Enjoyment - 5/10
Difficulty - 3/10

Horizon Zero Dawn is a painfully average video game.

The visual splendour of Horizon Zero Dawn's landscapes and vistas really carries the experience. Also, traversing on your robot horse and encountering imposing machines is cool. However, all of the game's positive aspects are undercut by its conflicting mechanics and genuinely awful story.

Combat is borderline atrocious. Not once did I have a good time with battling human or machine enemies. Dodging, slow-motion aiming, melee, stealth, it all seemed to run counter to the core of the game. Repetitive mission structures and forgettable side quests also paint the game badly. If I am being completely honest, if the game had a NO COMBAT PASSIVISM lean in its framework I think it would've been a much better game with a stronger identity it could build off.

The ecological, industrial, and tribal theming of Horizon Zero Dawn was very promising. Discovering titbits of the world's history that better informs you about this video game space gave me goose bumps. Stumbling across ruined buildings that were once bustling places now turned to moss infused steel henges as a result of nature's reclamation is truly immersive. However, the world building and the overarching stories are not happily married to each other which leaves a confusing energy for its players to divorce. By the end of the adventure, it left me massively disappointed as it only told a children's first human vs. earth conflict story.

Characterization is dreadful. Predictable character arcs. Pandering story beats. Annoying and unlikeable main character. Contradictory character actions within the plot. Bad ending. Very, very poorly directed.

"If the game was five hours long, maybe it would be good" -Girlfriend.

Don't really know how to end this. Horizon Zero Dawn is an annoying ginger girl who clumsily fights robot dinosaur in attempt to do something??
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Reviewed on Apr 18, 2024


1 Comment


13 days ago

unbelievably based girlfriend