A brand new game has been released today and I happen to have it! That game, which is a PS4 exclusive, is Horizon Zero Dawn. I happened to have it delivered from Amazon today and was able to try it out for the first time this evening.

This game has been getting rave reviews from a lot of major gaming sites and so I had to give Horizon a try especially since it is a large open world game.

With all of that in mind, it’s time to talk about my Horizon Zero Dawn impressions. Now before I go any further, I do have to say this next word: “SPOILERS!!!!” Do not go any further if you do not want to know certain aspects of the game especially the beginning parts of it.

If you’ve seen screenshots of the game or have played the game itself today, it appears that the game takes place in a more primitive time in Earth’s history based on the way the characters and other people in the game, act and look.

This is actually not the case though as the game takes place 1,000 years in the future. At some point in the past, technology had gotten so advanced that it just seemed to have gotten out of humanity’s control and basically has run amok over the planet.

There are giant mechanical beasts that roam the Earth which makes it seem like Jurassic Park, but with machines as the dinosaurs.

Once I get done installing the game, I launch it and prepare myself to be thrust into this awesome game world. Let me tell you, the game world looks so beautiful. It is full of mountains, waterfalls, caves, trees bending and moving in the wind and gorgeous shots of the sun above the mountains or going down for the day.

The game starts off showing the main character of the game as a baby and the father taking her to the tribe they are originally from so that the baby can be blessed and hear the name of this baby for the first time which is Aloy.

 

You also find out that the baby currently has no mother and that both her and her father have been outcast from the main tribe.

The game’s story/narrative jumps forward a little bit to where Aloy is now a little girl who is starting to slowly explore and understand the world she lives in. She also finds out very harshly what it means to be an outcast and you really start to feel for her.

She runs away after being shunned from an older woman and other children and she suddenly falls down an opening in the ground and into a cave. This is where you start to learn some of the game’s mechanics and slowly start to learn about where the game’s mechanical beasts may have come from.

Aloy eventually finds a dead body while exploring the cave, but is also trying to find a way out of there. The cave she is in has a lot of metallic doors and broken computer interfaces as well as parts of other technology from hundreds of years ago.

Now when she looks over the dead body that’s been there for a very long time, she finds something on the side of the head of the body that lights up. She picks it up and puts it on the side of her head and a large glowing field of purple lights that look like lasers, appear in front of her.

That piece of what would be considered ancient technology is what will be a centerpiece of her actions and survival during the game. It also helps her to find other bodies that have recordings of certain events when those people were once alive and that will help you piece together what happened all those many years ago of how those giant machines came to be and started roaming the Earth.

Down in the cave is where you also learn to do certain actions such as crouching down and activating that nice little piece of technology to help with certain areas or to find more recordings.

Eventually she finds an opening and her father helps her out of the cave. After you complete that part, the next thing that happens is that her father takes her out into the wilderness to teach her how to survive and hunt.

This is where you start to see some of the living machines roaming around and some have a name. Aloy’s father tells her that the smaller beasts walking around are known as Watchers. This is also where you learn to be stealthy and try to sneak around those beasts all the while watching a stealth meter of sorts so that you don’t hopefully alert them.

You also learn to collect things in the wilderness such as certain berries that will replenish your health, and other things that you can craft together to create arrows and other weapons that will be useful and essential.

 

A short time later, a person from the tribe has fallen and is in danger of being discovered by the metal beasts and it is up to you to retrieve him and bring him back to safety. This is another place where you learn other aspects of that tiny computer she wears that will help her avoid danger.

After all this, Aloy really wants to know about her mother and then her father tells her that a group of people in the tribe called the Mystics, would be able to give her that information, but they will not give it to her freely. She would have to compete in some special competition of sorts and win in order to get whatever she wants from the Mystics.

This is where the game jumps forward a bit to where Aloy is a bit older to where I would say late teens or possibly early 20s and the time is very near for her to participate in that competition. This is where I currently stop playing for the day, but I have really enjoyed what I played through and witnessed in the game so far.

The graphics are really good in this game and the game world in certain ways reminds me a lot of Skyrim, which isn’t a bad thing. The character models are well done and the living machines that have been encountered so far look amazing.

Well now that you’ve read my Horizon Zero Dawn impressions, you ought to check out the video below of a little bit of the experience I just talked about. This game is only a single player game and no multiplayer of any kind. Doesn’t matter to me though as I’m really enjoying the experience thus far.

I certainly plan on talking about my future impressions of the game as I delve further into it and explore more of this massive world. You’ll definitely want to check back.