Horizon: Zero Dawn Review and Photo Safari

OXYBORB.COM Official Review Score for Horizon: Zero Dawn: 11/10 

Great, now that that's out of the way, let me show you the pictures I took during my playthrough:

SPOILERS ahead! The game is best played not knowing anything, and I'm not holding back!
 

Horizon: Zero Dawn is beautiful. It has a camera mode that I frequently used to capture these shots.

I score this game 11/10 because it is wonderful in all ways. All I really want out of this game is for it not to end.

The creatures in this game are like nothing I've seen done before.

Perfectly captures the mesh of future/tribal

The machines look so much like actual animals, and the story surprises you about that

lol, I was still "hidden" from this beast

very Matrix-like, but astounding contrast from the overworld

Horizons, they got in plenty, and all are gorgeous

"I'm just a bird, like you, see???"

My first Thunderjaw kill. I love the way they plop on the ground when they die

fire to the heart

What a way to die! Such a cool takedown! Makes you feel like a hunter

madness

My first stormbird

foreboding

I loved this part, the writing in this game was FANTASTIC

Redmaw wasn't too hard

Horizon: Zero Dawn

poor little raccoon

In conclusion, I loved every minute of this game, and I got all the trophies [100% completed]. Crafting is simple yet fun, combat is masterful, and the story is incredible. The visuals, obviously, the best on the PS4. The trophy list was PERFECT, none were missable or impossible, but still challenging enough. What an awesome, special game!

My criticisms are few and far between: Truly, the big one I have is that several of the weapons felt useless, and having only 4 slots for weapons means that I never used the others, ever. The ropecaster never got used, or the rattler. I feel like some of these could be quickfire options rather than full out weapons.

Also, I wished that armor had more slots for customization, and the special weave you get doesn't even have 1 slot, so my armor mods were wasted.

And when you get the best gear, the game is too easy. By the end, with the weave and the lodge's weapons... I could have toasted 10 thunderjaws are once, no problem. I wish it had a bigger end game monster to kill, one after the final boss.

Speaking of bosses, two were sort-of let downs: Redmaw was just a thunderjaw, nothing special. I wish they would have, at least, scaled him up in size or gave him wings or some visual extra. He was built up so much during the lodge missions, but was easy to take out. The final boss of the game, also, was disappointing because I thought I'd be fighting the eye of Hades inside of one of those giant monstrosities, like the ones that are woven into the sides of mountains. I expected that, given how Hades existed. So, I wanted to fight one of those, not another Deathbringer.

The underground areas also gave me sickness, not sure why. The purple bright lights sort of made my stomach churn.

Finally, the audio records you can listen to in the game were great, but if you used a menu or walked away, they would get interrupted. Often, I'd be listening to the audio, and I'd try to keep on exploring while listening, and then Aloy would start talking over it having seen something in the cave and I wouldn't be able to hear her or the audio record. Otherwise, I'd hit a menu and have to start over. So, it got to the point where I'd just stand still in one place to listen to audio records.

But my criticisms are minor. The game deserves to be considered as one of the best games on the PS4, and also as one of the best games ever made, period.

My only concern going forward is how they will create a story with as much mystery as the first game. The first tells so much and doesn't hold back any secrets, so it's hard to imagine how a sequel could retain the same sense of wonder or intrigue as the first.

Well done, Guerrilla Games, and thank you for the fun.