Finally started my playthrough over the weekend (well, Saturday mainly). Some first impressions:
-Even on PS4, this game is visually arresting. Definitely one of the top three best-looking games on the system IMHO; I will prob carry over later-game to PS5 in the future where it'll look even better (as well as 60 FPS)
-The customization options for accessibility and difficulty are pretty robust and welcomed; I'm playing on Normal difficulty, but the option to scale specific sections up or down depending on preference (or time constraints) is always appreciated
-Controls feel pretty smooth, though certain movements aren't seemingly explained when I think they could be done earlier (sprinting for example, comes just a couple sections later than it probably should)
-I hope the dude partnered with Aloy early on becomes a bit more useful later on; right now he's just kinda "there" for exposition but he's not been that useful in the early combat tbh.
-The platforming and navigation elements are pretty enjoyable; I don't mind the color-coded too much and I know from some footage showing things later in the game it opens up greatly for freer exploration.
-As someone with zero experience w/ ZD the early part does a good job briefing the main elements of importance from that story.
-Lance Riddick
I'm very early into the game FWIW; looking to get a decent bit further through the week tho I won't have too much time until the weekend to play (and even then, I'm still finishing up other games so that's time shared). But so far I've been enjoying what's on offer. Gonna try getting acclimated a bit more with the combat controls in particular; I know you can cheese grinding in these type of games to just go beast mode at the touch of a button, but I'd still like to take the time to learn some battle control options more explicitly.
Welp, don't want to spoil myself too much further so I'm outta here!