Horizon Zero Dawn in 2022 Review | Almost Amazing

Horizon Forbidden West is fast approaching so I decided to go back and review Zero Dawn. Horizon is one of the moment successful new IP's from Sony, it sold like crazy and the reception matched the sales. Everyone loved it game, the fans, the critics and eveyone in between has amazing complements to give Horizon. I for one really like this title, the combat is phenomenal offering so much freedom and player expression, the enemy design is bonkers good, probably the best enemy design in any open world game thanks to the variety, the designs and the amount of flexability you have in taking them down. It also doesn't hurt that everything you do in Horizon looks so freaking good all the damn time (minus the dialogue). The visuals and motif are top tier visual design and I cannot wait to see what Foridden West will bring to the table. However, I strongly dislike this story, these characters and how everything is written.
I hope you enjoyed the video! Don't forget to like and subscribe and do all that fun stuff.
Chow!
Introduction: 0:00
World: 4:25
Gameplay: 12:25
Glitches: 19:02
Story: 22:09
Conclusion: 26:32
#HorizonZeroDawn5YearsLater

[@agentblade47]

Nice review

[@ernesto8290]

Great video, you had a lot of great points

[@ryanphillips7863]

Thanks for watching mate, appreciate it!

[@kylosgame7124]

Great vid :)

[@robinvpharmd]

Very good review. Spot on with the story, character development/interaction. Gameplay and views are awesome. And on-point with the melee

[@ryanphillips7863]

Thanks mate, I really appreciate it. HZD is definitely one of the titles I was nervous to review given the majority of players glowing opinion.

[@ritwikism]

Damn, why does a channel with such excellent quality content have so few views!!

[@ryanphillips7863]

Haha thanks mate! I don't really mind to be honest, I just do this in my off time so video tends to be randomly released with decent waits between them. But hey if I do ever get the views to go full time I wouldn't be mad :D

[@jesperino3816]

I never leave comments on videos, but this was a superb video and a very nice review. Not so in depth that i got bored, but just the right amount to get me interested in the game. You should totally do other reviews, man. I liked it

[@drewtube6838]

Excellent Job, I hope I see a review from you about Forbidden West. I am on the fence about the sequel.

[@ryanphillips7863]

Thanks mate! Yeah I'll definitely be reviewing Forbidden West, from what we've seen in the trailers it's looking fantastic. I just hope they improve the storytelling

[@rahulmukherjee7092]

Need suggestion for a good game to buy in this epic games mega sale ...

[@valdarakgaming9475]

I skipped the story part, but thank you very much for your review!

[@xJay2002]

Hey I’m really interested in horizon forbidden west but I haven’t played zero dawn yet. Was just wondering if I should just watch videos about the story instead of playing it and hop into forbidden west or do you think it’s worth it to play zero dawn first? I’m just scared that by the time I finish zero dawn I will feel burnt out if I want to play forbidden west right away. Forbidden west seems better in every way from what I’ve heard and seen and I kinda just want to jump in straight away with the superior game idk?

[@ryanphillips7863]

Hey, yeah I totally get what you mean. That's kinda why I replayed Zero Dawn a few months out from release of FW. The sequel does look really good (story pending) but it also looks like a 1.5 update instead of a huge leap forward. If you're worried about burn out watching the story recap wouldn't be a bad idea. Alternatively pick up Zero Dawn and just b-line the campaign, proably only take you 15-20 hours to do so

[@dukeman8481]

What I like about the gameplay is you can approach enemies in different ways and getting a different battle outcome each time. The sidequests in general aren't great, but the challenge with fighting the machines make up for the experience. It can get repetitive overtime as there are too much focus on battling machines and nothing else to do in the gameworld, aside from hiking, which fortunately I enjoy. I love the landscape in this game. Especially how the artists recreate landscape and monuments from real life but in a post apocalypse setting. The nighttime in this game is one of the creepiest gaming experience I've had. I can see myself loading up this game more times in the future just to explore the city ruin during night time, which is what stand out most in the game for me. Writing and story, it's not perfect. There are some forced woke dialogs in relation with the gender of the protagonist, but it didn't get too unbearing. In general I like the Aloy, but she does have an annoying smug attitude at times because she thinks she knows more about the machines and the ancient civilization than the people around her. Aside from Rost, all the other NPCs are forgettable to me, I understand what they try to do with Sylens, but he just isn't interesting to me. One thing I wish is for this game is to have more mods, there are some but not enough to really expand the game. This is why people still play Skyrim and Witcher 3 to this day. It's not happening with Forbidden West either, since I guess it'll be a Sony exclusive for a while before getting on PC.

[@killerbsting1621]

I'm about to play this game again for the 4th time. I'm extremely excited for sequel

[@blinkspacestudio8892]

I am playing through this game again before the release of the new one. Man I am having fun and almost forgot how it feels to just SEE a tall-neck walking around in the distance. I really hope we get more of them in the new game they are a stand out feature for me.

[@KISS_MY_CONVERSE]

im really enjoying it too. I bought it again digitally for the ps5. And man i'm loving it. I thought i would get bored again and stop playing after a couple hours. But i think its the ps5 controller. Aiming is so much better compared to the ps4. I love the ps5 analog sticks. The xbox series x controller feels more comfortable but the analog stick is not as effective. I have HZD for the ps4, pc and ps5.

[@gotriceandshrimp]

Bland characters being bland isn't controversial. Aloy is the same person from beginning to end. No self assessment, no reflection, no growth. Almost amazing is a perfect way to describe this game. Good video.

[@ryanphillips7863]

Well said, I guess I thought it was a super controversial thing to say since Horizon is surrounded by a mountain of praise and love by the fans. And they usually say how good the "story/characters" are, and since I obviously don't share that view I figured people would get mad. But surpsingly no one has really disagreed with me so far. Thanks for watching!

[@mocker2325]

I really hope they do another killzone, great video! keep up the great work

[@ryanphillips7863]

I'd be down if they remake the OG trilogy to be honest. I never got around to playing Shadowfall because of the overall reception/play feedback but maybe I'll pick that up one of these days. Thanks for watching again!!

[@mocker2325]

@@ryanphillips7863 Yeah man! Love the videos! cannot wait for the God of War one coming up in a couple months

[@ryanphillips7863]

@@mocker2325 Yeah for sure, I'll probably have that vid out sometime in mid to late January. Just in time for the pc release

[@bricktop.]

Hmmm. I also LOVED this on my first playthrough but oddly didn't give it a second thought 5 mins after finishing it. I can't explain why.

[@ryanphillips7863]

Yeah I feel like HZD makes a great first impression and is really fun to play but it has a lack of depth with its story and open world. The gameplay is amazing but nothing surrounding that has much replay value

[@TheRandomGamerMoments]

Funny how you say Shadowfall failing lead to Horizon. If you listen to a Behind the Scenes documentary by NoClip, they actually only made that game as an engine test for Horizon. They didn’t want to go all in on a new IP with unproven tech, so they stressed the engine while being in a comfortable environment. Meanwhile, their intent was to go all in on Horizon.

[@Swiftchao]

Haven’t had the interest in picking this game up when it launched and whenever I ask my friends if they liked it or not they always just gave the generic answer that it was good so that immediately made me wary of the game and never ended up giving it a chance since I got alot of signals of a pretty world and boring generic open world story/gameplay. I might give it a shot for the combat since it sounds like it might be pretty fun to experience for myself.

[@jonathansoko1085]

Its incredibly average. If you enjoy generic AAA games like assassins creed, or days gone or far cry or that style of how they structure a game, then you will like it. For me its not much different than any other aaa game, same crap

[@ryanphillips7863]

Honestly It's worth picking up even just to prime yourself for Forbidden West since that looks incredible from the short 20 minutes we've seen, especially since you can get it dirt cheap on steam/playstation. HZD isn't amazing, or the best open world or Sony game but the combat really is worth experience + if you do get some sort of enjoyment out of the Ubi open world you'll have a good time.

[@alextownley9388]

The story is the complete opposite of being generic lol

[@wizarddragon]

@@alextownley9388 Ya I thought the story was fantastic. Makes me wonder if those who thought it was bland even read or listen to any data points

[@ItsAnGoose]

I can’t get into it, very nice visuals and interesting setting but that’s it. Don’t like the story or characters at all, combat is unsatisfying, feel like my time is wasted a lot watching exposition and walking from point to point. I do not recommend

[@mocker2325]

Ryan! what ya working on?

[@ryanphillips7863]

Hey mate, I just finished Deaths Door last night so I've started writing a review for that. Expect it in the next week or so

[@ESPmrBrough]

HZD is by far the best far cry game tbf. and i dont think the story was boring, it's almost soulslike in its execution, with you exploring a ruined world and piecing together the mystery, although souls games execute it a lot better and a lot more naturally. in today's age it's more important than ever that people be terrified of self replicating war machines, because they're almost within technological grasp...

[@ESPmrBrough]

allso, while i recognise this is a far cry game in terms of features and structure, i managed to avoid feeling like i was playing far cry, apart from that niggling deja vu as i climbed my first tallneck

[@dukeman8481]

I agree, that's what really captured me about the game is how the artist take real world landscape and features and put it in the game, with in a post apocalypse setting. And the dread and fear in existing in such a hostile environment. The story execution didn't inspire me as much, it was more of doing the exploration of the game world for myself.

[@jonathansoko1085]

Dont yall get tired of these par for the course fomulaic AAA games that do the same thing as all the others do? EDIT* yeah you pretty much said my opinion. Im also offended that anyone dared to tell me this is an rpg

[@ryanphillips7863]

Yeah I get where you're coming from and I can't really offer up a good argument but I guess it's all up to how much enjoyment you can get out of a "comfortable" game. Yeah HZD is like a lot of other titles but it does 1 or 2 things well enough to recommend to people.

[@jonathansoko1085]

@@ryanphillips7863 Its clearly a game for the typical console kind of customer. I dont mean that as a pejorative but someone who buys a console and used to formulaic AAA games is probably going to like a game like this.

[@dylana.9057]

Horizon indeed uses the formulaic design of other open world games. But its close approach to its story, makes it feel like the side quests are part of an ensemble that is thematically tied to what the story tells. She wonders around the world but it's because it's a quest of search of identity and purpose, in that sense, Aloy develops a purpose in her life , to help people and protect this world. Which is who she seems she had become in horizon 2.

[@ryanphillips7863]

@@jonathansoko1085 100% it is. It takes little risks and sticks to what people proven they like, most obvious with the world structure. I'm hoping Forbidden West will take a few more risks, at the very least it's added quite a few interesting gameplay elements that surely will change exploration/gameplay in a big way

[@ryanphillips7863]

@@dylana.9057 Hmmm okay I get that now. Your description of the stories connection to the world is fantastic, and yeah thematically that is fitting. My issue is the cutscenes/characters and writing doesn't do enough for me while I'm paying attention to it. There's a big different between world building/themes and emotional core/story. It's why Dark Souls are god tier world building but not a "good story" since it isn't trying to tell one, if you get what I mean.

[@user-zz4co7ph4u]

I got it for FREE with Forzen West DLC I’m PS Premium Replaying it after 3 years When I saw the Trailer I was blown away then 2 years later I played it and got stuck on a level so I threw it out but sometimes kept calling me back so I gave in and honestly i had to find my footing on this game now I like it but not love it yet we will see

[@gigteevee6118]

Thank you for working out why I couldn’t connect with this game and found much of it boring, the main character and story was just so dull and poorly paced with no depth or progression. Not one I’ll be revisiting in denial. You deserve more views for your hard work, keep on keeping on!

[@ryanphillips7863]

Ayy that's awesome that I could give you that experience. I think this is the first time something like this has happened to me. The story/characters are a real drag honestly, so little of it makes me want to be around the characters. I really hope Guerilla games have learned from their time writing this game that they take a huge leap forward with Forbidden West because the gameplay so far looks astounding.

[@Costinmusca]

I'd say that playing as a generic "ancient robot" with a randomly named AI or something like that instead of Aloy would've been a much more interesting approach and also would've made for many of the dialogue choices to be more.. understandable. I also think that it would've opened up to some interesting character development and evolution dynamics. Regarding Horizon Forbidden West, I believe that it won't be any better than Zero Dawn, maybe even worse, but more complex.. and with complexity comes more room for.. error.

[@AbleAnderson]

lol did he really say this was the best looking game until breath of the wild came out? That has to be a joke

[@swimmerboy172]

It must be a joke. Breathe of the wild runs on a cell phone SOC. Horizon is 4k HDR 170fps....

[@JustMyOpinion-]

This game will have you so immersed, and in dredd when visiting some areas of the map, seriously and like yourself I completed the game 110% but that was only until I played it again during lockdown in 2020 after years of it just sitting in my Steam library, the main story for me was intresting enough to keep you intrested until you actually found out what the hell was going on, I remember defeating the final boss and skipping the ending cutscene

[@HansAlRachid]

The game never really clicked with me to be honest. I thought it had interesting enemy designs, good weapon mechanics and all that, but it never really dared to be challenging - even on the highest difficulty. Had they maybe made some enemies a bit faster, added a couple more threatening attacks to their repertoire and, most importantly, made resources far more scarce, I think I would have loved the game. I can acknowledge that that wasn't the sort of experience they were going for, but I would have appreciated some sort of extra challenging difficulty mode or something for idiots like me. The story and characters I could take or leave - practically all mainstream games tend to just feel like off-brand Hollywood movies in that regard nowadays, which is the most milquetoast thing a story can be to me. Boring as hell, but inoffensive. Horizon did have its setting going for it though, which I thought was really fun.

[@WeeZz95]

You kinda missed the best thing about this game. The movement/combat fluidity. This game is the only one I've ever played where the character seems human. I went into AC after this and the mc feels like a puppet that can't fucking run properly. The movement animation and controls are by far superior to any other game out there. Trying to play the witcher after this (a game I love) is so disappointing. everything feels stuck, movements are jankey at best. Hogwarts is a little bit better but still far away.

[@dylana.9057]

*Almost 🤣🤣🤣

[@ryanphillips7863]

Oh so close!

[@dylana.9057]

@@ryanphillips7863 right that's made me laugh . I think you could have talked about how everything that makes the open world in that game is tied to the story and to aloy's quest. That makes the world and the story feel like one tight coherent package. Ex : the heart shaped mechanical flowers.

[@WolfRazor]

Personally just picked this game up for forbidden West. I'm a few missions from the ending. This game isn't a masterpiece like people say, it's not even great at times. The gameplay is fun and has some good experimentation. The stories of the machines and the design is fantastic world building. Apart from that characters have no growth in this game which makes the very eventful story come off as bland, the writing is so inconsistent. The oseram main (side) missions is incredibly generic and cliche storytelling compared to the great main plot is an insult. But this has such a strong structure for the sequel to flourish. I just think the over hype didnt do this game any favours in terms of coming to my own opinion as I felt let down that it didnt reach my expectations in any other area except the backstory of the world and some of the gameplay. So far it feels like a high 7 out of 10. At least playing this game will make the sequel be a much better experience to compare and see the major improvements. Also no hate for those who really enjoyed this game or even love it and praise it as one of their favourites. For me personally it lacks a lot for it to be great. It only good is some areas and only excels in others which brings conflict with the final product

[@alexsp7086]

Game is pure ollocks...

[@heavensea141]

I do not played Horizon zero dawn, watch story recap of it instead. Awesome review! Educated commersial diver in real life. The ability to dive explore underwater its a must for me in open world games. Horizon forbidden west its my main reason I'm getting a Playstation 5.

[@KISS_MY_CONVERSE]

i disagree nobodies trying to replicate far cry 3. Plus far cry 3 is overrated anyway.

[@PetrPetrovich]

it's story is boring? sorry, disliked and stopped listened there.

[@sol5916]

It's just so lame. Feels like it was written by some homeless blonde girl with dreadlocks