Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 943 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 741 out of 943
  2. Mixed: 89 out of 943
  3. Negative: 113 out of 943

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  1. Dimpfelmoer
    Nov 12, 2017
    7
    I loved HZD all the way through and was eagerly awaiting this DLC, but while it's fun to play, the final battles left me somewhat frustrated, cause the Fireclaw is a bit of a bullet sponge. Something that the creators of HZD had thankfully avoided up until now. Defeating the Fireclaws is so tedious and time-consuming, that it gives you enough leisure to ponder how very few new things thisI loved HZD all the way through and was eagerly awaiting this DLC, but while it's fun to play, the final battles left me somewhat frustrated, cause the Fireclaw is a bit of a bullet sponge. Something that the creators of HZD had thankfully avoided up until now. Defeating the Fireclaws is so tedious and time-consuming, that it gives you enough leisure to ponder how very few new things this DLC has to offer. The weapons are ok, but the armor, the quests, the storyline is just more of what we already know, not to mention the new skill tree, which is really useless and no fun at all. So yeah, don't wanna whine too much, good clean fun over all but disappointing in it's lack of new elements.… Expand
  2. BlakDak666
    Nov 11, 2017
    7
    Horizon Zero Dawn was an excellent game when it first came out earlier this year. The landscape and graphics were and still are outstanding, the story was good, Aloy was a refreshing character who could hold her own and be a likable individual with her own thoughts and ideas, the machines and the approach of being a hunter on taking them down for the first few times ranged from cool toHorizon Zero Dawn was an excellent game when it first came out earlier this year. The landscape and graphics were and still are outstanding, the story was good, Aloy was a refreshing character who could hold her own and be a likable individual with her own thoughts and ideas, the machines and the approach of being a hunter on taking them down for the first few times ranged from cool to epic, and generally just had a interesting world to explore. The issues, like the uncanny valley of the NPCs and their unlikable nature aside from Sylens, the crude spear combat, weapons being very imbalanced and making others pointless and the general "originality" of the game's structure is very formulaic. I want to make this clear that despite these issues, the base game is a 9/10 for me and is an excellent game. I say this because The Frozen Wilds is definitely very good and is an expansion, but just barely. Let me list off the things I can critique and note my likes, dislikes and indifferences:

    Atmosphere: Still outstanding visuals. My particularly favorite moment visually is when it hits nighttime and the aurora lights and moon loom over head. The music is great, with some surprisingly 80s style techno music that actually fit better than expected.

    Enemies: My first disappointment. The Daemonic enemies are nothing but super Corrupted versions of regular enemies I have already defeated. Whats worse is that there are more of them in the game than the new enemy types. The Scorcher is like a Ravager but with a Mine launcher that is actually a challenge to beat (I'm saying it feels similar) and the Frost and Fireclaws are the only new inclusions and even the Fireclaws are already repeated in the same expansion. The Towers I dont count as enemies, they are nothing more than puzzles that you can turn off after you find a way to deactivate them. I felt the "new" enemies were lazily implemented. I understand you want to make it seem like it's an ecosystem but there is not enough where I feel is truly new. Still cool enemies to fight.

    Story: It's alright. It's essentially a glorified mini story that can be beaten in about 5 hours. I didn't really feel much for the characters and I felt the Fireclaw boss fight was great...until I found out I can fight more of them, instantly deflating a potentially great boss fight that I felt was the same issue as fighting HADES in the main game. It's serviceable and at least interesting, but clearly the main game story is superior.

    Side content: You do much of the same from the base game; hunt for collectibles, do side quests, etc. The standout quests I liked was with two women Banuk that hinted at a possible gay relationship and a tinker who wanted to get "looking glass" from a vault. The rest were fine but the problem is there is very little (4 side quests and a few other things) and I feel that, as a player who beat and did everything in the base game, THIS IS NOT ENDGAME CONTENT. This is strictly for those that are nearing the end and wanted to play this along the way.

    Weapons, Armors, Upgrades: The new weapons are a mix of old and new. The bows now have a charge effect that makes the shot deal more damage and three elemental weapons that take too much to refuel in my opinion and are not as good as those bows. The armors are visually interesting but my Shield Weaver wins the day as always. The Traveler skill tree is a interesting concept, but feels rushed. I hardly ever use a mount, so most of the upgrades feel pointless and the rest of the inclusions feel like Guerilla should have made as a patch like disassembling items for half the metal shards.

    Other notes: Your level can now go to 60, but it feels sort of pointless aside from the skill points as your health matters little against enemies really. The problems of the old game affect this one and it was irritating to see the unrealistic flailing characters and moving camera again. The bandit camp and fighting enemy humans still suck and don't feel really all that great to fight still. Bluegleam feels rewarding and great to earn the new weapons with it. CYAN is a really cool character.

    I still find The Frozen Wilds an expansion, but some issues I have hold it back from being excellent. It feels like it was more of a taste than a full thing. A theme I see in gamers now is game length equals value. I disagree; 15 hours for 15 dollars is not what I look for, rather the depth and value of the game's content itself. I was definitely engaged, enjoyed certain parts, but felt going through the motions mostly. A 7/10 to me is a good game or expansion that succeeds at what it does, provides an overall satisfying experience, but hits some dips and issues along the way that I can't help to feel is wasted potential. Here is how this goes: if you like/love the game, you should buy this and play it. If you are unsure/dislike/hate the game, then don't. It's more of the same, for better or worse.    … Expand
  3. BadWalkthrough
    Nov 23, 2017
    6
    I must say it's a great deal more difficult than the main game. The few new machines are a real annoyance in groups. If you already love Horizon going in and want a challenge then this is for you. See /watch?v=yHrYwsXnXLs for full review
  4. ZyablikRus
    Nov 10, 2017
    7
    Horizon: The Frozen Wilds - отличное дополнение к удивительной игре. Разработчики создали одно из самых острых ощущений от охоты с еще более сложными механиками боя и занимательными побочными квестами, которые добавляются к исходной карте через интригующую новую сюжетную линию, которая проникает в мистическую сторону этого пост-апокалиптического мира. https://youtu.be/peZUFGtweKkHorizon: The Frozen Wilds - отличное дополнение к удивительной игре. Разработчики создали одно из самых острых ощущений от охоты с еще более сложными механиками боя и занимательными побочными квестами, которые добавляются к исходной карте через интригующую новую сюжетную линию, которая проникает в мистическую сторону этого пост-апокалиптического мира. https://youtu.be/peZUFGtweKk
  5. Kaioh
    Nov 22, 2017
    5
    It would've been a good dlc if not for the stupid developers and theit sjw pandering.
    Seriously! Can't you make a game with nice looking characters and without that feminism idiocy in every line, in every quest?!
    ALL females in this game are UGLY. ALL. I'm not even exagerating. I don't recall any normal face. There are few man (lol) and most of others in tribe are uuuh.. I can't even    It would've been a good dlc if not for the stupid developers and theit sjw pandering.
    Seriously! Can't you make a game with nice looking characters and without that feminism idiocy in every line, in every quest?!
    ALL females in this game are UGLY. ALL. I'm not even exagerating. I don't recall any normal face.
    There are few man (lol) and most of others in tribe are uuuh.. I can't even call these sjw abominations as "females", sorry. Each one of them shown as strong and independent of course. One NPC even saying that exactly. "Sorry, you're a woman! I didn't meant to offend you!" GTFO with that **** from industry and my house, okay?    … Expand
  6. njja02
    Jun 17, 2018
    6
    The expansion is way harder than the main game, and the environments and enemy types are awesome. But, sadly, it doesn't really add anything new or exciting. It doesn't help that the main quests were kind of dull. But I did find the side quests to be pretty decent, along with some challenging enemies. One other problem were how the Fireclaws took way too long to defeat. To be honest, IThe expansion is way harder than the main game, and the environments and enemy types are awesome. But, sadly, it doesn't really add anything new or exciting. It doesn't help that the main quests were kind of dull. But I did find the side quests to be pretty decent, along with some challenging enemies. One other problem were how the Fireclaws took way too long to defeat. To be honest, I would say skip this expansion.… Expand
  7. Psy_pmP
    Nov 23, 2020
    7
    Animation in dialogs is much better.
    The snow is beautiful.
    New effects.
    The ending is crumpled and boring.
    The only really interesting episode is the water dam.
  8. guiletheguiles
    Jul 6, 2021
    5
    The devil is in the details, I guess...

    After finishing Horizon Zro Dawn, I just really don't get the hype... While this open world attempt at a good game had everything built in it to succeed, the experience I had with it makes me want to stay as far away as possible from it. For every positive aspect here, there's a bad one tied to it. And the bad one always screams more than it    The devil is in the details, I guess...

    After finishing Horizon Zro Dawn, I just really don't get the hype... While this open world attempt at a good game had everything built in it to succeed, the experience I had with it makes me want to stay as far away as possible from it.

    For every positive aspect here, there's a bad one tied to it. And the bad one always screams more than it should. And that's a problem that stayed with me throughout the entire experience.
    At first, I was loving it! Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the most gorgeous games I've ever played in my life. The world, character designs, enemies, environments - everything brought a tear to my eye. Not only that, but the game grips you from the start. Characters are interesting, bold, well-written and filled with secrets. It made me want to keep playing to find out everything about this post apocalyptic world and its people. And the story is solid from beginning to end, I have to say.
    Tutorials were smooth, environments were interesting enough, enemy variety was fantastic and even the sidequests were engaging and actually fun to make.

    My first 10 hours of Horizon were great. Maybe the game should have lasted about that long, because when I started noticing its flaws, my run with it just crumbled down.

    And what killed HZD for me was the combat.
    Even in theory it sounds silly. "Human with a bow and arrow, some traps and a knack of wood try to take down prehistoric robot beasts using stealth". I mean, come on...
    It's overcomplicated and unbalanced as hell!
    Every fight feels like a boss fight and they all take too long, even against humans. One little **** up and you're stuck fighting a single robot dinosaur and 5 masked dudes for about 30 minutes. Melee combat is a joke, robots have a ridiculous amount of health and do A LOT of damage, while you have to fend for yourself with a health made of paper and a few weak arrows. Even healing sucks in this game. When you don't have enough to craft potions, you have to HUNT for FLOWERS to heal a LITTLE.
    The enemies in this game even managed to ruin one of HZD's best feature, which is exploring. The baffling number of enemies on the map and their misplacement in it makes running around and doing ANYTHING a massive slow chore. A challenge, yes, but definitely not a good one.
    It's unbelievable how bad it gets. Especially midway through the game, when you're still discovering things.
    And to make matters worse, menu interfaces are a mess, you acquire a lot of useless loot, Aloy's mobility and climbing skills rival Skyrim's, conversation animations are extremely stiff and the DLC is forgettable. Basically, Horizon packs a punch when it comes to bad open world cliches.

    I was excited for Horizon Zero Dawn. I really was. But once I started to understand the game's MANY flaws in the dull details of its design, I wanted nothing to do with it.
    It COULD be a great game, but it's nothing but a mediocre 40 hours robot hunt. I just can't recommend it.    … Expand
  9. alexandrea
    Nov 25, 2021
    7
    The same thing I said about the base game still apllies to this expansion..
  10. Kostas101
    Jun 4, 2020
    6
    This DLC is average, the new Armor Sets and Weapons are nice, but the Frozen Wilds storyline is very generic and it doesn't add anything interesting in the game.
  11. Filmanwalt
    Oct 8, 2020
    7
    Frozen Wilds DLC (Review Date 05.01.2020)

    After 10 hours I finished the DLC for Horizon and had fun with it again. Finally a tribe that I liked, that was interesting. The landscape itself was beautiful but I'm glad that most of the main game didn't take place in the snow. It also has to be said that the facial expressions of the people in cutscenes have improved significantly. A    Frozen Wilds DLC (Review Date 05.01.2020)

    After 10 hours I finished the DLC for Horizon and had fun with it again. Finally a tribe that I liked, that was interesting.

    The landscape itself was beautiful but I'm glad that most of the main game didn't take place in the snow. It also has to be said that the facial expressions of the people in cutscenes have improved significantly.

    A few cool new weapons and types of monsters have been added, but the machines in particular could have been more.

    Overall, the story was okay, but it wasn't nearly as effective as it was in the middle of the main game.

    You can definitely take the DIC with you.

    7/10 snowflakes.    … Expand
  12. NichoRubim
    Apr 27, 2020
    5
    I loved the main game, one of the best Ps4 games. But the dlc is mediocre, not completely thanks to the Map and the new weapons, but for the rest, it sucks.
  13. Traxillion
    Sep 20, 2020
    7
    This DLC has basically the same premise as the main story.

    Essentially what you're buying is more of the same.
  14. Rivenverse
    Jul 6, 2022
    7
    Wow Aloy, that was kind of a journey. Despite small bugs such as disappearing loot, fish, robots, overall I really like the game, and I would give it 10 out of 10 at the beginning, but the far I went, the more I started hating the characters and dialogues and other features developers implemented. I played about 100 hours and plan to finish it again in NG+.

    First of all, I just can't    Wow Aloy, that was kind of a journey. Despite small bugs such as disappearing loot, fish, robots, overall I really like the game, and I would give it 10 out of 10 at the beginning, but the far I went, the more I started hating the characters and dialogues and other features developers implemented. I played about 100 hours and plan to finish it again in NG+.

    First of all, I just can't understand promotions for the game, everyone talked about "ME2" experience. It's a lie, there is only some ideas from ME, not the quality of ME. Mass Effect series are much more detailed in the matter of characters, their backgrounds and outcomes, you feel them and you want to know more about them, and you can ROMANCE THEM, what I clearly can't say about HZD:TFW. This game is more like Witcher 3 in the matter of quests, and I like it, and you should promote it like that, because this game have so much detailed side-quests comparing to first game. But even in Witcher (in every game) you could have sex or at least romance. HZD was trying to be more, they added "RPG" system, but it plays not as RPG at all, so a very useless integration. But, I can admit, I really like the game remember the places I visited and Aloy can say about it in the dialogues.

    Get me right, dialogues animation quality is at top level, facial animations are also very highly detailed, I couldn't ask for more, really. But, they added so much dialogues, so you might think it can lead to some consequences? No, they don't. All them are not necessary, you can even skip them all, it will not affect anything. Even prologue can't affect anything. Same goes to every other dialogue with "emotion wheel", just pick what you think is correct, it will affect nothing. Same goes to whom to kill or spare, same no effect. So why to add clearly not working features? It makes you feel real bad.

    Who is Aloy? Can we compare her with Shepard from ME series? Well, you guys promoted this game as ME2 experience after all. Aloy is too kind and clearly don't understand what is going on, every problem is not a problem for her, you can't feel real challenges, you can't see Aloy is angry, you only can see she is always happy, that's it. You can't read on her face she is really went through all this, she is not a fighter, she is a girl scout and it was the problem for me all the way. When I looked at Regalla, I knew, this is who Aloy was supposed to be, a ruthless machine destroyer, who knows no barriers, but instead, she's trying to be a good "girl", no one should take her seriously, but apparently in this game all men caved in under women, and women characters are about 70% of all people. And she even can't have any romance to not brake feelings of some LGBT.

    Hunting grounds. It was much better in first game, it was far more challenging and interesting, completing them was really uninteresting and disappointing.

    Armors. You don't have any outfit by the way, only armor and you can choose a different looking without changing your armor, what is kinda nice, but...There are zero really beautiful armors, that would emphasize the femininity of the character. Aloy is fully equipped "tank" in almost every armor. The developers has cutted the beauty entirely, to serve feminists.

    Feminism. I see where you want to turn, and when you will do it, be ready to lose your fans and prepare to serve for LGBT players only, TLOU2 experience didn't teach you anything. You better learn from The Witcher 3 and Mass Effect 3.

    I can't believe in Horizon world, despite of it's greatness and beauty, women take very high places, some women fight men and win them in close combat, which is nonsense, women goes to fight instead of doing really important women job inside camps/villages/cities. The world is died, people are dumb and understand only strength, cmon guys, you can't be serious, look at Mad Max for example and you will understand what will happen to all women. This game is so fake when it comes to "who is stronger".

    I won't spoil here, but where are dramatic moments of the game at all?! I wanted to give it 10 out of 10, but at the end of the game, you realize, it have so much problems. The character you knew from the first game was just devalued, like "it" never existed. You did an incredible job creating the locations and machines (most of them were created in the first game), but the game lacks of Aloy emotions and dramatic cutscenes.

    Despite that, lore of the game is very good, storytelling is also not bad. But I hope there will be huge improvements, because I could predict almost everything.

    Can't say I am disappointed, but I also can't say I am very happy. I lost 100+ hours just to end every side quests and visit every place in the game. Was it worth it? I would say NO, you better invest in better story, I am tired of stupid grind games in open world    … Expand
  15. Anatoliy_DeVile
    Jan 18, 2022
    7
    Еще в процессе прохождения сюжетной кампании Horizon Zero Dawn по незнанию решили мы податься в морозные земли к племени Банук на их Зарубку. Буквально на северной границе всплыла красиво так надпись «The Frozen Wilds» и мы поняли, что надо поворачивать назад — всему своё время, как говорится. Не в наших правилах месить всё в одну кучу и усреднять общее впечатление. Людям же менееЕще в процессе прохождения сюжетной кампании Horizon Zero Dawn по незнанию решили мы податься в морозные земли к племени Банук на их Зарубку. Буквально на северной границе всплыла красиво так надпись «The Frozen Wilds» и мы поняли, что надо поворачивать назад — всему своё время, как говорится. Не в наших правилах месить всё в одну кучу и усреднять общее впечатление. Людям же менее принципиальным, не сильно привязанным к хронологии выхода обеих частей, к слову единственное дополнение к Horizon Zero Dawn вышло спустя восемь месяцев после главной игры, я бы наверное даже порекомендовал наведаться к Банук и попылесосить их территории уже хотя бы ради более дамажистых луков и новых стреляюших огнем, льдом и электричеством посохов с более мощным уроном по сравнению со стрелами, но и жрущих ресурсы конечно немилосердно. Луки мы эти конечно качнули, пооблазив все горы и собрав почти все синие кристаллы, тут за металлические осколки стрелометов не купить, так что пришлось... Ситуацию с горным паркуром Guerilla Games решили в DLC по-своему — они сделали неприступные ранее кручи более доступными для постепенного запрыгивания (ножками не ручками), Байек и Алексиос по-прежнему недоумевают, и сделали на горы больше пологих заходов, ну ладно хоть не приходится глаза ломать, выискивая неприглядные желтые веревочки. Зверушек новых в дополнении запилили немного, но с душой. Новыми целями для Элой в The Frozen Wilds стали огневолки — оооочень неприятные твари, с ними толком не развернешься и на холод, который они якобы боятся, плевали они с высокой колокольни, в общем решали единственно верным способом с ними все вопросы — когда что-то не получается используй липкие бомбы они завсегда располагают к многочисленным металлическим обломкам; ледоклыки массово по локации и огнеклык как финальный босс с лютой шкалой — большие мишки, мощные, но не очень быстрые, с этими получалось хоть и подольше, но зато по тактике и не так всё складывалось проблематично как с шустрыми волками; еще появились вышки управления, которые хилят и вроде как усиливают в зоне их действия машины — отключаются они нашим копьем достаточно легко, если конечно аккуратно проползти по стелсяночке мимо многочисленных охраняющих их металлических монстров. Была пара зон где их было аж по три штуки оптом, и вот в этих местах приходилось немного попотеть ибо втихаря столько не отключить конечно было. Есть другой вопрос зачем это было делать? Никто по заданию к этому не принуждал, развлекали себя сами. В этом наверное и есть главная проблема в The Frozen Wilds — сайд-квесты в основном рутинные и скучные.… Expand
  16. Kostas_Spirou
    Jul 28, 2023
    6
    This Expansion is pretty nice but it feels like a chore at times.

    The new Armor Sets and Weapons are good, but the Frozen Wilds storyline is kind of uninteresting and it doesn't add anything valuable to the game. Granted, I really liked the setting, it's refreshing and something different from the main game. Also the new enemy types add some challenge to the game, but sadly there aren't    This Expansion is pretty nice but it feels like a chore at times.

    The new Armor Sets and Weapons are good, but the Frozen Wilds storyline is kind of uninteresting and it doesn't add anything valuable to the game.

    Granted, I really liked the setting, it's refreshing and something different from the main game.

    Also the new enemy types add some challenge to the game, but sadly there aren't many of them.

    Final Rating: "Decent" ~ 6/10.    … Expand
  17. cchenders40
    Oct 18, 2022
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Let's start with the positives:

    - there is a lot of content
    - the new machines (3 that are new with one being a tower and the rest are more difficult reskins of the base game machines.
    - the new map is great and a fun historical location
    - there are some cool gameplay additions and quality of life improvements.

    Negatives - the main story is not good. It’s a series of fetch quests and busywork, with a loose narrative about a AI and a brother and sister. The cutscenes really hammed it up with the drama and emotion and it just falls flat. One of the main characters is like crying over a AI that she thinks is a spirit and it just does not land with me, she just looks dumb for thinking it’s a mystical being. The brother sister relationship you are supposed to invest in is not gripping and doesn’t hit you in the feels like it wants you too.
    - the dlc is meant to be more difficult and what that means is bigger health pools but no real combat challenges.
    - the missions, fights, and exploration are really just more of the same. - some of the main quests you can tell are just filler. They will give you four objectives all over the map to do simple tasks and then those tasks branch out into smaller fetch quests. You can tell the devs were just trying to add to the run time of the short story. - the climbing is still terrible and uninteresting.
    - I yet again ran into more glitches on PS5. Textures were loading in weird, getting stuck in random flat terrain, the climbing messing up. I was really surprised by all these bugs in a AAA first party game.

    It’s a average to good dlc. If you were dying for more of this game get it and you’ll probably like it, if you didn’t love the base game I’d pass. Buy it on a sale if you can.    … Expand
  18. andrilitvynchuk
    Aug 23, 2023
    6
    I don't know, I was quite bored of the story. I liked the new weapons (especially elemental machine guns) which made fighting faster but overall I liked it less than the original game
  19. M1sfiT
    Sep 3, 2023
    5
    Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamessss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Horizon: Zero Dawn The frozen wilds

Awards & Rankings

41
#41 Best PS4 Game of 2017
40
#40 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2017
37
#37 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 70 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 66 out of 70
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 70
  3. Negative: 0 out of 70
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 16, 2018
    80
    Almost twenty hours in the Horizon's world brings new fun. Anything that extends this great game is great, and The Frozen Wilds prove this completely. [Issue#282]
  2. CD-Action
    Feb 8, 2018
    80
    A solid expansion to a great game. It even managed to improve combat which originally already had the best design among all the open world games I’ve played. [01/2018, p.68]
  3. Games.cz
    Jan 21, 2018
    80
    This addon can defend its existence with its head raised. The Frozen Wilds add on comes only with little improvements and a weaker story than the original game. But it does not lose the excellent gameplay and in 10-15hrs gametime it offers a selection of the best.
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