Horizon Zero Dawn | 9.5/10 | Review

Horizon Zero Dawn....A surprise in the best way possible.
As well a being an absolutely beautiful game its also fun to play throughout its incredibly deep campaign. As Aloy you will enjoy the vast and varied open world of HZD.

Graphics and Visuals
Even tough the game gets its spotlight in the trailer it is not until you play the game that you see how stunning the game looks.
On PS4 Pro in 4K HDR the game looks absolutely amazing to the point of you spending hours in the games dedicated photo mode. The graphics aren't to saturated, too shiny nor too soggy. Combat doesn't suffer a bit and I love it.
Don't believe me...well see for yourself.

World And Its Mechanics

World

The world is really vast and enjoyable. From cold mountains to blazing hot deserts to amazing jungles it has it all.
But the fun only begins when you stumble upon ruins of the Old World for they are designed masterfully and with so much detail that you spend more time there, scavenging for every piece of lore, than actually playing the main campaign. The people are interesting and side quests fun but most importantly there are many of them.

World Map

World

HDZ has so many RPG mechanics that contribute to the game. It has a great crafting system, dialogue choices and a nice skill system. The crafting system is almost perfect (but it could've been better), dialogue choices nicely done and skill system is nice because you get the skills about the right level. There is a complaint here and that is that its tracking and waypoint system is buggy and not working as it should and its health mechanics aren't working well. You see you get a fully bloody screen for even a slightest of damage done to you so you can't rally know when your health is low. And that leads to many painful restarts. But hey what can you do.

Skills Tree

The Setting And The Story

The Setting

The story is set approximately ten thousand years in the future, in a world where humans have regressed to primitive tribal societies as a result of some unknown calamity. Their technologically advanced predecessors are vaguely remembered as the "Old Ones." Large robotic creatures known merely as "machines" now dominate the Earth. For the most part they peacefully coexist with humans, who occasionally hunt them for parts. However, a phenomenon known as the "Derangement" has caused machines to become more aggressive towards humans, and larger and deadlier machines have begun to appear. There are three tribes that are prominently featured: the Nora, the Carja, and the Oseram. The Nora are fierce hunter-gatherers who live in the mountains and worship nature as the "All-Mother." The Carja are desert-dwelling city builders who worship the Sun. The Oseram are tinkerers known for their metalworking, brewing, and arguing.

The Nora

The Carja

The Oseram

The Story

You start as a 6 year old Aloy, a Nora outcast, and learn from Rost your adoptive father to win the proving and gain the tribes respect. But the proving gets attacked and shit goes down. Fast forward and you have found your self on the way of uncovering what brought the world where it is right now and how to stop the Eclipse aka Deluded Morons International.
(I didn't go into detail because of spoilers.)

Final Thoughts

I really and I mean really liked the game. It nailed its story (although I think they could've done the big bad better), its world and most importantly its charm. Even tough I've had a few bugs here and there I love the game an I am interested in seeing if they make a franchise out of this. I believe that if you have a PS4 its a mustplay. 9.5/10 because I played some other RPG titles with the story as good but better mechanics.

Sources for the article:
Pictures are found on google photos and belong to their respective owners.
The setting is copy pasted from games wiki page.

Thank you and STEEM ON.