Horizon Zero Dawn
Apr. 19th, 2020 02:50 pmT and ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
renay have both been after me to play this game for years. Probably other people as well, but those are the two that I remember best because they were the most persistent about it. :) Playing the game seemed like an ideal way to pass the time while sheltering in place; I finished the final battle yesterday, including the Frozen Wilds DLC. And it is, indeed, an excellent game -- definitely the best I've played since Persona 5, and it may well take a place among my all-time favorites. Although I won't immediately start all over again with a New Game Plus like T did (if nothing else, Persona 5: The Royal is out now, and I should probably also pick up the FFVII remake), there's an excellent chance I'll play through at least one more time -- it seems like a game that rewards at least one replay, given how much you learn about the world as the story unfolds.
There's a lot to like about the game: Aloy is a wonderful protagonist, maybe one of the best every, and the world is full of other engaging and vibrant characters, and the gameplay is super fun, especially once I figured out that stealth-and-sneak was my preferred mode (doesn't work very well against Glinthawks, though). But the biggest strength of HZD is the story and the worldbuilding. It's one of the most fascinating and well-developed game worlds I've ever seen, with the exposition carefully doled out via world exploration and gameplay, and a number of twists that are hard to see coming but are entirely earned in retrospect. To say anything more would, of course, require massive spoilers, so I'll put them behind a cut.
( So many spoilers, including for the Frozen Wilds )
I feel like I played a complete story, but in other ways I think I only scratched the surface of what the game world has to offer, and I look forward to learning even more when I take on the New Game Plus.
renay have both been after me to play this game for years. Probably other people as well, but those are the two that I remember best because they were the most persistent about it. :) Playing the game seemed like an ideal way to pass the time while sheltering in place; I finished the final battle yesterday, including the Frozen Wilds DLC. And it is, indeed, an excellent game -- definitely the best I've played since Persona 5, and it may well take a place among my all-time favorites. Although I won't immediately start all over again with a New Game Plus like T did (if nothing else, Persona 5: The Royal is out now, and I should probably also pick up the FFVII remake), there's an excellent chance I'll play through at least one more time -- it seems like a game that rewards at least one replay, given how much you learn about the world as the story unfolds. There's a lot to like about the game: Aloy is a wonderful protagonist, maybe one of the best every, and the world is full of other engaging and vibrant characters, and the gameplay is super fun, especially once I figured out that stealth-and-sneak was my preferred mode (doesn't work very well against Glinthawks, though). But the biggest strength of HZD is the story and the worldbuilding. It's one of the most fascinating and well-developed game worlds I've ever seen, with the exposition carefully doled out via world exploration and gameplay, and a number of twists that are hard to see coming but are entirely earned in retrospect. To say anything more would, of course, require massive spoilers, so I'll put them behind a cut.
( So many spoilers, including for the Frozen Wilds )
I feel like I played a complete story, but in other ways I think I only scratched the surface of what the game world has to offer, and I look forward to learning even more when I take on the New Game Plus.
