6 reasons Horizon Zero Dawn is a great open-world game

I’m as blown away by this as you are. Across something like seven or eight Assassin’s Creed games, a bunch of Far Cry games, the first Watch Dogs, and other games, I’ve climbed countless towers to unlock map areas. What used to be fun has become an exercise in tedium. There are just so many towers in those games that it becomes a job instead of an exciting vista.

In Horizon Zero Dawn, there are just a few towers, though, and Guerrilla did something fascinating with them that totally changed how I felt about them.

The towers in the game are those “Tallnecks” seen strutting around in the game’s concept art and screenshots. They inhabit certain areas and seem to act as communications towers for the other machines, meaning they actually fit into the fiction of the world. And instead of being stationery, they walk around. Part of climbing the tower is figuring out how to get onto the tower. Once you’re on it, climbing is a pretty quick matter. It’s a short puzzle as simple as asking, which way do I go? Instead of being intended as a challenge, it’s more of a change of pace, and a brief, rare one at that.

Combat never gets boring

Because so many of the enemies in Horizon are gigantic, there aren’t that many. I’d say there are just enough.

The variety is enough, though, that fighting them never gets boring. The first time I happened upon a Thunderjaw, the hair stood up on the back of my neck. The other beasts had trained me to know that this thing was going to be terrifying. The last time I took one on, I was grinning. I was having a great time. I understood its weaknesses and knew the best sorts of weapons to employ against it, and putting that knowledge into action felt satisfying.

That same feeling went for just about every animal. With the exception of the Rockbreaker. Those things are literally the worst and I hated them. I still hate them. Rockbreakers can eat it.

Discovery of new beasts and land are well-paced

Because there aren’t that many beasts, each discovery feels like a big deal. The reveal of each new machine is an exciting moment. The same goes for the different environments Aloy eventually explores the mostly-small settlements that dot the land.

As poorly paced as the weapons and outfits are, these are paced perfectly, and this played a huge role in making the game stay so consistently fun and exciting.

Collectibles are actually collectible

100 flags. 100 feathers. 100 pigeons. 100 orbs. Why do these games have so many things to pick up in the world, hidden in every nook and cranny? It’s like they think if we get bored for even a second, we’ll put the game down and wander off.

By comparison, the collectibles in Horizon are, well, collectible. There aren’t too many of any one item, so finding them stays interesting. Better yet, merchants who want to buy the items eventually crop up, offering tangible rewards in exchange for digging up these relics and oddities.

The rewards are, admittedly, not always particularly great. But they’re still rewards beyond some mostly-meaningless trophies.

Visual detail improves the game without stealing the show

Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/04/09/6-reasons-horizon-zero-dawn-is-a-great-open-world-game/