Horizon: Zero Dawn Review

Nice review, thanks.

If I ever get a PS4, I'll be grabbing this!

Originally Posted by JDR13
No HairWorks!

+ Joxer cant have romance with robo-dinosaur. What a pity.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
If the second Red Dead Redemption looks to be as good as the first was, I suppose I'll have to buy a console. Again!

Originally Posted by Morrandir
I haven't played TLoU, but from all I've read it's not my cup of tea.
RDR2 on the other hand… that's indeed the second one on the list.

I'll be taking a 'wait and see' stance on both of those games. I wasn't as nuts about RDR as some people were. I thought it was neat mainly because there are so few games that take place in that setting, but it's basically just GTV in the Old West, and I'm not a huge fan of Rockstar's style.

TLoU was a classic in my book, but I was disappointed when they announced that Ellie will be the PC in the sequel. I didn't care for her playable sections in the first game, and I'm not big on playing a female protagonist to begin with.

Needless to say, if anybody does have questions/doubts about Horizon: Zero Dawn, I'll try to answer them to the best of my knowledge, as spoiler-free as possible

Originally Posted by henriquejr
Needless to say, if anybody does have questions/doubts about Horizon: Zero Dawn, I'll try to answer them to the best of my knowledge, as spoiler-free as possible

I've seen enough to know that I'm definitely playing H:ZD at some point in the future. Your review only cemented that fact. I'm already a big fan of post-apocalyptic settings.

The only thing I don't like is the ability to craft things on the fly even in battle. I'd strongly prefer a little more realism there.

I do have a question.. Do you get enough skill points to obtain a decent amount of skills from all four skill trees, or do you need to specialize if you want an efficient character?

Originally Posted by henriquejr
Needless to say, if anybody does have questions/doubts about Horizon: Zero Dawn, I'll try to answer them to the best of my knowledge, as spoiler-free as possible

I have similar question as JDR13. How much do you need to upgrade your skills in order to advance? Are there some hard areas where high level skills are needed to survive?

Also does character progression allow some variability in character builds? If Im not mistaken there is skill tree for stealth attacks, skill tree for combat and skill tree for some support bonuses, healing or something. It seems there is no real variability there.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I've seen enough to know that I'm definitely playing H:ZD at some point in the future. Your review only cemented that fact. I'm already a big fan of post-apocalyptic settings.

As I've said in the review, this game's post-apoc setting (meaning: the environment) is way too different from Fallout's.

Originally Posted by JDR13
The only thing I don't like is the ability to craft things on the fly even in battle. I'd strongly prefer a little more realism there.

Even knowing realism is a desirable feature, in this particular game I believe it could ruin the combat because you often run out of ammo (at least, I did) and even healing potions, sometimes.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I do have a question.. Do you get enough skill points to obtain a decent amount of skills from all four skill trees, or do you need to specialize if you want an efficient character?

First, let me reaffirm you'll have 4 skills tree ONLY IF you buy/install the expansion The Frozen Wilds. The base game has 3 skill trees. Second, although I haven't written in the review text, some quests may reward you with a free +1 skill point upon completion.

Having said that, I believe you'll gain a reasonable amount of skill points on your playthrough, surely enough points to buy the most useful skills. Right at first, on level 1, you'll receive 3 skill points which you can quickly spend. Currently, I'm on level 52 and I've taken all the skills I wanted, at least all the ones I find more suitable to my playstyle.

Originally Posted by Farflame
I have similar question as JDR13. How much do you need to upgrade your skills in order to advance? Are there some hard areas where high level skills are needed to survive?

I know you aren't asking me specifically this, but in order to make skill upgrading a bit more clear (for you and everyone else), lemme say this first: skills have EITHER no requirements (usually, the top skills on each tree) OR when they do, the requirements are other skills which must be taken previously, of course. Meaning: there is no requirements such: "Skill Z: Aloy must be lvl 10; need to have Skill Y". Skills aren't tied to Aloy's level.

As for your two questions, there are hard fights where high level skills COULD help. Example: you have skills on Brave skill tree that allows you to notch additional arrow(s) on your bow weapons, and the hardest machines have hit points in the thousands, so these skills may help you to faster defeat them. Are they essential? No. Are they useful? Sure. (And here I again reaffirm why the lack of realism when crafting didn't lessen my score when reviewing it - when you notch 1 or 2 additional arrows to fire them all at once, you'll run out of ammo 2 or 3 times faster and you'll soon see why such "crafting realism" would probably ruin the combat here).

Having said that, you don't need to spend a single skill point to finish the game, not even the initial 3 skill points you receive at game's start. Of course, the skills will make you to gather more resources, to do more damage with your weapons, to use some machines (not all of them) as mounts, summing up they'll make your game easier (or less difficult).

Originally Posted by Farflame
Also does character progression allow some variability in character builds? If Im not mistaken there is skill tree for stealth attacks, skill tree for combat and skill tree for some support bonuses, healing or something. It seems there is no real variability there.

Regarding the skill trees, you're right, they are somewhat specialized. Regarding character builds, I can say there is almost zero variability here. What you can do is to prioritize buying some skills first, but in the end, with the amount of skill points you'll have, you can "buy" almost all skills avalable.

Aloy has no class. You can label her as a huntress, like many NPCs do, because ultimately it's what she is. As a huntress, she starts the game with some melee and ranged combat training, as well as a certain level of stealthiness and ability to make potions and traps. Combat, stealthiness and crafting can all be improved by buying skills. But if you're talking character builds in the likes of warrior/rogue/wizard/priest archetypes then no.

Thank you for the review henriquejr - now you have proven that you can write reviews - I exspect more of them

The only thing I've proved is that writing reviews is really hard as hell I took weeks to write this, phew.

Having said that, I say a big special "Thank You!" to all RPGWatch reviewers (@forgottenlor, @Maylander, @Corwin, @purpleblob, @Fluent, @Aubrielle, @greywolf00, @lackblogger, sorry if I forgot someone) for all the great reviews you've written all these years.

@HiddenX, I can't promise I'll do this again

Originally Posted by henriquejr
First, let me reaffirm you'll have 4 skills tree ONLY IF you buy/install the expansion The Frozen Wilds. The base game has 3 skill trees.

There does exist a "Complete Edition" including the Expansion of the game.
I know because I own it since yesterday.
I even had a bit of good luck : A store re-opened yesterday, selling a PS4 version ("Slim Edition") for a lowered price …
Now I need to find out how to find space to plug it in …

Thanks for the review, @henriquejr ! Very informative and fun read - especially love the last screenshot of Aloy sending her love to joxer

I was quite surprised and thrilled to see a review for H: ZD here. @henriquejr, thank you for the well-written review. You definitely highlighted the strengths of the game. If you have a PS4, this should be in your library. If you're on the fence, maybe this, God of War, and Persona 5 can sell you one.

H: ZD has a very interesting setting, with solid system design, and a very well written character and world. One of the few AAA titles I've purchased and not regretted waiting for a lower price in a very long time.

Agree with Greywolf. This is one of the best games I have ever played, RPG or otherwise. It is rare that a game combines excellent gameplay and excellent story. This is one of them. If you can afford it, getting a PS4 is worth it just for this game. The story may be the greatest of any game I have played, up there with Bioshock, PS:T, etc. I have never been a console fanboy, but I have not regretted the PS4 purchase. (and by the way, I only got the PS4 after asking for advice from folks on this board!)

Through pure chance, I discovered this : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects…&ref=discovery

They try to make a board game of it.

The miniatures's design is impressive, the robots are exactly as they are in the game. I just don't know if the PS4 game "rules" may be well-translated into board game.