Whenever I see a new trailer for Horizon Zero Dawn, I mutter to myself: “please don’t suck.” Based on the 30 minutes I played this week, things are looking promising, and it’s not just the big stuff: it’s the game’s smaller details, too.




My favorite a-ha moment happened when the developers were guiding us through a tiny section of the game, similar to one seen in the game’s trailers. Compared to those, however, it felt more like a real game; the player could pop into menus, accept quests from characters, and buy items from vendors.

While the developer was picking up a piece of armor, I noticed an option for the player to “create a job.” Wondering if it was merely a piece of placeholder text, I asked the developer what that did. As it turns out, it’s going to be super useful!


How many times have you wanted to buy a new piece of equipment and been short one random piece of crafting material? It’s annoying, especially if you’re not sure where to track down what you need. In Horizon Zero Dawn, the “create a job” option will generate a quest to give you the items to buy the equipment.

Every game needs to copy this idea ASAP.