Horizon: Zero Dawn - Guerilla Games

Horizon’s greatest strength is its protagonist, Aloy. Here is a woman who shirks the usual gaming stereotypes of women. Neither damsel in distress nor sex symbol, she is simply human. That that seems progressive in 2017 tells you much about the industry.

Crucially, she’s a character with multiple sides to her personality that go far beyond hunter and gatherer. She is at once fiercely aggressive and powerful, yet also naïve and questioning with childlike curiosity. Above all, she’s compassionate. These varying sides are apparent in the well-written script, though it’s disappointing that the associated dialogue choices have little tangible effect. Most importantly though, she is not sexualised by the player, though many male characters do leer at her and flirt. As a man, it’s certainly an eye-opener into the everyday sexism women frequently encounter.

As the protagonist, Aloy is emblematic of a game that champions feminism and diversity. An outcast from her tribe, she bears the weight of not only the pressures of womanhood, but of the outsider in general, fighting for recognition. Her tribe is led by matriarchs who literally live in the ‘womb’ of the mountain and, as the narrative unfolds, we explore Aloy’s origins and the pressures of a related woman striving to save humanity from extinction. This is a game about motherhood and living up to the expectations of our parents, set in a world of female leaders and often weak-minded men, all with a plethora of skin tones and sexualities. This might be a post-apocalyptic world, but in many ways it’s more progressive than our own.

It’s also a game about religion, depicted through shades of grey. Religion brings humanity together in times of crisis, giving them faith and purpose. But it also forges rifts between communities and causes people to act rashly. Each tribe encountered worships its own deities, be they gods or machines, but faith can breed false hope. Humanity, like the machines, is just as easily corrupted. Science and technology are a foil to religion but are equally flawed, capable of destroying the world as much as saving it. 

And what a world it is! Horizon takes full advantage of the PS4 hardware to deliver a hyper-realistic vision of Earth. Where most post-apocalypse games settle for a clichéd dystopia, here nature has regained its beauty. Whether scurrying through lush forests in morning fog, running across vast fields and deserts in the harsh glare of the sun, or climbing atop a frosty mountain to watch the sun set in vivid pinks, the game never fails to stun. And that’s before you uncover the twisting sci-fi hallways beneath the surface, seemingly taken straight from Alien. I have never taken as many photos as in this game – the lighting especially is superb and the included photo mode is almost a game in itself.

Through advancements in visuals and diverse storytelling, Horizon tells a clever and gripping narrative through polished, cinematic presentation. Aloy uncovers the secrets of the past to save her future, our future ingeniously flipped into her ancient history. Her overall narrative trajectory may be familiar and the side characters may be underwritten, but for the most part the story deftly side steps convention. 

It’s what you do in that world, though, that sometimes disappoints. For a game about robots taking over Earth, the gameplay is ironically mechanical. The player is presented with a huge map to explore – a map that rapidly and overwhelmingly fills with icons of places to visit and things to do. The brilliant storytelling is diminished to a series of checklists and quest tick boxes, the player fast travelling between locations in eager anticipation of the next story beat and ignoring the world that’s ripe for autonomous exploration. It’s an all too familiar rhythm from countless other open world games. Even the climbing and jumping is somewhat automated, complete with the odd awkward animation.

Thankfully there’s an inspired battle system. Scanning the impressively and intricately designed robots for weak points and exploiting them through an assortment of weaponry makes for satisfying combat, even if the customisation options aren’t quite as differing as I’d like. Firing arrows to dislodge a robot’s gun, feeling the chunky explosion as its armour tears off and then destroying it with its own weapon is where Horizon’s combat really shines. And that’s after you’ve overridden their A.I. and amusingly forced them to fight each other while you hide in the safety of long grass. Too bad the stealth mechanics used against the waves of repetitive human enemies are undercooked. 

The quests also don’t offer enough variety to make use of the different gameplay systems. Much of the game is spent modifying armours and weapons, as well as collecting natural resources to craft traps and potions, but rarely does the game provide enough challenge to warrant its diverse options. Combat is great, but relying on it too heavily becomes monotonous, though the rich storytelling does allow for some exciting set pieces.

For Aloy, precision is not enough – in her training as a hunter she strives for perfection. Horizon doesn’t reach perfection, it’s progressive story held back by dated mechanics and its mix of characters not matched by varied gameplay. It’s fitting, though, that a post-apocalyptic game is so forward thinking in crucial ways – even if science brings our downfall, the diversity of humanity will always be there to be celebrated.