I havent bought this yet but exams will be finished at the end of the month so i'll treat myself then. Its weird it seems to be a bit of a forgotten game already to my mind. Launched with massive praise and kinda vanished with Elden Ring seemingly stealing its limelight. I loved the first one and the DLC so pretty confident i'll love this too.
Completed this tonight. I thoroughly enjoyed it and got invested in the story but the ending was a disappointment for me.
I can live with them introducing a new threat to set up a sequel but the way the ending played out kind of nullified everything you did. You start the game trying to fix the ecosystem, you get sidetracked fighting the Zeniths, you eventually defeat them, but it turns out they were planning to leave anyway and you let Hephaestus go in the process, so by the end you haven't actually achieved anything and the problem you set out to fix at the start of the game is still present.
Hopefully we get some DLC that gives a more satisfying conclusion.
Aside from that though I enjoyed the story through the game. It's a fascinating world with well thought out lore, and the characters are all well written and acted. I always enjoyed the little interludes when I'd return to base and go around speaking to each member of the team to see what they've been up to.
The game says I'm at 45% total completion. I've done a fair amount of side quests and did a couple more after completing the game too. The standard of writing is usually pretty solid for those too so I'll probably continue to dip in and out. I have zero interest in the completionist stuff like rebel camps and ruins though, that kind of busywork is not for me.
Good game but didnt blow me away like the first. Still very much enjoyed it tho
Enjoying this so far.
But I think I am experiencing a bug where I can’t use my bow or melee attack.
Was in a fight earlier and L2 wouldn’t aim and I couldn’t hit with R1 or R2 either. Just had to run around and dodge.
eventually just kept switching weapons and it came back again.
Agreed 100%. By the end, it was just getting through it. I didn't have anywhere near the level of interest in the story, but still got the platinum and will still get the DLC. It was an 8/10 game - basically just Zero Dawn, but bigger and prettier - I will say load times were a pleasure though!
Loved it but I absolutely despised that Alva character, wrecked every scene she was in at the end.
Still chipping away, disappointed that the levelling is capped at 50 though. Have done all cauldrons, think I have all tall necks, have all black boxes, 1 or 2 more ornaments to collect.
Finished this , this evening. A few trophies off the platinum but I think I will leave it off.
Jesus the plot for me was terrible in comparison to the first one the last third act , and the reveal of nemesis , very disappointing. I enjoyed the game but feel overall the story was very much a letdown just was all over the shop
Platinumed last night. Didn't take long, thankfully not a lot of collectibles trophies but rather you just need one or two of each type. Mostly just had to do a few side missions to get up to level 50 for the last trophy. I seemed to have bad luck in that I picked up small side missions that seemed easy and usually ended with having to fight some of the toughest machines. One mission I even took down a Thunderjaw, and straight away a f*cking Stormbird arrived.
It's a shame that Horizon has once again been overshadowed by another game. It's a great game, the franchise has great potential, the world they've created is magnificent, and it may not get everything right but it doesn't do anything inherently wrong either (well, except the mount races, those can f*ck right off). As great as the graphics are though, they need to get rid of lens flare and tone down some of the shading or something. Some areas are blindingly bright. And it can be difficult to see in snowing areas as the sheer level of particle effects from the slow snowfall are hugely distracting.
Started back into this tonight, going to finish off everything for the platinum.
Getting back into the swing of things with regards controls. Only thing is I'm reminded of how frustrating it can be to try hit a tiny canister on the underside of a giant machine that's flipping about like Simone Biles on a trampoline.
To override machines, you need to unlock their overrides at Cauldrons (triangular-type symbols on the map once unlocked). You'll be able to unlock some machines directly, and with some you'll have to get some components from that type of machine to be able to override them. There are some machines like Chargers that you should already be able to override as those machines are from the previous game, but most of the machines in this game are variances of the last game with new names, and so need you to unlock the override again.
You will be able to override them from stealth too. Once they're not aggro to you, you can override them without having to have knocked them down. It's also the best way to do it as it means they'll be full health. I'd recommend focusing on the other skill tress for now though. Overriding machines helps, but only in some circumstances, and it wears off most machines after 30-60 seconds. You're better off even going more down the stealth tree to help make it easier to override machines from stealth.
Such a great game this. Didn't play too much of it at first because Gran Turismo 7 was taking up all my time (Sony really should space their releases) but really getting into it now. I'm around level 20, maybe 50% of the map uncovered. Think it might be the best open world game out there, such a fascinating setting with strong lore and world building and a solid cast of characters. The combat is pretty much unlike anything else out there, some truly epic battles.
I do wonder if I'm using all the tools at my disposal though, I end up sticking with my trusty bows all the time, only really switching for different ammo types. I feel like I want to experiment with stuff like the ropecaster and tripcaster but haven't quite figured out how they should be used. I used the tripcaster once and the guy charging at me just jumped over it. I also invested in the override skill tree early on only to find out I don't meet the criteria to override anything I meet and haven't collected enough materials to build overrides yet. Also it seems you need to knock out a machine before you can override it, which seems almost more work than just killing it? In my head I figured I'd be able to override anything I could stealth kill, then let it run wild while I hide in the grass.
I only played through the early stages of HZD because life circumstances got in the way of playing at the time, so I think I've no context for a lot of the things the game assumes you know how to do.
I think this is a fair review. I thought the story ran out of steam and got a bit naff. Probably should have done more side quests and turned it up to hard. I remember struggling at times on normal in the first game but this a bit easier.
I think an issue is that I could just about believe in the sticks and stones breaking machines in the first one but it's starting to push the bounds with the enemies introduced in this.
Still really enjoyed it and there are some great themes explored again. Would have liked a couple more bigger settlements like the first game and the world felt more empty due to the lack of them.
Yeaaahhhhhhhhhh so between mister robinsons comments, the honest trailer and this and zero punctuation review below I am going to give this a wide berth until its on the cheap or nothing to be playing. Another exclusive that while looks gorgeous really does nothing else is what my PS5 experience has been so far
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I was thinking the same in relation to verbosity. I could be wrong but it feels like there is a lot more hand holding the player in this game compared to HZD. The relic ruins for example, are meant to be puzzles but Aloy pretty much gives the solution away by talking to herself a short time after entering one, so it does ruin(no pun intended) the excitement of solving it.
Finished this a couple weeks back and revisited a few times to scratch an itch.
A good game bordering great. Enjoyed the story, even though I think it was trying to juggle too many subplots at once in places - though gut punch this time (as compared to last when I relaised what Zero Dawn actually was). The themes (you don't need t do everything yourself and nature vs nurture) are handled well if not exactly subtle.
Combat is great, though like most games with a large arsenal I tended to stick to a small group (bows and bomb launchers). melee is still a bit underwhelming, the added combos add a bit, but never has the same satisfaction as archery.
Exploration is a joy and the world is beautiful and begging to be explored.
Some extra quality of life options would be nice - auto looting and a verbose / laconic toggle for Aloy.
Picked this up a few days ago abs I'm loving it. Did a quick recap of the first game and delighted I did, because I had completely forgot about the spire!
Visually stunning game. Its not perfect, but I have to give a special mention to the facial animations, and character interactions in general. I find myself actually watching them act, and not distracted by the subs which usually happens. The wooden interactions of most games are put to shame here imo. While still simple the subtle movements, eyes, facial expressions... its just so brilliantly done. Its still just 2 or more people talking, but feels far more natural than anything else in a long time.
Only just Into the West, so still early days but it's massive! Look forward to experiencing all the different areas. Combat is good too, I'm going a melee route initially. Lots of options, and I like that you get skill points from side quests, makes them worth doing vs ocd compulsion!
Machines look excellent, and I like that there's more of an emphasis to deconstruct the machines. Haven't spoiled anything, so I've no idea what I have yet to encounter. Hudt encountered Glidewings.
Far more impressed by the few hours in this so far, vs Elden Ring. For me, Horizon is far better visually, story wise, combat and entertainment wise.
If people are getting stuck trying to get certain components off machines, if you set difficulty to custom, you can turn on Easy Loot. This will allow you to get all components off the machine once it's killed
Tear ammo creates a shockwave when it hits enemies, and makes it more likely to remove machines armour plates or components. So it doesn't do damage itself, but can create good opportunities to do so.
It means if you need a particular component, you can hit it with tear ammo to knock it off the enemy. Or it's very useful for hitting machines guns/weapons and knock them off, meaning the machine can't use it, and you can pick up the weapon yourself and use it against the machine.
My go-to's for this one were Ice, Acid, Tear-Blast and then plain old advanced hunter arrows. The Damage buff for attacks against brittle/frozen enemies was much larger than HZD I think and fire which had been my go to there much weaker this time around. You get an excellent legendary elemental hunter bow for completing all 6 Rebel camps which is not hard to do once you've opened up the map areas.
Tear is one of the aspects. It's good for knocking off parts. You can also get a precision tear arrow that has a gas canister that explodes a second after impact to really tear off parts and armour.
Tear damage is just the normal bow, right?
Having to look up a guide to figure where to get the different weapon types bugs me tbh. The game should have obvious quests that will give you a green bow of each elemental type.
I found that weapon upgrading was a bit lacking. They have lots of variations in what they shoot, but I never maxed out any purples.
I also didn't really feel the need to mix them up much. Once I had acid, plasma and tear on the go mixed in with a bomb tosser thing you could pretty much take down anything.
I think I kept the same outfit for most of it too. They could have made outfits for different regions. You go from forest to desert to snow and wear the same thing.
I think the biggest problem this one had is it's gear system. There was too much overlap between different weapons to where it felt like my wheel/ammo-choice was overloaded and half of it was redundant. I preferred the simpler original where yes there were different sub-types of weapons but with little overlap and for the most part they had unique properties that didn't require having 4 different bows, half of which have fire arrows etc. If each weapon had unique singular effects fair enough but with most here having 3 the standard RPG gear diversity just didn't fit well. Near the end it was so easy to select the wrong ammo type mid fight.
Overall I loved it but:
I also thought the final story mission felt rushed. Besides the battles themselves which were meh the mid mission cut-scene should have been and oh so nearly was epic but was put together badly. Aloy is hiding behind rocks, sentinels are viewed as running down a far plateau and not at you, so you as the player feel disconnected from it all, no sense of urgency also no great sense of relief when the legacy machines appear. The scripted scene itself is weak, there are 2 instances showing a Slaughterspine shooting it's throat laser just at the ground ffs. It made me think of a drunk lout yelling 'come at me' at the ground.
Edit: I shouldn't try to cram in a post mid-meeting, apparently I lose the ability to speak English...
I just used this
I think some weapons only show after certain progress in the story
Maybe it's just me, but one thing that's bugging me is that quests are poor at introducing you to new elemental weapons. I keep having to google where to get particular weapon types early-ish in the game. I still haven't got a shock bow.
I'm level 16 now, just progressed through The Base to the west of the map after beating the first cauldron.
Finished it tonight. Around the 50 hour mark. Stunning game from start to finish, enjoyed every bit of it.
Although I felt like I could have put in another 20 hours happily, but once I was on the final path I just had to keep going. Too many other games to start playing to linger much longer.
Slightly let down by the end boss. You are just too slow dodging and getting up off the ground that it was more frustrating than challenging.
But those end credits. 😍
I cheesed that one early on aswell but from the Rock outcrop it circles :).
BTW if you're nearing the end of the game and kind've into grind mode on some of the more exotic upgrades for Legendaries you can also basically force the game back to HZ-D's loot system (where if any key component wasn't shot off it's in the main carcass loot pool and not destroyed). Just set your difficulty to custom and change the loot setting to Easy Loot Mode. Now don't judge :), I've 60+ hours into this now and nearing the last few missions I want to spend some time upgrading my legendaries that require components from enemies that are very rare, so missing a component or 2 has a time costs for respawn. I don't need to do this as my character is OP now already, it's more curiosity on how high they can really go. I could also grind this out by passing time at Huts and waiting for those respawns but that's just a time-suck imho and gains/proves nothing either. I would absolutely not recommend doing this earlier as that tactical component side is a lot of fun in itself, just eventually not for end-game grind.
Im only level 15 currently but managed to take down a level 30 Thunderjaw last night, albeit by cheating a bit. Tip below as doing so gives some excellent loot at this early stage.
At the No Mans Land drone site there is a Thunderjaw there. You are very close to a rebel camp so if you can get the TJ to follow you, you can enter a low opening in the camp wall that it cannot get through but you can hit it once you stay out of the line of fire of his laserbeams.
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