There are a few games that I enjoy going back to regularly and playing through. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one, as I love spending a December being a whack-a-doodle around that landscape. There is something very wintry about its snowy, dangerous environments. Reminds me of Christmas. With magic.
The other big one is Horizon Zero Dawn, a game that connected with me the first time around during the PlayStation 4 era, and one that still resonates with me to this day. It’s in my top five games of all time, as it features a compelling story, a defined main character, and a world crisis that is as real as it is intense.
Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment and developers Guerilla Games and Nixxes have released the remastered version of Horizon Zero Dawn, featuring graphical enhancements that improve lighting in the world, foliage around the landscape (honestly, perfection to begin with), more landscape textures, and overall goodness with the environments. Also improved are the characters Aloy interacts with and how those conversations flow, something I didn’t immediately notice upon replay. The final big improvement to the game was how the crowd in cityscapes and villages are livelier and chattier. It’s the little things sometimes that improve a gaming world.
All this combined, the update brings the PlayStation 4 game up to graphical speed with that of Horizon Forbidden West, a move that most companies are making with older original games getting sequels these days. So, the big question about this update/release is, is it worth your time and money? I can only provide you with a resounding yes. If you own the game, then you pay $10.00 to upgrade it on the PlayStation 5, which is not bad considering some upgrades in the more recent past with other games were full price. If you don’t own it, the game comes in at $49.99, which is still a helluva price considering the adventure, the upgrades, and how much you’re going to get out of Aloy’s journey. There is a big journey to be had here.
So, sit back, sharpen those arrows, set those traps, and let’s capture this review quickly and easily.
Same gameplay
There is no doubt that Aloy’s journey is the same one that you might have experienced back in 2017. You will still get about 50+ hours of meaningful gameplay with Horizon Zero Dawn. You’ll find that the story is untouched and still impactful after seven years removed. And you’ll still find that Aloy is solidified as one of the stronger characters in the Sony family of games. There’s still a lot to love about the journey and gameplay in HZD.
If you have never played the game before, let me quickly enlighten you about how it works.
Story
The story of HZD begins on a small scale, where a young Aloy is an outsider who is raised by a Nora outcast named Rost. You experience her relationship with her pseudo father who gave up his world to develop one for her. A powerful sacrifice that sparks Aloy’s journey into greatness.
Aloy’s journey into the wilderness begins with her acceptance into Rost’s Nora tribe, a primitive people who worship Gods instead of machines. The tribe has all but shunned Aloy and Rost because Aloy is without a mother, details that are filled in later. The only way for the tribe to ‘un-shun’ Aloy is to have her take part in the Nora’s Proving, a trial that qualifies Nora wannabes to become officially a part of the tribe. It is a trial that has to be seen through without failing.
Ultimately, Aloy completes her trial, becomes a Nora, and is quickly put to the test when an evil tribe invades the Proving and sets the crisis of the story in motion by unleashing possessed robots onto the unsuspecting tribe. Once dealt with at the Proving, Aloy is tasked with figuring out what is possessing the robots who attacked the participants at the Proving, what is motivating and leading the evil tribe to try and destroy the Nora, and how all of this relates directly back to Aloy.
As I stated in 2017, this is a hell of a story. It starts quite small but gradually, and properly, begins to make Aloy’s world bigger and more dangerous. If anything could be a movie from the Sony family of games, this one is certainly close to that status solely on the well-constructed story and tone it carries. It’s just a beautiful adventure that has a range of moments that will at times make you gasp more than once. This is also a story that sets the wheels in motion for the sequel. Both games connect well together and the stakes become much larger once you get into Horizon Forbidden West. I love how they bridge together and how the antagonist in the sequel makes the big world in the first seem incredibly primitive and volatile.
Anyway, you’ll walk away from this game at the end feeling like there is more to hear about Aloy’s journey. You’ll also walk away satisfied with how each narrative act locks up with the next. There is nothing that doesn’t make sense and doesn’t fit well together like a LEGO piece. It’s just a wonderful adventure from beginning to end.
Gameplay
The gameplay and controls of this are probably some of the strongest designs in the Sony family. Nothing against God of War or Ghost of Tsushima, but the controls and how the gameplay works within HZD just feel natural.
The game is based in a third-person perspective and features massive lands for Aloy to explore, items to gather along the way, and robots to take down. The latter of the bunch was a huge deal when this game was announced years ago.
The promise of various animals turned robots with unique designs, weaknesses, and power made for exciting possibilities with how the gameplay worked. Guerilla Games delivered with their creative spins and massive moments that feature robots as dangerous as they are magnificent. You’ll get a range of creatures like massive T-rex robots that are quick and deadly in their actions, giant giraffes that you can climb and ride, and even fast and vicious large cats that simply want to end your life. You’ll see some visually appealing and fun creative models patrolling the dissolute world. Seeing isn’t as fun as interacting, though, and taking down these robots is a major part of HZD’s entertainment value.
Each robot has a weakness and multiple layers for you to traverse as you fight them. Some robots can be well armored, such as the Thunderjaw (T-rex), which has its core heart protected by several layers of metal. Aloy can scan robots like this, find out where their sensitive spots lie, and start working on taking them down. As boring as that description sounds, the fights are anything but. Guerilla Games did a great job of putting together aggressive and smart enemies, which added more to Aloy’s dangerous world. They move, dodge, and even protect themselves during fights, especially if it’s not going in their favor. It’s neat to see in motion and I’m still in awe with how well it is done.
The actual fighting mechanics for Aloy are interesting. They lie somewhere between primitive bow/arrow and technological solutions that provide her with an advantage. The arrows keep her in a more advanced adventure, as they can range from fiery arrowheads to heads that can embed and tear apart technology on the robots. Her world, the creatures that live within it, and the remnants of it fit perfectly with the story and are fun to navigate and explore. It’s neat to see her fight and she is gradually more well-armed as the journey progresses. She goes from simple bow/arrow to laying down tripwires for animals to cross and become damaged from. This is a straight-up hunter who has all the methods she needs to put up a good fight against anything.
During the fighting, the controls are primo. Hearing the bow strain as she pulls it back and having the ability to slow down the fight to properly target spots on so robot is so damn smooth on the controller. I didn’t think they could improve this portion of the game, but it feels like they have made it a bit tighter in its execution. It is probably my imagination but it feels better on the PlayStation 5 controller. Anyway, the control design and execution for HZD is amazing and it still feels solid after all these years.
The backend of the game is filled full of crafting from gathering materials (and animals), which can lead to more weapons and ways to upgrade weapons for Aloy. The skills tree is also extensive though finite in what it brings, so as you progress toward the end of the gameplay you will have a bevy of improvements that you can make with Aloy. This could range from how she fires arrows to how she can take over beasts and ride them. There are a lot of good goals that come with the backend of HZD and each is well-placed and worthy of your efforts.
Besides a big world to explore and a lot of secrets you can uncover especially some badass armor, this is the game in a nutshell. It features an amazing story, the world is very well defined and designed because of that story, and Aloy is the perfect hero to go on this game’s journey to become something greater than she expected. It’s perfect.
Enhancements
The enhancements to this 2017 game were well-made by developers Guerilla Games and Nixxes. They have put together a worthy upgrade to an already perfect game and have brought it closer to PlayStation 5 quality.
The first enhancement you will notice is that the foliage in the environment is a lot more lush, and active, and feels more like real-world foliage should feel. The environments are very much more alive than what was in the original release, which just helps build Aloy’s world a bit better. If you were saying, “Oh my God” from the lush green fields of a jungle teeming with plants, bugs, and trees, then this version will probably make you accidentally and impressively curse with admiration. It’s so much better with these additional foliage details.
In addition to the green, the game has more defined textures in the desert areas. You will notice more unique grooves in rocks, the ground looks worn and walked on, and even some more detail in the snow areas of the game. The devs went back and made sure that they weren’t just adding huge plants, animals, and effects to make the world visually more defined. They added textures that brought even the somewhat boring parts in the first release a bit more to reality.
What’s even cooler with these desert areas are the water areas, which now have a definitive and clear bottom to them. You can see rocks and details in the water, though you sadly cannot swim under the water. I was slightly disappointed with that omission, as it is fun in the sequel, but at the same time it wasn’t featured in the original game so there isn’t a need to do that with this one. It’s surface-level swimming but with underwater visibility from said surface. Anyway, it’s gorgeous.
To help improve all of the above, the game also has enhanced lighting features. While you’ll see a minor amount of that enhancement in the desert areas, you will see a major amount of it in the more foliage-spread areas, where light shines down through trees. The lighting is amazing and it just brings the world more visual realness. Lighting is generally an underappreciated element of visuals in a game, so make sure to appreciate it when you see it. It adds more realism to a scene and can define meaningful moments. The game’s moonlight is also equally as impressive if not hauntingly beautiful.
While visuals and lighting are good, sometimes you need to up the game presentation with a more active crowd. The enhancement to city crowds interactivity, and chattiness, of NPC characters have been improved. You will find this when you enter the Carja Sundom for the first time. It’s active with people and they are all chattering about different things. The aliveness of the crowd helps to sell the kingdom’s activeness and represents how life is flowing inside a progressively rebuilding environment. The interactions and the character models when you activate conversation with characters have also been improved with this update. There’s a lot to love and appreciate about this aspect of the remastered game.
Beyond these major points, the game now looks and acts like a PlayStation 5 game with load times. This update has embedded everything you would expect from a PS5 experience, making it certainly worth the price of admission.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap this review up.
Conclusion
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered from developers Guerilla Games and Nixxes is a worthy update from the 2017 game. The update brings many visual enhancements, improves environments, and creates better character interactions. It brings a great game up to PlayStation 5 standards and helps bridge the gap between the original and the sequel.
