#I’ve been seeing so many annoying dudebros acting like they know the mythology

[sarafangirlart]

If your understanding of Hephaestus as a character and his relationship with Aphrodite comes solely from the GOW Games maybe stfu idk

[amethyst-wind-uk]

Finally played Horizon: Zero Dawn (spoilered thoughts within)

First of all: The game’s amazing. Well worth the money. One of the best I’ve played in a good while.

The game itself is beautiful (amazing scenery and dungeons), and the machine enemies are gorgeously designed. They will punish you if you get cocky, too. Combat is by means automatic, especially when the bigger machines start getting thrown at you in more enclosed spaces.

Both the overall myth arc AND Aloy’s personal storyline are incredibly written, and tied together beautifully, allowing for plenty of perspective reflections on the latter as new information for the former becomes available.

Sidequests abound. While most are mechanically very similar (go to [x] and kill the machines there), the tertiary characters who the actual quests revolve around are a delight. Varied and entertaining, they really help to build the world that Aloy explores (some personal favourites of mine are Nil [leaves it ambiguous as to whether or not he wants to die as well as kill a lot of people, but he’s so effectively written as creepy. Like you know there’s something wrong with him from the first line of dialogue], Talanah [veteran huntress who quickly befriends Aloy, and their joint exasperation with their respective mistreatments from others allows them to bond quickly and deeply], Vanasha [manipulative spy/politician who masterminds an operation that is one of the most damaging and disruptive for the enemy faction, all while being so delightfully self-confident]. The Frozen Wilds DLC adds some other gems, like the Hunters Three [a trio of outcasts out to find closure over the death of their mentor while riffing off each other lovingly], Ikrie [a Banuk warrior who acts as a foil to Aloy, choosing to become an outcast with her own freedom when presented with the flaws and restrictions of her people - severing a very close personal relationship to do, to the benefit of both in said relationship], and Varga [Oseram metalworker who effortlessly falls into an easy companionship with Aloy]).

The main plot is long, and heavy on emotionally charged moments. The overall goal is surprisingly hopeful, as well as extremely dark. There’s a recurring theme about how light and shadow both get more powerful as the other does.

Aloy reluctantly allies with the mysterious evesdropper, Sylens, and their interactions are terrifically entertaining. To be blunt: They can’t stand each other. Sylens is a completely unlikeable dick driven solely by a desire for knowledge, while Aloy doggedly pursues any information about her mother. Their interests just so happen to intersect there, but it’s always apparent that they’d rather be dealing with anyone else.

One of the most complete character arcs in the game is that of prevalant and commonly-appearing side-character, Erend. He starts out as an immature mid-to-late-twenties dudebro who dicks around fighting and hitting on 18-year-old Aloy, but pretty quickly starts drinking his respect-women-juice and getting his act together. He grows into one of the most endearing allies for Aloy, dropping his sleaziness and bravado, and acknowledging her prowess and leadership. By the end of the story, he’s definitely one of the most likeable characters. Like, you’d happily share a drink with the guy regularly.

~

There are some flaws, as with all games:

1) The Fast Travel system is frustrating. For the majority of the game, unless you press deep into the wilderness first thing, it’s not unlimited. Until you finally unlock the Unlimited Fast Travel Pack, each time requires a single-use item. For a game this large, that’s quite annoying. Fast Travel has been a common staple of open-world games for some time now, and I don’t think there was really a need to try to reinvent that particular wheel. The loading screens for fast travel are also 10-20 seconds long each time.

2) For all the varied machine enemy designs, it’s really annoying that you can only ride the horse/goat/bull variants. The game gives you a mechanic to ‘override’ machines, making them non-hostile to you while hostile to other machines, and making the above three rideable. That being said, you’re gonna be supremely disapponted that the game lets you override the twenty-metres-tall robot T-Rex and then can’t ride it. Same for the multiple three-metres-tall giant cat variants. There are also giant condors, giant moles, giant crocodiles and giant rhino variants, and you can’t hop on those either (IT WOULD’VE BEEN SO COOL!). It really makes the override mechanic seem underutilised, especially given how important it is to the story.

3) The Datapoint collectables do really well in fleshing out the mythology of the series, there are just too many of them. Multiple kinds, with double digit numbers to find for all of them, makes it a drag to hunt them all down. They could do with streamlining that for the sequel.

4) I feel like Vala and Bast dying almost instantly was a waste, especially given how Bast was a childhood bully to Aloy (stuff can always be done with that, even on a small scale), and Vala is constantly talked about post-mortem as someone who could’ve potentially been a great friend to Aloy (they seem to warm to each other quite quickly during the five minutes they spend both alive). Vala’s death especially is kinda galling, because it serves to boost Aloy’s interactions with Vala’s brother Varl, as it is very similar to...

5) While Erend himself goes through a very successful character arc, it does unfortunately involve a woman (his sister, Ersa, who is superior to him in every sense [he tells you this himself without fuss]) getting fridged. We only see Ersa for a few moments in person, as she then immediately dies. It’s very unfortunate that Erend’s otherwise great writing is marred by this.

6) The final mission in the story is underwhelming. The significant buildup for both of the primary enemies featured in said mission is not proportional to their actual encounters. The human enemy is easily killed, and the machine enemy is just another iteration of a robot you’ll have killed half-a-dozen times by that point. Something of a let-down.

~

Still, I fully recommend getting the game (as well as the Frozen Wilds DLC, which adds a solid 8+ hours onto the game’s playtime while introducing new machine variants and gear, as well as the aforementioned characters and a plot that fleshes out the myth arc for the series). It’s a great time overall, and you’ll really enjoy how the game mixes fantasy and sci-fi so superbly.