In Horizon Zero Dawn you play as tribal huntress Aloy in a future world, in which robotic animals roam the landscape, trying to find out why the machines have suddenly become increasingly hostile.

i originally didn't want to recommend HZD after about 20 hours, because the game seemed generic and wearisome. however, i'm happy i then started to focus more on the main quest, which reinvigorated my interest. the setting and the story are clearly the forte of the game. the graphics also hold up really well, it still looks stunning. however, the side quests are, in my opinion, quite boring. i didn't vibe with the main character during those quests at all, aloy seemed a bit like the classic boring hero heroing things. that all changed when i started only playing main storyline quests, which is what i would recommend everyone to do. while the world is beautiful, nature diverse and the different tribes quite distinct, there is actually little to explore as no place has an actual backstory or meaningful quests attached to it. barely any npcs one can really talk to are around, and the towns and settlements seem repetitive.
the main story however is dope, the mechanics feel very good and the machine fights feel epic af.

7/10

In Horizon Zero Dawn you play as tribal huntress Aloy in a future world, in which robotic animals roam the landscape, trying to find out why the machines have suddenly become increasingly hostile. i originally didn't want to recommend HZD after about 20 hours, because the game seemed generic and wearisome. however, i'm happy i then started to focus more on the main quest, which reinvigorated my interest. the setting and the story are clearly the forte of the game. the graphics also hold up really well, it still looks stunning. however, the side quests are, in my opinion, quite boring. i didn't vibe with the main character during those quests at all, aloy seemed a bit like the classic boring hero heroing things. that all changed when i started only playing main storyline quests, which is what i would recommend everyone to do. while the world is beautiful, nature diverse and the different tribes quite distinct, there is actually little to explore as no place has an actual backstory or meaningful quests attached to it. barely any npcs one can really talk to are around, and the towns and settlements seem repetitive. the main story however is dope, the mechanics feel very good and the machine fights feel epic af. 7/10