Horizon: Zero Dawn is the first game new game Guerrilla Games have worked on since the birth of their shooter Killzone, and it looks likely that it’s set to be the next big franchise they’ll focus on for the foreseeable future. That’s doubly sure when looking at the hot off the presses scores the game is receiving a full week before launch, with publications now free to wax lyrical about the action RPG. Horizon Zero Dawn looks like it’s everything fans have been waiting for, if general consensus is to be trusted.
Here’s just some of the reviews making the round this morning.
IGN – 9.3/10
Across a vast and beautiful open world, Horizon: Zero Dawn juggles many moving parts with polish and finesse. Its main activity – combat – is extremely satisfying thanks to the varied design and behaviors of machine-creatures that roam its lands, each of which needs to be taken down with careful consideration. Though side questing could have been more imaginative, its missions are compelling thanks to a central mystery that led me down a deep rabbit hole to a genuinely surprising – and moving – conclusion.
Polygon – 9.5/10
Horizon Zero Dawn discovers a stronger sense of its own personality in one game than Killzone ever managed across half a dozen. Guerrilla Games has long been developing some of the most buzzed-about games in the industry; with Horizon, it feels like it has finally found its own voice, one worthy of all that buzz.
Gamespot – 9/10
This is first departure from the Killzone series for developer Guerrilla Games, and though you might think the team took a risk by stepping out of its FPS comfort zone to create a third-person open-world action game, you’d never know it was their first rodeo. For every minor imperfection, there’s an element of greatness that recharges your desire to keep fighting and exploring Zero Dawn’s beautiful and perilous world. Guerrilla Games has delivered one of the best open-world games of this generation, and redefined its team’s reputation in the process.
Giantbomb – 5/5
Horizon: Zero Dawn is familiar but also really refreshing. It’s not a short game (I spent around 30 hours with it), but the storytelling still feels concise and efficient. The combat has some nice options that make encounters fun, even when you’re just stacking up stealth kills from the relative safety of a bush. And the presentation end of the game holds up its end of things with a solid soundtrack, great voice acting, and a cohesive design that makes all its disparate parts fit together. All in all, it’s a great game, it’s Guerrilla’s strongest release to date, and I suspect I’ll go back in after the fact to clean up whatever side quests and errands I have remaining, if only to spend a little more time in that world.
The Jimquisition – 9.5/10
Horizon: Zero Dawn is just brilliant. I speak as a critic who has played more “open sandbox” games than any one human should and has grown so very weary of them. I should have gotten sick of this thing in an hour, but I’ve been glued to it for days and days and I don’t want it to end. I love existing in this world – a world of desperate survival but of growing culture and a sense of hope. A world of giant metal animals that promise some breathtaking fights.
Destructoid – 7.5/10
Horizon Zero Dawn is a fascinating premise wrapped in a tortilla of tropes. It has detective vision, radio towers, skill trees, masked load screens (Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland gets no credit for popularizing this in 2005, by the way), and a world map littered with billions of points of interest — all stuff you’ve seen before. But after you set up and execute a cunning plan to decimate a pack of giant robot crocodiles and that smile hits your face, it’s more excusable.
So that certainly looks like another homerun for Sony, as the growing PS4 exclusive library maintains a high bar of quality for fans of the console. Horizon: Zero Dawn is out on February 28th for folks in the USA, and the day afterwards for everyone else (including us). Will you be buying it on day one?
Last Updated: February 20, 2017
Ektso Gedinkja
February 20, 2017 at 10:23
yes, yes and yes
Geoffrey Tim
February 20, 2017 at 10:42
GIVE IT TO ME
miaau
February 20, 2017 at 12:50
Sigh. You know, those of that do not get sent copies for evaluation have to buy things.
Some senstitity might nice… Or not. As you wish.
Guild
February 20, 2017 at 10:46
Preordered 🙂 Now I wait, almost time.
RinceThis
February 20, 2017 at 10:53
NOW!
Captain JJ
February 20, 2017 at 11:28
LATER!
Banana Jim's Final Form!
February 20, 2017 at 11:28
Sadly… yes…
Mistake Not...
February 20, 2017 at 11:07
Wait, so this game looks good, has some good concepts behind it, and looks enjoyable… and it actually is a good game. This kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore. I will melt this game down and mainline it into my veins.
Fox1 - Retro
February 20, 2017 at 11:08
50 Shades brighter?
Kromas Ryder
February 20, 2017 at 11:11
I might just get a PS4 for this and TloU2.
Ottokie
February 20, 2017 at 11:13
I want to know if these scores came from a PS4 or a PS4 Pro
Viper_ZA
February 20, 2017 at 11:44
Agreed, I have this on pre-order but not “upgrading” to a “not so Pro” any time soon.
If the frames drop out, I will be disgusted to say the least xD edit*** reading some more it seems it will be “locked” at 30 FPS on both consoles, however, I have seen drops on the standard PS4 in certain videos, that I can deal with as long as it’s not too frequent. PS4 Pro will probably unlock the frames / boost it slightly in the future, but I don’t see 60 FPS happening.
Original Heretic
February 20, 2017 at 11:20
It’s Farcry in 3rd person, with a cool future twist.
Not a bad thing, though.
HairyEwok
February 20, 2017 at 11:22
Horizon: Zero Dawn is basically what would happen if Skynet was a environmental conservationist.
Captain JJ
February 20, 2017 at 11:27
Everyone who doesn’t have a PS: 0/10
miaau
February 20, 2017 at 12:26
Yeah, Last of Us and this are two games that have made me, albeit briefly, think that owning both Xbox One and Ps4 cannot be that bad…….
Fox1 - Retro
February 20, 2017 at 12:40
TLOU 2, Uncharted 4, H:ZD and God of War are the reasons I would get the PS4.
miaau
February 20, 2017 at 12:50
you make a good point…….
konfab
February 20, 2017 at 11:53
There are three words that are preventing me from buying this.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Captain JJ
February 20, 2017 at 11:54
There are four words preventing me from buying ME:A
EA and 1000-fooking-Rand (on pc)
miaau
February 20, 2017 at 12:25
I know, I know.
In theory, I have the money to buy it (Xbox), but sheeez. It is pricey…….
Captain JJ
February 20, 2017 at 12:15
Famously known in the pc universe as: Horizon: Zero Access.
Lu
February 20, 2017 at 13:40
Rub it in…..
DragonSpirit009
February 20, 2017 at 12:22
Damn… I would really like this game. It would cheer me up so much!
TJames47
February 20, 2017 at 12:48
Hopefully I will be done with this when ME:A comes knocking.
Peter Pan
February 20, 2017 at 14:47
Guess what I’m going home to do today? That’s right – pre-order the game. I have been eagerly awaiting the reviews. I can finally make use of my PS4 which has been sitting in the corner of my room feeling lonely while playing second fiddle to my PC.