Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition

I balked a little at the cheesy sounding "savages and robots" theme.. But wow, glad I was tempted by the good reviews.. From the word go, this actually does that strange setting proud. It's well written, and feels more like being inside a well told novel, with event leading naturally so well, at times, you occasionally forget you're running into a storyline. On top of this, it's graphically absolutely stunning. I'm thinking Guerilla is a studio to watch with interest. More like this, and I think I'll be maintaining a little slush fund just for their latest offerings.

Horizon Zero Dawn achieves many of the aspects that make a video game a unique, memorable, and enjoyable experience. What's good? an iconic protagnist that isn't a walking trope + interesting yet realistic supporting character designs (the voice acting isn't cringey unlike most video games ever) beautiful panoramas that one wishes were real, varied enemy types that aren't gimmicky, and aesthetics/cultures inspired by the indigenous people of the Americas- plus contrasting futuristic designs that aren't over the top gameplay that doesn't hold your hand (unless you lower the difficulty) superb graphics and performance (a good amount of settings that one can tweak to their liking) good controller support sound design that can get your adrenaline surging in clutch moments movement and combat are fluid and seem naturally cinematic (good photo mode as well) climbing/parkour mechanics that rival those of Tomb Raider and Uncharted What's bad? an underwhelming boss fight hit boxes on human enemies and wild animals are bad sometimes some of the side quests are straight up boring What's okay? the soundtrack is good, but limited the story isn't all that, but it's definitely a cut above all of the generic garbage many triple A studios are pumping out

This game is truely outstanding. It does most things very good and just a few mediocre or poor. In detail: 1) The main story is amazing, captivating and full of new ideas *not* just copied from other games. 2) Combat system, monsters and fights Monsters (machines) are well designed, differ in behaviour according to their nature/type and require a well-thought approach to take them down (at least at a decent level of difficulty). 90% of all combat is ranged combat, but that's fine. Choosing a favourable path of attack (and retreat) can earn you an huge advantage. Same goes for the selection of weapon/ammo type for the attack - overall, careful planning is rewarded (as opposed to a mindless charge). Big plus! 3) Sneaking Sneaking is important - and luckily the game designers did a good job here. Personally, I usually do not like sneak missions... but in this game, I relied heavily on it and preferred camouflage over protection in my armour. Taking into consideration I am initially biased against sneaking, the developers did a terriffic job convincing me otherwise. 4) Climbing Well... the animation is spectacular - but the overall implementation is mediocre. Why? You can only use predifined spots for climbing. Those are usually marked (by color), but not always. That means the challenge is reduced to the question whether or not you spot the climb mark. What makes it even worse is the fact that there is only one way to climb, so once you are "on track" you can make your way through by randomly pressing all direction keys. This leaves room for improvement. 5) Dungeons Poor... compared to the rest of the game. Coloring and textures in dungeons (vaults, bunkers...) make it hard to spot climb marks or even distinguish a path from an abyss, yet there is but one linear way through. Boring and tedious... luckily, there are just few of those underground locations. To sum it up: Get it. Now. And don't forget to take a few days off from whatever job you may have.

Ryzen 3800, 32GB, 6700XT (had a 5700XT) crashes on both cards every 5-10 minutes. Have another 100 odd games installed none of them crash at all. Please fix...

Lot to like about this game. I only wish that one had more dialog choices that mattered and less of the boss fighting.