Guerilla Games' reveal of Horizon: Zero Dawn immediately grabbed our attention with its gorgeous world, massive mechanical beasts, and intense combat scenarios. But in a behind-closed-doors demo of the game at E3 2015, the studio delved much deeper into Horizon's mechanics, flow, and backstory, all of which helped vault it to the top of my list of most exciting games of 2016.

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The project, which began back in 2011 and really ramped up production after the launch of Killzone: Shadow Fall, looks to be the most ambitious game Guerrilla has ever worked on. According to the studio, the single-player, completely open-world (meaning that anywhere you see, you can go) action-RPG falls halfway on the spectrum between the action-oriented open world games that Ubisoft has been producing for the past 7 years, and the most RPG-focused adventures that Bethesda works on.You play as Aloy, the woman who was featured front and center in the reveal footage. Looking like something ripped straight out of Pixar’s Brave, she has a special bond with the mechanical beasts that she hunts. Guerrilla stressed that Aloy isn’t just a murderer – the way she connects with the raptor-esque Watcher when she performs a stealth kill shows the sort of relationship she has with the inhabitants of the crumbled world around her.Throughout Horizon, you’ll be leveling up Aloy, crafting new items with the various materials you scavenge across the world, and visiting a King’s Landing-looking city that seems to be a safe haven from the machines that roam the wild. Guerrilla showed us a piece of concept art that featured a sun-baked city filled with a bustling marketplace and even some robo dogs that were just hanging around and not eating anybody. I can imagine collecting contracts, meeting other characters, and trading in my loot back at this hub.Of course, as far as the core combat goes, Horizon seems to deliver an incredibly intense experience. Watching Aloy set up a series of tripwires across two tall rocks, scaring a group of Grazers into running off, and seeing them set off the bombs and get completely blown apart showcased the neat sandbox elements that Guerrilla promised throughout Horizon. When it came to fighting the big hulking dino at the end of the demo, watching her target specific armor plates, shoot them off with her armor-piercing arrows, and attack the weaker core with a barrage of fire arrows cued us in to just how deep each of these massive encounters could be.Before the end of our demo, we asked the folks at Guerrilla if Horizon takes place on Earth, or some other weirdo planet. They definitely wanted to keep story spoilers to a minimum, but they told us that our Rewind Theater of the reveal footage highlighted some very interesting points. Take that for what you will, but we’ll definitely be following Horizon: Zero Dawn For all things E3, bookmark our E3 Hub

Marty Sliva is a Senior Editor at IGN. He once ate a whole blueberry. Follow him on Twitter @McBiggitty