Improves on the first game, in basically every way, except the central narrative - which is still very strong, though it lacks the mystique of Zero Dawn.

At this point, though, can't complain. The Horizon series has become a new high water mark for open-world RPGs. But not only that - it's also established itself as the best original science fiction concept in big-budget video gaming since, probably, the Mass Effect or Bioshock series.

The prolonged "playing an MMORPG solo" style of gameplay might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm surprised how many people I've talked to who don't normally like this kind of thing are finding themselves immediately hooked by the gripping narrative and excellent cast. I too, was hooked, and when the credits rolled, I felt as if I was leaving a world and a group of friends who I had come to know very well.

A fun game that reaches its best ideas early and suffers a bit from a 2nd half that is kind of a lesser retread of the first. I did like it a lot though, and hope that if there's a Stray 2, it picks up on the stuff that worked best from this one: those moments of verticality in the Slums, and the limbo-like visual storytelling of the first hour.