LTTP: Horizon Zero Dawn | Does it get better?

[Deleted member 4247]

Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad game. Not at all. It's absolutely beautiful, and it plays great (probably the best controlling open world game I've ever played next to BotW). But I've now been playing for maybe 10 hours, and everything feels EXTREMELY samey. The only thing I'm ever doing is killing machines or humans. Over and over. And while the fighting works well, I'm already starting to find it less interesting. And the world, for how good it looks, isn't really that interesting to explore, because all you find is more machines to kill. I also don't find traversal all that fun, maybe because I'm playing this game after the incredibly liberating BotW. Here I'm constantly annoyed over small ledges I can't get up on and stuff.

Settlements aren't much better. They feel like movie sets, with only a few people you can actually interact with, and the missions they give you are generally just excuses to kill yet more machines.

Is this the game, or is there more to it? Is the story interesting enough to see it through?

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

I loved it and i thought i would hate it because im not usually a fan of AAA sony exclusive games. The combat is great on the harder modes and doing the cauldrons was fun as fuck. Loved exploring the world and upgrading my stuff too. I played it through twice once the DLC came out just to experience it all again.

 

[Deleted member 36749]

I agree. I ended up feeling like I forced myself to beat it.

Beautiful game to look at on my big 4k tv, but it was boring, had bad pacing, and I just didnt care about the story.

But man if you wanna convince someone to get a new tv and ps4 pro? You can't go wrong showing off with this game

 

[Kyoufu]

Is the story interesting enough to see it through?

Click to shrink...

Absolutely. It's very well written and going through the story is worth it if you're at all curious about how the world became that way.

 

[Print_Dog]

Seems like it might not be for you

 

[reKon]

Short answer - yes. The story certainly picks up and you will encounter much harder and unique enemies. The question will be if it's enough of an improvement for you.

 

[Saint-14]

Just follow the story if you feel invested in it otherwise drop it, the combat is another strong point of the game but it seems like you are getting bored of it.

 

[Deleted member 4247]

I loved it and i thought i would hate it because im not usually a fan of AAA sony exclusive games. The combat is great on the harder modes and doing the cauldrons was fun as fuck. Loved exploring the world and upgrading my stuff too. I played it through twice once the DLC came out just to experience it all again.

Click to shrink...

I am playing it on Hard (not Very or Extremely though), because I do like challenging combat (as long as it's fair).

 

[soul]

The story is worth it, keep playing. If you find the game mechanics boring, at least play the main quest (and make sure not to skip the DLC, it's great!).

I personally really liked the mechanics and the battle system, it's one of the highlights for me. I really enjoyed using a variety of weapons and methods to beat the different enemies.

 

[PepperedHam]

The story is well worth seeing through, IMO. It was a bit different for me as I liked poking around and finding the audio log type stuff because I was interested in trying to piece together how the world became like this. And I also had a ton of fun with the combat, there are a lot of fun toys to play around with when it comes to taking down the big boss type machines and I had a good time mixing up my routine with that. But that's a "what you make of it" scenario because one can get by just using the same loadout over and over most likely.

If you're having a good enough time that you want to continue I would definitely recommend seeing the story through at least.

 

[Shifty1897]

If you've played Horizon for 10 hours and aren't hooked... you should probably stop playing. It's not going to do anything in hour 25 that you haven't already seen. It's just not your kind of game.

 

[Deleted member 4247]

Absolutely. It's very well written and going through the story is worth it if you're at all curious about how the world became that way.

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Just follow the story if you feel invested in it otherwise drop it, the combat is another strong point of the game but it seems like you are getting bored of it.

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How long is the game if I mostly just follow the story and do a side mission here and there? That Ubi map shock full of icons is kind of exhausting to look at...

 

[MegaSackman]

The story gets really good and there are some incredible battles in in some quest.

But if you don't find interesting the machines and aren't looking forward to new types and battles, and the story of the old ones and what happened to our world don't matter to you then no, it doesn't get better.

 

[Mario_Bones]

It gets better for a while when you have the piercing arrows and can easily cut off the machines' weapons and use them against other machines, but then you're just doing that over and over and it gets samey again. The story's pretty good but to get the full experience you've got to sit around reading notes or listening to audiologs. Don't bother with the sidequests because there's barely any interesting stories there.

 

[Deleted member 4247]

The story gets really good and there are some incredible battles in in some quest.

But if you don't find interesting the machines and aren't looking forward to new types and battles, and the story of the old ones and what happened to our world don't matter to you then no, it doesn't get better.

Click to shrink...

I do find that interesting, and it's why I do want to see it through.

It gets better for a while when you have the piercing arrows and can easily cut off the machines' weapons and use them against other machines, but then you're just doing that over and over and it gets samey again. The story's pretty good but to get the full experience you've got to sit around reading notes or listening to audiologs. Don't bother with the sidequests because there's barely any interesting stories there.

Click to shrink...

Alright, thanks, good to know I can skip most of the side stuff. Will that leave me underpowered though, or do the enemies scale?

 

[Van Bur3n]

The game falls flat on its face after the opening when the Nora are attacked and you're finally sent out into the world. Everything is static and there is basically nothing to do in the world besides fight robots that are placed in their specific spots on the map and engage in tedious quests that have no interesting context to them.

It's one of those games you just speed through the main questline to get the story done or just drop it. I unfortunately forced myself to see all of the content to get my money's worth and I only dreaded the game further.

 

[fracas]

The entire game is just this giant empty world with "go here, kill thing" quests.

That's fun for a lot of people, but not for me. The story is serviceable, though I don't think it's worth playing through just for that. Aloy is a strong lead.

 

[requiem]

I loved it by the end, but the first act of the game felt like a slog to me.

 

[Potterson]

You get to see new monsters - that's cool enough for me. But now, after 15 hours, I'm considering lowering the difficulty to the lowest possible to just see the main story and how it ends.

 

[Dphex]

not my game. i agree with the 2,5/5 USgamer review which many were upset about but i thought it was right in every way. At least it´s pretty...

 

[zoukka]

Yeah I had to drop the game pretty quickly too. Plus the visuals were beautiful but wayyy too noisy and ended up giving me eye strain with the crazy motion blur with camera movement. I had a similar problem with Witcher 3 console version.

 

[Cybersai]

Nope, it doesn't. The dinosaur battles are the only good thing about the game.

 

[Much]

If you're not enjoying it yet, I'd advise progressing in the story a little more elsewise, just quit. It may not be for you.

What I think you feel right now is that it's a "slay, yet basic".

It's a GOTG, and its okay not to like it OP. That said, its story is one of the most well-written in recent memory for games, at least this gen anyway.

 

[Bricktop]

It's one of the best games of the generation, but if you're not feeling it after 10 hours I doubt you'll fell any different later.

 

[No Depth]

Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad game. Not at all. It's absolutely beautiful, and it plays great (probably the best controlling open world game I've ever played next to BotW). But I've now been playing for maybe 10 hours, and everything feels EXTREMELY samey. The only thing I'm ever doing is killing machines or humans. Over and over. And while the fighting works well, I'm already starting to find it less interesting. And the world, for how good it looks, isn't really that interesting to explore, because all you find is more machines to kill. I also don't find traversal all that fun, maybe because I'm playing this game after the incredibly liberating BotW. Here I'm constantly annoyed over small ledges I can't get up on and stuff.

Settlements aren't much better. They feel like movie sets, with only a few people you can actually interact with, and the missions they give you are generally just excuses to kill yet more machines.

Is this the game, or is there more to it? Is the story interesting enough to see it through?

Click to shrink...

Came to the same conclusion a few hours in myself, forced myself to keep playing until 30h. Saw no change, reached my limit and quit.

I kept it installed, so one day I may come back as most fans seem to have convinced me the story is at least worth seeing through, but maybe one day I'll find out.

 

[GongagaSOLDIER]

It was one of the best games of the generation for me. I think it is a game where you enjoy the gameplay loop or you don't. The same reasons some wouldn't like an Assassins Creed or something are prevalent in areas here, but I think the overall package is more compelling in Horizon. I thought Aloy was a great character and overall enjoyed the quest progression more than almost any other open world game, it didn't feel too cluttered or too much at any point like in Ass Creed or Witcher 3.

 

[Brotherhood93]

Unclear from your OP if you've made it to Meridian yet. I loved the game from the start but it definitely gets better at that point, both in terms of more variety in locations and enemy types and the story starts to pick up more.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

I do find that interesting, and it's why I do want to see it through.

Alright, thanks, good to know I can skip most of the side stuff. Will that leave me underpowered though, or do the enemies scale?

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I feel the same way about the game and I feel the same way about most games released these days. There are a few special games that I feel like I can really enjoy though it's few and far between. I honestly enjoyed Horizon and I even platinumed it but I think that's just because I didn't have that much to do. I really enjoyed fighting some of the larger machines and it is pretty cool to feel like such a beast when you've got heaps of upgrades and weapons and you're using them all to their best advantage. The game is basically a cool idea for enemies and fighting them and is essentially structured to give you as much machine battling as possible.

As the story progressed I also found this more and more interesting, it's certainly a really cool idea and I think I kept playing just to find this out. I only just recently finished the main story and I've been trying other games recently. I've tried MGSV, Nier Automata, Last of Us Remastered and Infamous Secon Son which I kind of enjoy but I don't know if they're my game or not. I've play The Last of Us before and I don't know if I'll continue through and finish it or not, didn't feel the absolute joy of playing they was BotW or God of War which I played prior to Horizon. I'm certain I will enjoy the new Spider-Man so I'm keen as mustard for time to pass so I can play that but I allow myself 8 hours per week to game as an escape from reality and figuring out what to play at the moment is tricky for me. I think tho I'm likely to go and play Horizon Frozen Wilds. I'm also looking forward to giving Battlefield V a try when it arrives later this year. Hopefully I'll be running a GTX 1180Ti by that time.

I'd be keen to hear which games you enjoy playing as well since you sound similar to me.

 

[Sanctuary]

Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad game. Not at all. It's absolutely beautiful, and it plays great (probably the best controlling open world game I've ever played next to BotW). But I've now been playing for maybe 10 hours, and everything feels EXTREMELY samey. The only thing I'm ever doing is killing machines or humans. Over and over. And while the fighting works well, I'm already starting to find it less interesting. And the world, for how good it looks, isn't really that interesting to explore, because all you find is more machines to kill. I also don't find traversal all that fun, maybe because I'm playing this game after the incredibly liberating BotW. Here I'm constantly annoyed over small ledges I can't get up on and stuff.

Settlements aren't much better. They feel like movie sets, with only a few people you can actually interact with, and the missions they give you are generally just excuses to kill yet more machines.

Is this the game, or is there more to it? Is the story interesting enough to see it through?

Click to shrink...

The best part of the game is encountering the new Zoids and learning how to defeat them. After that, it's pretty rote. Whether or not you find the story compelling I suppose has to do with how much you actually feel anything for Aloy.

 

[Deleted member 9714]

Skip it, OP. My experience was pretty similar to yours and I'm happier that I skipped it for more enjoyable games. It's a pretty game that doesn't have much else going for it, a slay, yet basick.

 

[Cybersai]

I wish there was just a boss rush mode to just fight the robot dinosaurs and skip everything else in the game.

 

[Strangelove_77]

10 hours is long enough to see if you'll like the game so I'd drop it if I were you. Nothing crazy and different is going to occur, just more animal robots to kill. Which is the entire appeal of the game.

 

[Deleted member 4247]

Unclear from your OP if you've made it to Meridian yet. I loved the game from the start but it definitely gets better at that point, both in terms of more variety in locations and enemy types and the story starts to pick up more.

Click to shrink...

I just got there in fact. Was just about to enter it when I stopped playing today.

I feel the same way about the game and I feel the same way about most games released these days. There are a few special games that I feel like I can really enjoy though it's few and far between. I honestly enjoyed Horizon and I even platinumed it but I think that's just because I didn't have that much to do. I really enjoyed fighting some of the larger machines and it is pretty cool to feel like such a beast when you've got heaps of upgrades and weapons and you're using them all to their best advantage. The game is basically a cool idea for enemies and fighting them and is essentially structured to give you as much machine battling as possible.

As the story progressed I also found this more and more interesting, it's certainly a really cool idea and I think I kept playing just to find this out. I only just recently finished the main story and I've been trying other games recently. I've tried MGSV, Nier Automata, Last of Us Remastered and Infamous Secon Son which I kind of enjoy but I don't know if they're my game or not. I've play The Last of Us before and I don't know if I'll continue through and finish it or not, didn't feel the absolute joy of playing they was BotW or God of War which I played prior to Horizon. I'm certain I will enjoy the new Spider-Man so I'm keen as mustard for time to pass so I can play that but I allow myself 8 hours per week to game as an escape from reality and figuring out what to play at the moment is tricky for me. I think tho I'm likely to go and play Horizon Frozen Wilds. I'm also looking forward to giving Battlefield V a try when it arrives later this year. Hopefully I'll be running a GTX 1180Ti by that time.

I'd be keen to hear which games you enjoy playing as well since you sound similar to me.

Click to shrink...

Well, BotW is my favorite game ever made. So it's not that I simply don't enjoy open world. I absolutely LOVED exploring the world in that game, so much fun. In Horizon I don't find that same enjoyment. The world looks great, but feels empty except for all the machines. Seems like there isn't really anything else to find or do.

I also love the Infamous games (which I acknowledge have kind of the same problem, but traversal is so good in those games), GTA V, TW3, TLoU, GoW, etc.

 

[Deleted member 4247]

10 hours is long enough to see if you'll like the game so I'd drop it if I were you. Nothing crazy and different is going to occur, just more animal robots to kill. Which is the entire appeal of the game.

Click to shrink...

I do want to see where the story goes though. But maybe not if that's gonna take another 30 hours or whatever.

 

[leng jai]

The main strengths of the game is the dinobot combat, audiovisuals and main story. Having said that going by your OP I don't think it will get much better for you. As nice as the open world looks the sense of exploration is lacking, side quests are largely average and pretty much all the NPCs are bland. It's not a game like The Witcher 3, BOTW or Skyrim where you can just have fun wandering around and discovering new things constantly.

 

[~Fake]

I liked as much I learned using the bow. The DLC improvise much others problems and add a nice touch to the plot. You can easly get bored if you keeping spam stealth kills.
Humans fight indeed are weak, but I can ignore pretty easy.

 

[Deleted member 249]

The strength of Horizon is in the story. Maybe try to focus solely on the main narrative and ignore the side quests and side activities (none of them are all that interesting anyway). Focus on the story, maybe do some cauldrons, and if it's still not doing it for you, drop it.

 

[Deleted member 4247]

Alright, according to howlongtobeat I should be able to get through the main story in less than 20 hours, and I'm already a few hours into it, so I'm gonna go for that at least.

 

[Deleted member 41931]

It doesn't. Litterally every quest in the game(that I played, I didn't do all the errands), besides one is some combination of follwing a purple trail, talking to a person with inconsequential dilougue choices and shooting enemies you've already fought prior. The only quest that at all deviates is a side quest where a guy put some bombs throughout a small area that blow up if you go near. That is litterallly it.

The combat while fundamentally good, platues halfway through. The story goes nowhere until the last 1/4th.

 

[Aurc]

It's been my main game for a couple weeks now, I've done just about everything of importance in the base game except for the latter parts of the main quest (which I'm currently on, and eager to progress further in).

OP, a huge recommendation would be not to stall too much getting caught up in random side missions (they're not very good), or gathering collectibles like Metal Flowers (the rewards are crap green weapon mods and some shards). Do that stuff after the main quest if you want... but do the main quest. Things are really getting good in the story. There's more context being given to why the Earth is the way it is, Aloy's backstory, a very cool ally gets introduced, etc. Tribe politics and squabbles do not compare to the more sci-fi territory it's finally expanding upon.

Best parts of Horizon for me, so far, are the combat and main quest's narrative. Fight machines, do bandit camps, climb Tallnecks, but don't be like me and neglect the main missions for too long, or you might get burnt out.

 

[Oniletter]

I made it to the desert area and had to quit.
It's one of those games that's lesser than the sum of it's parts for me.

 

[Mario_Bones]

Alright, thanks, good to know I can skip most of the side stuff. Will that leave me underpowered though, or do the enemies scale?

Click to shrink...

It's been a while since I played it but from what I remember there's only a few skills I relied on throughout the game and most of the unlockable ones are a waste. Stealth takedowns and the one that lets you knock enemies over with a heavy attack are the only crucial ones iirc

I do want to see where the story goes though. But maybe not if that's gonna take another 30 hours or whatever.

Click to shrink...

Nah, you can get through it pretty quickly if you ignore the side stuff. I'd recommend doing the Cauldrons though because they don't take too long and being able to override all the machines comes in handy

It doesn't. Litterally every quest in the game(that I played, I didn't do all the errands), besides one is some combination of follwing a purple trail, talking to a person with inconsequential dilougue choices and shooting enemies you've already fought prior. The only quest that at all deviates is a side quest where a guy put some bombs throughout a small area that blow up if you go near. That is litterallly it.

Click to shrink...

The sidequest design is so dull and definitely detracted from my enjoyment of the game to the point where I wish I just ignored 90% of them. The exact same thing over and over, and any 'twists' can be called from the second you get given the quest. Then there's some quests that are just people asking for loot drops and that's the whole quest.

 

[Azure Wanderer]

I didn't think so. It's the same three mission setups over and over again.

 

[Morrigan]

Is the story interesting enough to see it through?

Click to shrink...

Yes. Keep playing.

I found the combat to be fun enough that I didn't mind exploring, finding new machines to hunt etc. but if that doesn't appeal to you, you can always just skip most of the side content and beeline to the story objectives. I'd suggest doing the Cauldrons, at least, though.

 

[Equanimity]

If you haven't enjoyed the first 10 hours than you might as well stop playing it.

 

[Aurc]

Echoing the sentiment about doing the Cauldrons, as others are recommending.

I did the first one and thought these would be the same copy and pasted dungeon 25 times in a row, like in Mass Effect: Andromeda. They're not. There's only 5 of them or so in the entire game, they're short and fun, and what you get from them (more machine overrides) is a great reward.

 

[freeradical]

The sales guy at EB Games seemed surprised that i was returning my copy after a couple of days. Apart from the visuals, there wasn't anything for me that hadn't been done in numerous other games.

 

[Deleted member 11626]

The story is absolutely worth it. If you don't do any side stuff and chug through the main missions, you can finish it under 30 hours I'm sure. Buy the purple bows from merchants and you can power through the rest no problem.

 

[Deleted member 4247]

Echoing the sentiment about doing the Cauldrons, as others are recommending.

I did the first one and thought these would be the same copy and pasted dungeon 25 times in a row, like in Mass Effect: Andromeda. They're not. There's only 5 of them or so in the entire game, they're short and fun, and what you get from them (more machine overrides) is a great reward.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I've done the first one and enjoyed it. Nice change of scenery. So I'll try doing those along with the story at least.

 

[Venture]

My favorite game of all time. I love exploring the world but then I really loved Shadow of The Colossus' empty world too. The main story starts to really kick in when you visit the ruins at Maker's End and then Sunfall a bit later. Although I think there's quite a bit of game to get through between them. It might not be worth it if you're just not enjoying the gameplay.

Traversal shouldn't be giving you much problem, Aloy's quite nimble. Besides the very borders of the game world there are very few invisible barriers to block you. If a surface is even slightly horizontal you can jump onto it and find a way to climb. I've been all over map and have been able to reach just about anywhere I wanted with a little effort and exploration.