I unfortunately had to stop right at what I believe is the last mission of the game (but one nice thing about this game is when you think it may be over, it's not). I am selling the game to another GAFer (I can wait to finish. I want someone else to experience this game early!)
But at 33 hours, I can review 99% of the game, so here is my review. Forgive the sporadic thoughts of this review. It's not very eloquent but I wrote it on lunch break at work.
This is a fantastic open world action adventure game with Diet RPG elements. It reminds me of the best parts of inFamous 2, MGSV, RDR, The Witcher 3, and Zelda Breath of the Wild blended together. It's very smart, cleanly polished and presented in almost every one of its mechanics. It avoids risky gimmicks in trade for cleaning up most game mechanics we've gotten used to in the above games until they're just seamless and fun. And the story is beyond anything I expected for GG. It's controlled, precise in its delivery. In fact, everything here is. It's just a big tapestry of consistent, polished, believable storytelling, game mechanics, gameplay systems, visuals, and music. A nearly unblemished gem in modern console gaming.
Story:
This is not the most surprising or mindblowing premise, plot, or storytelling ever done. In fact, you already know the premise that this takes place in the future after human civilization has toppled. The question is why, though? How did this happen? GG does a fantastic job of fleshing out the "why" and "how" into a web of elegant complexity that stretches from the lore of the past into the politics of the future. It's well thought out and never ceases to be interesting to know what's going on. They reveal it to you one sensible bit at a time, with major elements coming straight from the cutscenes and missions, to smaller more perplexing elements being fed through lore collectibles, data logs, and audio logs. This ensures that by the end of the game, you have your main questions answered, but there's always more answers to questions for the explorer that seeks them.
Although the plot risks getting a little complicated to follow, the writing is so air-tight and succinct in explanation that you can stay plugged in. My only suggestions are that the cutscenes should be archived, the audio logs should be controllable, and they should include an encyclopedia of characters (maybe they have this? Honestly I didn't check and I didn't beat the game). Regardless, Aloy sometimes summarizes particularly important audio logs that risk being confusing afterward, e.g. "So that means that ___," which always helps ground you in the bottom-line of what is going on. She asks very intuitive and intelligent questions that the player is asking in their minds, making the dialogue very satisfying to watch. This helps the writing stay tight and focused. There are dialogue branches you can choose from. They're interesting in that they don't SEEM to significantly change the plot (though some might, idk!) but they let you steer Aloy's personality a bit. For example, you can sometimes choose between a compassionate, witty, or aggressive response to an NPC. Sometimes these are pivotal plot moments that get remembered. It's fun to respond the way you want to be remembered, or to elicit certain reactions in pivotal moments. Even the side missions have enjoyable side characters and story to explore that flesh out the entire world plot, although the gameplay is very predictable with that.
One more thing I'll say is that the diversity in this game is fantastic. Aloy is the best written female protagonist since Ellie. She's strong and full of passion and conviction, but doesn't wear skimpy outfits. The game makes no sexual comments about her. And there are so many important NPCs of color, both male and female, that I feel like this is another instance where the game consistently nails its reality. Humans of the future are going to be all kinds of shapes and sizes.
Gameplay:
Ooooo, this is good. The combat focuses on projectile weapons, and it's always strategic and important moment-to-moment. I was impressed by how many times I was forced to use something other than my bow to take out powerful enemies, like setting traps and luring my foes into explosive chaos. You also need to use a variety of elemental additions to your weapons to defeat enemies more easily.
The game also streamlines RPG mechanics that usually risk being convoluted or obscure into something straightforward but still fun (at the risk of not being complex enough for some). I like the seamless and straightforward upgrade system. You unlock weapons and gear as you find new merchants, which you get by exploring (it expands your trade network as a brave). Then you buy them as you collect rarer parts and get wealthier. So the difficulty pacing is well-regulated IMO. I will admit that it took a couple of hours before it all felt intuitive to me.
I also want to say that the beginning area is beautiful and introduces you to the story, mechanics, and a couple of side quests, but don't think that's representative of the whole game.
This game is rich, huge, and full of things to do, and none of them feel pointless or padded. It completely avoids Ubisoft syndrome IMO. There's things to do littered on the map, but they have a purpose. Most are optional, but if it's going to lead to a rare beast to hunt, or some cool lore, or a beautiful new area, or a new tallneck to climb, why wouldn't you want to go check it out? This game nails the feeling of continually rewarding and reinstating curiosity.
The beast design? Sweet Moses. Every beast has its animations, its behavior, it's moves and personality, its weaknesses and strengths, and every encounter is thrilling. Even the mundane moments where you're just sneaking up to some Grazers (gazelle-like machines) for a hunt for some blaze and machine parts. However, the larger machine encounters are just amazing. Like boss fights strewn throughout. I hope in Horizon 2, the machine animals can be even more impressive. Being amazed by the size and power of a machine are my favorite moments in the game.
The human combat and encounters are not as intelligent and varied, and this is something they could improve in Horizon 2. The human enemies follow and shoot at you, much like inFamous enemies. But they don't flank, they're not great at avoiding fire, and this doesn't change with difficulty setting. Some better AI here would be more thrilling.
But interestingly enough, the times in the game where you have he option of infiltrating a human base camp or fortress feel a lot like MGSV or AC2, with alertness indicators, stealth options, and silent kills. It's not as deep as MGSV or AC2 obviously, but I appreciated that they attempted the mechanics without ruining them or making them feel unnatural or lazy. Stealth exists in this game because you have to hunt.
My main criticisms are that I hope Horizon 2 has more varied melee combat. I want something more powerful than a spear (other braves have hammers and axes and shit. Why can't I?) and more combos like air slashes. It would be a great risk-reward to make melee symbiotically trade off with projectile combat.
Also, the side quests are not any different in gameplay variety than the main story. You track trails, you shoot things, you climb and platform, you stealth infiltrate. However, the little stories that get you there are really fun! I hope in Horizon 2, they get even more creative with side quests.
My other thing is that I've only visited 2 cauldrons, so I don't have much to say about them. One was easy and simple, the other was just 1 enemy that was too difficult for me so I had to reload to escape. I want them to patch to make sure you can escape cauldrons. However, the cauldrons themselves are very cool/important for the plot, and the reward is very compelling.
In fact, all of the side quests, errands, and things to do feel worthwhile. There's not as many of them as other giant RPGs, but what is here is helpful to complete, fleshes out the lore, and always at least increases your XP and gives you new useful crafting items.
One thing I really like about this game is they tell you what your rewards are before you embark on any quest, so you know if it's worth your time. Very streamlined RPG mechanics. I never feel lost, out of place, or disconnected from my options. I know where everything is, how to get it, and why it's there. It's a huge breath of fresh air in convoluted obscure adventure games with RPG like Dark Souls.
Visuals:
I don't need to write much about this. It's the prettiest console game thus far. And it's open world. Holy shit. It almost never lags or stutters in framerate. The textures remain sharp at almost every distance. The textures aren't quite as sharp as Uncharted 4 in some places (like mountains or dirt), and the facial animations wildly vary in quality from cutscene to NPC dialogue, but the whole product is still a visual masterpiece.
Soundtrack:
Beautiful. It's not the most memorable soundtrack ever, and this is a new franchise, so the tunes aren't yet embroidered with nostalgia, but the music in this game is well-designed. Soft orchestral pieces curl into the environmental sounds as you explore alone. Bombastic arrangements kick in during battle and moments of strife and victory. And different renditions of Horizon's theme sneak in at well-timed plot intervals. It's very well-done.
I could go on but I'll just keep answering questions. The game is phenomenal and worth the price of a PS4, if not a Pro!
I think most would agree that this is at least an ~8/10 (great) game for anyone IMO. But for me it's at least a 9/10 (amazing).
I'm saving 10/10 for Horizon 2 lol
