I recently sat down and decided to put myself in the trench to get through Horizon and see what the hype is all about. Honestly I'm just not that in love with it as many of you are.
What Iove, like, and dislike.
Love
Aloy. I think this is the freshest new character in any game in years. When she gets curious about something, I get curious and want to help her find out what it is she's looking for.
Ambiance. I love all the background noises in this game and subtle little music cues, as well as the lighting.
Visuals. Fuck this is a pretty game. I have around 60 pictures in my PS now thanks to Horizon. I'd just mess around and find thinks to take pictures of.
Story. I fucking love Sci-fi in post apocalyptic worlds. This game's story had me hooked.
Like
Huge Enemies. Do I need to say more?
Traps. While I don't like the combat (more on this later.) I absolutely loved setting up traps based on pathing and weaknesses and such.
Dislike
Combat. I didn't find most encounters to be particularly engaging. Melee combat felt very unsatisfying and ranged was serviceable. In future games I hope this is revisited and improved upon.
Weapon Management: Too much shit.
Resource Management: Too much shit II.
That stupid Death Tank enemy. Not hard, and not fun in the slightest. A pretty huge focus of the later parts of the game.
The world itself. I feel the world is a bit too large and I didn't have many reasons to give a shit about what was in it. It's all very pretty, but also very empty. I wish some things weren't on the map in advance and you could discover them naturally, like the longnecks and the "tombs."
Conclusion
Finishing the game really felt like a task instead of something I was looking forward to. I didn't enjoy exploring the vistas and I didn't enjoy going from point A to B. I can't quite put my finger on everything that bugged me here but it feels like a combination of things. I wish more of the side quests were spread out in the world instead of mostly being picked up in the hubs. Often times I'd run into a pretty cool looking set piece and find it was just eye candy and served no real purpose in the game. I think if they spread out the quest givers in the world, and attached better rewards to them I'd have been more interested in exploring. I want to see more of the "tombs." I can't recall their actual name but they were the mechanical factories and other areas of the past. I loved these sections and would have enjoyed discovering them on my own much more than being sent there with a quest already in hand or with them already on the map. With that aside, I love Aloy. I love the story. Even with the subpar combat and the empty world I just wanted to see what happened to Aloy next. I hope that in the sequel the world is buried with reasons for me to want to see more of what's going on NOW instead of trying to find out what happened. I want to build this world with Aloy.
What Iove, like, and dislike.
Love
Aloy. I think this is the freshest new character in any game in years. When she gets curious about something, I get curious and want to help her find out what it is she's looking for.
Ambiance. I love all the background noises in this game and subtle little music cues, as well as the lighting.
Visuals. Fuck this is a pretty game. I have around 60 pictures in my PS now thanks to Horizon. I'd just mess around and find thinks to take pictures of.
Story. I fucking love Sci-fi in post apocalyptic worlds. This game's story had me hooked.
Like
Huge Enemies. Do I need to say more?
Traps. While I don't like the combat (more on this later.) I absolutely loved setting up traps based on pathing and weaknesses and such.
Dislike
Combat. I didn't find most encounters to be particularly engaging. Melee combat felt very unsatisfying and ranged was serviceable. In future games I hope this is revisited and improved upon.
Weapon Management: Too much shit.
Resource Management: Too much shit II.
That stupid Death Tank enemy. Not hard, and not fun in the slightest. A pretty huge focus of the later parts of the game.
The world itself. I feel the world is a bit too large and I didn't have many reasons to give a shit about what was in it. It's all very pretty, but also very empty. I wish some things weren't on the map in advance and you could discover them naturally, like the longnecks and the "tombs."
Conclusion
Finishing the game really felt like a task instead of something I was looking forward to. I didn't enjoy exploring the vistas and I didn't enjoy going from point A to B. I can't quite put my finger on everything that bugged me here but it feels like a combination of things. I wish more of the side quests were spread out in the world instead of mostly being picked up in the hubs. Often times I'd run into a pretty cool looking set piece and find it was just eye candy and served no real purpose in the game. I think if they spread out the quest givers in the world, and attached better rewards to them I'd have been more interested in exploring. I want to see more of the "tombs." I can't recall their actual name but they were the mechanical factories and other areas of the past. I loved these sections and would have enjoyed discovering them on my own much more than being sent there with a quest already in hand or with them already on the map. With that aside, I love Aloy. I love the story. Even with the subpar combat and the empty world I just wanted to see what happened to Aloy next. I hope that in the sequel the world is buried with reasons for me to want to see more of what's going on NOW instead of trying to find out what happened. I want to build this world with Aloy.