gameplay mechanics (if others agree with you). Thanks! I'll probably pick it up in the future.
 
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Horizon Zero Dawn PC Port Needs Some Work

The former PS4 exclusive has made its way to PC, but notable issues hold it back from greatness at the moment.
Horizon Zero Dawn PC: An Amazing Game Gets A Disappointing Port

After a stunning debut in Death Stranding, the Decima Engine is back - this time with a port of Guerrilla Games' stunning Horizon Zero Dawn. The game itself is stunning, but the conversion work here has many bugs, issues and problems. Alex Battaglia reviews the game, based on the Day One patch running the latest drivers.
 
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