Horizon Zero Dawn

One of the Best game in this genre ! Recommended anyone who like to hunt machine and enjoy good scenery !

This game is usually brought up with high praise. When I played it, I was tired of the uninspired gameplay loop that makes up the majority of open-world Action RPGS, and I had high hopes that Horizon would bring me back. Unfortunately, it did not.
The game started off incredibly strong. I was taken aback by how gorgeous everything is. The world is incredibly beautiful and alive. The introduction to Aloy's character was great, and everything down to the setting of the game appealed to me (robot dinosaurs!).
Less than 5 hours in, however, I knew I was in for more of the same. Repetitive filler side quests that tell uninteresting stories. Clear out a camp over here, find a flower over there, etc. Not to mention the very tired crafting system, forcing you to pick up almost every stick, rock, and berry that you see. Slow bouts of exploration to slowly fill out the oversized map with not a whole lot going on between the actual points of interest.
That being said, the main story is pretty engaging. The caves are really well designed gauntlets of puzzles and combat. And speaking of the combat, there's a lot of really fun options for taking down enemies. You can scan them to determine their weaknesses, crit spots, and walking paths. You can use all kinds of arrows and traps to customize your approach. And to reiterate, it's all really pretty to look at. These systems are especially well-emphasized in the "very hard" mode unlocked after your first playthrough (which is honestly easy enough that it should've just been available from the start).
So yes, this game unfortunately falls into the ever-growing pile of games using almost the exact same open world formula. So if you're also having the "open-world fatigue" that I was, Horizon is only gonna make that worse. But if you're not, then I can confidently recommend this game. It probably does rank towards the top of the pile.

Having just finished a playthrough on Ultra Hard New Game+, earning the last few achievements I was missing, I feel now is the time to write a review for this game. And, as it usually happens after I finished a game that got me so involved, I find it hard to start the review.
So, Horizon Zero Dawn. The first PlayStation first-party game to ever release on PC. Back when it was first announced, I was beyond excited, it was a dream come true, not just because of this game, but because of potential future Sony releases on PC. However, we aren't talking about that here, we're talking about HZD. So I bought it when it was available, started it up when it released... And ended up abandoning it for years, until last year, when I finally got back to it, and it finally "clicked".
First things first, let's talk story and lore. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth, where humanity has regressed to a more tribal civilization, after some unknown catastrophe devastated cities and left beast-like machines roaming the Earth. You play as Aloy, a young girl from the Nora tribe, who has been an outcast her entire life; even then, she's allowed to win back her place in the tribe by taking part of the Proving, but, of course... Things happen, and Aloy gets thrown in the middle of a conflict that could bring down not only her tribe, but all of civilization itself. On top of that, Aloy is searching for answers about her past. The story is very good, but I must say where the game really shines is with the lore; although saying more about it would spoil the fun of discovering it as you progress to the game.
As for gameplay, it's an open world game, with the typical stuff you'd expect from such a game. Main quests, side quests, collectibles, upgrades and so on and so forth. The first time I tried playing the game, it didn't quite click with me because I wasn't using the full extent of what the game offers, and thus, the combat felt somewhat frustrating (I was only ever using the default bow). There's actually a decent variety of weapons to use, and even for bows there's actually three main variants: one focused on what I'd call "general" damage, one for elemental effects, and a more specialized one for specific situations. On top of the bows, you can get a bomb slingshot, set traps, tie machines down, plus a couple more weapons both from the main game and the DLC. You can also use stealth for certain encounters, and there's a wide variety of potions that can aid you in combat.
Enemy variety is pretty good. It's mostly machines, with some humans here and there, but you'll mostly fight machines. Another part of the combat I didn't quite get at first was how to deal with machines; not just which weapons to use, but how to exploit their weaknesses. For example, some machines might have fuel canisters on them; you can set them off with a fire weapon to cause an explosion dealing area damage, stuff like that. Other machines might be able to detect you while you're hiding, until you destroy their sensors, leaving them blind; well, not really blind, as they can still see you, but they can't find you as easily if they lose sight of you.
I enjoyed exploring in this game; the world they've crafted is beautiful. There are some headscratching parts (like going from snowy mountains to a hot desert), but I chalk that up to games being games; making the trek from one region to the other more realistic would mean a lot of pointless travelling, so distances are shortened. Anyway, the game has some really beautiful locations, even more so the DLC region, which has a volcano looming in the background.
Speaking of the DLC, I enjoyed it as much as the main game, although I gotta say, I'm not sure if I'll ever go through it in NG+. It's certainly way more challenging than the base game, with some new machines that can deal quite some damage. Its story connects with that of the main game, and you can even get some more info about a certain character through the DLC.
Which brings me to the characters: I liked most of them, except one whom I particularly despise for what he caused; I'm not going to talk further than that as it'd be spoilers, but I'm sure you'll know which character I'm talking about after you get through the game. Anyway, going back at it, the game has a diverse cast of characters; each tribe has its own customs that you learn throughout the story. The dialogue, I found very good, and some of Aloy's interactions with certain characters were really funny.
Visually, the game looks stunning. I noticed some details here and there, but that was probably because I played it in medium settings. In higher settings it'd probably look even better. The soundtrack is also very good.
I definitely recommend this game, it certainly became one of my favourite "new" franchises, and I can't wait to play Forbidden West next.

One of the most beautiful game worlds with beautiful coloring that makes the game enjoyable
The story line of the game was very beautiful and exciting
The game is completely balanced and not too hard, not too easy, which makes this game more enjoyable
The enemies of the game are not boring at all ^.^
If I want to give a general opinion, the game is excellent in all respects and has no problems, and the physics of the game and the world of the game are completely consistent with the story of the game, and even exploring the map of the game is enjoyable i love it ❤❤❤

This game is amazing.
From the gameplay to the lore, this game is for casual and hardcore gamers alike. The lore is extremely rich and deep and it will keep you invested. I recommend this to anyone.

---{ Graphics }---
☑ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☑ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☑ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☑ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☑ 10
-----
Go on. Buy it. Do it.

Horizon Zero Dawn.. what an experience it was.
I had this game sitting on my library for a while, maybe a year or even more, I had only played like 20 minutes, but uninstalled it because it didn't click for me at the time and because I needed storage to install another game.
Well one day I was bored and was looking at the games I had in my "Play Later" collection and found HZD, and I am glad I did.
The gameplay felt strange when I first started playing the game, especially the camera, but once I got used to it, it felt like one of the greatest gameplay mechanics I had ever experienced, all the weapons you can use, all the outfits, all the strategys, all the modifications you can put on your weapons, the freedom to climb a whole mountain by jumping on little edges if you feel like doing so, it was just amazing.
The story at first seemed also a little odd, it just didn't make sense to me how it was supposed to be a futuristic game, yet humans seemed to have downgraded, and now machines were the on top of the food chain. But as I progressed through the story everything started to make sense, and my oh my, what a wonderful story it was, I wish I could simply forget everything about the game just so I could play it all over again and discover every little plot once more.
The dlc was also pretty good in my opinion, new machines, upgraded weapons, new characters, a new threat, it was all great and I am glad it already came with the base game.
The platinum was pretty fun to be honest, there wasn't any really boring achievements like some games have, I did get burnt out after I finished both the base game and the dlc, but that was because I was playing the game 24/7 since I was addicted, but then I finally came back to get the achievements I had left, and it wasn't hard at all.
Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition is an absolute gem and I am glad I played it, in my opinion it didn't need a remaster at all, but oh well, I'm sure it's still amazing or even better. Please if you're unsure about purchasing this game for whatever reasons, just buy it and give it a chance, if you actually end up not liking it, refund it before you hit the 2 hour mark, if you end up enjoying it, happy hunting outlander!