I own this game on PS4 as well as GOG now, and I've been quite enjoying replaying so far (I have the game up and running as I'm typing this review) You should definitely pick this game up on GOG, to support not only the DRM-free-ness of it, but also the wonderful 59.99 CAD Pricepoint. Props to Guerrilla for many many things. HOWEVER there are some specific issues about the PC port that you MUST be aware of. FIRST, the load times... they're genuinely unacceptable, even after optimizing the shaders (I have good faith this will be patched, but it's worth noting. If in the future this gets patched I will adjust my review to a higher rating, but regardless this section will remain.) This isn't a HUGE deal, since the game has barely any loading screens. Second of all, performance is wildly inconsistent, when this game runs, it runs WONDERFULLY, but very often it will randomly slow down to a shocking degree (think 1080 Medium Settings running at 30fps on an RTX 2070, while the 2070 USUALLY runs in the high 50's at 4K.) (Again I will adjust my score if this gets patched) This may be subjective, but... this port is VERY buggy, pop-in is akin to that neighbour that always bothers you, Aloy clips and stutters around obstacles, when on mounts at walking speed she jitters and twitches around like she's on... well, speed. Finally, and perhaps this is my gamer skillz failing me, playing this on normal difficulty feels... oddly brutal compared to my experiences on ps4 (And yes, I was playing on Normal there as well) I'm not confident this has anything to do with HZD, so I'm not going to let it colour my opinion of the game, I think it's worth pointing out though, in case anyone else wants a sanity check. Pick it up, if only to support the developers AND GOG. If this is your first time playing HZD I wish you the best of luck on PC, and caution you of the potential inconveniences that may occur. None of these are deal breakers and this game is worth working around them.
