One of my major goals this week was to make sure to get some one on one time with Horizon Zero Dawn.
After a small intro demo (similar to the one showcased in the Sony Press event) We were set lose in a very small section of the world of Horizon Zero Dawn with a few simple tasks similar to what we had already seen. Graphically the game is still jaw dropping gorgeous. Fantastic lighting through all of the foliage, fun effects when attacking or hunting, and finally Aloy’s wild hair doesn’t seem to just clip through everything in sight (the main complaint I had last year). Controls were tight and even with little to no instruction I was easily able to jump on in and start playing. Using the Bow and different types of arrows was responsive with active “bullet time” for aiming and swapping arrow types, slowing down just enough to ensure your shots are true, however each time I resorted to using my staff I found combat to be slow and repetitive, however, based on most of the craftables shown so far, seem to center around the bow, so I;m willing to bet the staff is really only meant for emergencies. Crafting in the game seems to have the potential to being huge while only a few recipes were available during the demo there was tons of supplies to find in the world. Almost every plant had a craftable item attributed to it, not to mention the spoils from each downed robot….and the one Rabbit that I found and promptly killed. It seems that the world of Horizon Zero Dawn will have a fairly robust crafting system to also compliment the games underline RPG aspects, what will be able to be make however has yet to be seen. Over all I would easily say Horizon Zero Dawn is one of if not the best single player game experience to have at E3 this year. Hopefully they can spend the next few remaining months tightening up some small flaws and I can start thinking if I need the collectors edition….
