Sounds like you need to read up more then, combat and the game is not repetitive, see all the previews. Think some of you see what you want to see. There is also a lot of adventure, what you are saying goes totally against what people who played the game for 4 hours found. There is also nothing wrong with a game focusing on the action, many games fail at the most important part of games....GAMEPLAY, looks like this game nails it. I am sick of open world games with mediocre combat. IF you want something else there is a lot to choose from that might suit your tastes.
You're being a bit too defensive. I'm not trying to attack the game or call it shit or anything like that. I've seen most of the previews along with this most recent one, which was well over an hour plus of gameplay...
You misunderstand me, aside form some animations issues, I never said there was anything wrong with the action. I just simply wished there were other mechanics to complement the combat, or more varied ways to interact within the game's environments.
With other incentives besides for finding loot or combat purposes. GAMEPLAY would still be the unifying factor, since it could also extend beyond just combative.
With how absolutely terrible many open world games play and control I'm glad there is such a focus on the combat. I'll also add a lot of things you are saying you wish were in the game... are in the game. We have dungeons with a focus on platforming, puzzles and combat, there is environmental exploration as well as platforming and climbing, there is a pretty large amount of agency and reactivity with both the enemies as well as the environment. We've seen logs used as traps, we've seen tree's and a lot of the environment get destroyed and react to the enemies, and so on.
The
majority of recent open world games tend to focus on combat as the heart of gameplay. The focus here most likely stems from Guerrilla's history as an action themed game developer. Which looks be well refined in that aspect.
With Horizon being their first non-linear open world game, they are following noticeable current design trends. Which itself it not necessarily a negative, but for me is limiting of a greater experience.
The worlds get bigger and more detailed, the AI gets a little more sophisticated, the IQ improves, but the way I am able to engage them are almost always the same. My agency is limited.
All of the elements you've listed as a variety of interactions, are the same ones I brought up as being too conventional. All of that agency is inservice to combat or finding items to craft for combat.
None of them really serve as their own experience apart, but are systems to supplement the core combative gameplay, which is understandable being an action based RPG.
My issue is the lack of interactivity with an incentive other than that. I would love to see more sandbox styled design.
