Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
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No score yet - based on 1 Critic Review

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
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  1. Video Chums
    Sep 20, 2021
    90
    Playing Horizon Zero Dawn on PlayStation 5 is such an excellent experience that it made me excited for the upcoming Forbidden West and keep in mind; I rarely get excited for upcoming games. If you still haven't played it yet, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

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User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 415 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 359 out of 415
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 415
  3. Negative: 31 out of 415
  1. vahn
    May 15, 2018
    10
    I'm blown away by this game, and not because it's a very good game with a lot of content but also because of how it's handled: this game gaveI'm blown away by this game, and not because it's a very good game with a lot of content but also because of how it's handled: this game gave me hope that some devs do care and really want the best of the best without compromising the game itself.

    Also, I probably won't mention BOTW for comparison's sake because comparing two games is the laziest form of review I can think of.

    With that said, the game looks great and that's not something I see often: the graphics are colorful and vibrant and the animations are really smooth! Again I usually don't care about these petty things but the game LOOKS damn good and even in some parts where it's metallic and very lacking color it still looks extremely good.

    You'll control Aloy, a young girl who you'll be controlling from the early ages to her adulthood and even though it's a very sloppy start, I did actually enjoy the first hours of gameplay a lot more than I thought despite the small area. That's a sign of a good game there when even the first hours are amazingly fun and thankfully it keeps getting better!

    The game is an open world action-adventure game with RPG mechanics and also stealth mechanics as well and I'm surprised to see that a lot of these mechanics do work together: stealth is heavily rewarded but also your accuracy and the fact that enemies have different weak spots makes each fight very exciting. On top of that enemies have a very good AI and they WILL outplay you a lot of times, which I didn't expect at all.

    The RPG mechanics do work well as well and I haven't found any real useless skill (maybe only 2 or 3?): all of them have some usefulness and there's no real bloating, which is something that I often find in RPGs. The best thing is that the game doesn't really feel grindy either because killing machines and enemies grant materials to get, which are used for all variety of things. Seriously, not once I found my kills to be a waste: I always had something that I can use later and in the 20 hours of gameplay that I did so far, I just never got bored because there's so much stuff to do and so many ways to achieve your goals.

    Speaking of goals, the map isn't as big as, say, BOTW or even Skyrim BUT I did find it to be a lot more packed and full of life than most other open world games: you will find enemies and even bandits more often and when you don't you'll be exploring in search of relics and medical herbs and more mats to refill yourself, since you can create your own arrows and you will need a lot of them.
    There are also quests and they're rather nice, even the ones I found less enjoyable: they are well done and often require to travel long distances which alone is quite the enjoyable trip

    Now I might forget some details but I do want to talk about the negatives and while they didn't really bother me, they should be mentioned.

    The combat is rather simplified and extremely lazy: you will have one weapon most of the time and you can either do a heavy or a light attack, and that's it. Heavy attacks can stun your enemy and allow you to do a critical hit, but that's about it.

    Instead, your main weapon is your ranged ones, such as bows and...precision bow and...rapid bow? yeah, it's not varied but they do their job, especially the rope launcher that ties enemies down on the ground. Just lacks variety.

    Stealth could've been better, especially when you will be unseen in high grass but outside of it it's easy to get spotted, and enemies tend to have quite a sight. It's annoying but not game-breaking.

    Sometimes prompts for attacks won't appear and I often smashed the enemy with a light attack instead of doing a critical hit. This also happens for other activities such as jumping and even saving,

    Climbing is very off: you cannot climb anywhere unless there's a yellow spot - a bit like mirror's edge and Assassin's Creed - and that's really annoying especially when you can't jump over a small cliff!

    And last, but not least, Aloy is kind of bland and that's a shame because she is seen as a very brave and independent woman but it's hardly shown. Other characters are also very rarely developed and that's probably a thing we could've used more detail on.

    Overall, I highly recommend this game mostly for the simple reason that unlike many AAA games this one has no major DLC (besides the Frozen Wilds, which is included), no Microtransactions, no Lootboxes, no season pass: NOTHING! This game is as clean as the old ps2 games with FW being an expansion more than simple DLC, with its own area and more quests to play.

    This alone is, for me, a selling point because I've been avoiding AAA games ever since they went full greedy and this is one of those few and I'm super glad I bought it.

    With that said give this a shot and let's support devs that actually give a **** about their games!    … Full Review »
  2. hitguydude
    Jan 9, 2018
    9
    Truth be told, this is about the only 2017 game that I played, bought a Ps4 just last month, played a few older games like Bloodborne and DarkTruth be told, this is about the only 2017 game that I played, bought a Ps4 just last month, played a few older games like Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3, but not anything that came out in 2017 aside from this game. Horizon Zero Dawn shines in a lot of places, but it also has a lot of room to be that much better when I'm sure the inevitable sequels come out. The premise of trying to take down robot animals with a bow and arrow is interesting enough in of itself, where the game shines however is your ability to trap an animal and have it fight alongside you. What's missing I think is more variety in what you can do with the machine once you take them over. There's only 3 machines you can actually ride and control, leaving some of the cooler things, like the robot t-rex, as something that will fight for you, but you can't control it in any way. I would say that's a major drawback, nothing that makes the game not shine, but they definitely could've, and probably should've done a bit more with the taking over machines mechanic. The graphics are superb, the characters are fairly good, but there's something special the game captured in the tutorial that it just ditched for the rest of the game(I won't spoil) that I think was a shame. It started off so well, but the rest of the game the characterizations are sporadic and never really hit as hard as those first few moments with the game. This is a must if you own the PS4, but as I said, I can't talk about this in terms of what else came out that year. It could probably have a bit more randomness in the encounters, but overall it feels like a very polished game and if they do the sequel right this could end up as one of my favorite series'. One last thing, don't play on the easy difficulties, it's a much better game when it's more of a challenge.… Full Review »
  3. BlakDak666
    Dec 5, 2017
    9
    Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition, while worded in a way that seems to invalidate the "completeness" of the base game, is a bundled packageHorizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition, while worded in a way that seems to invalidate the "completeness" of the base game, is a bundled package that gives all the content at a price of $50. The base game was excellent, with a well written story, refreshing and likable female protagonist Aloy, breathtaking visuals (easily one of the best of this year) and machine enemies that encouraged hunting techniques that felt satisfying to take down. The expansion The Frozen Wilds was a solid and good expansion that introduced new enemies, terrain, and enough content to service mid-game progress and give a bit more of the major plot and minor cultures together. I would not call it great however as the new additions are limited in scope and still has the same issues that the base game has but with this bundled edition it will flow very well with newcomers. The other additions from the digital deluxe version are cool, but nothing to write home about (as they are just bonus items and a digital artbook that are not game changing or significant to most players). Overall, the pros of this game is pretty excellent, though I can see why naysayers can still say it does not do anything new in the open world landscape. In my opinion, the game is aware of this and yet sets out to make its experience fun and satisfying all the way through despite that notion.

    The cons for this game (since we must be the critical keen people that we are) is what keeps this game from reaching a master level status. The uncanny valley and boring minor characters aside from Aloy and a few handful feels like Guerilla did not understand how people talked in real life, so they assumed constant moving around and hand gyrations was the answer. You could argue this is a nitpick, but the consistency and frequency of this was apparent in almost the entire run (including the expansion) of the game for me and I found it so obvious that it floors me there still hasn't been a patch. The melee combat leaves alot to be desired and with the inclusions from the expansion this still leaves it underwhelming, lacking a combo or more effective system. The weapon variety is solid, but only a few weapons are really needed to overcome all the challenges, making some feel more prefaced and needed than others. The side quests and errands are standard fetch quests that don't offer anything super exciting that you have seen in any other triple AAA open world. The armor system is weak where there is not enough modifications to give Aloy an edge in combat without constantly changing to even get a minor benefit. The best armor in the game is all you need and once you wear there is no point to the others aside from the visuals. Load times are a bit too long for my taste, not so much booting up the game but as you travel to other regions. Even simple close travels can take long and arguably you could have been there and on foot. The human enemies are not that great to fight and their ranks are pretty underwhelming.

    Aside from all the critiquing, this is still an excellent bundle and deal. The content and beauty of the game's world will snare you into being the hunter Aloy is and like her strong personality as a result. The music and combat all feel satisfying and great at times to play, the crafting system on the fly is brilliant and the perk trees encourage experimentation. Ultimately through 75 hours+ of content and new game pluses, harder difficulties and photo modes, you can expect Horizon Zero Dawn to impress even if some think it isn't original. It has one of the better open world stories to date, one of the best female protagonists in awhile and a beautiful land to explore. An excellent game at an excellent price that is absolutely worth your time.    … Full Review »
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