9.5 / 10. A beautiful and unique sci-fi story with gorgeous settings and character design

Horizon Zero Dawn is a huge, open world, action role-playing PS4 game, developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The game is set in the 31st century. A post-apocalyptic world where humans live scattered across the world in tribal settlements with limited access to technology that they don’t understand. The three main tribes are: the Nora, the Carja and the Oseram.

Their technologically advanced predecessors, us, are remembered as ‘Old Ones’.

Large robotic creatures, known as ‘machines’, dominate the Earth. They mostly coexist with humans, who hunt them for parts. However, a dangerous phenomenon known as the ‘Derangement’ has caused machines to become aggressive towards humans.

You play as Aloy, from a third person perspective, an outcast Nora hunter who stumbled across an ‘Old One’ Cauldron when young, finding a ‘focus,’ an augmented reality device. She uses the ‘focus’ to scan machines and her surroundings for weaknesses, giving her an advantage over other hunters and an insight into the machines. Upon reaching adulthood, Aloy searches for answers about her past and her connection to the ‘Old Ones’, and fights against enemies, human and machine.

Horizon Zero Dawn is a beautiful sci-fi story with gorgeously detailed settings and character design. The game has a unique, primitive yet futuristic setting. The various animal-like machines are well designed and all very different, as are the tribes, their people and beliefs.

Aloy is a likeable character and I was invested in her journey. She is a skilled hunter using ranged weapons, stealth and can craft inventive upgraded weapons, explosives and trip wires from salvageable materials. Ashly Burch gives a fantastic performance as Aloy. The open world is huge with many explorable areas and side quests.

I clocked in around 80 hours for full completion. Horizon Zero Dawn has varied quests and interactions with different difficulty levels and smooth, enjoyable gameplay. The main story mystery is well played out to a satisfying conclusion (left open for a future installment?) and Lance Reddick’s character, Sylens, adds to the intrigue. He has a fantastic voice. Massive open world games like these are for becoming immersed in and escaping to a new world, which is what I’m here for.

I cried at the end.