Game Info Platform PS4 Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment Developer Guerrilla Games Release Date Feb 28, 2017

Horizon Zero Dawn feels, in some ways, like a refutation of developer Guerrilla Games' nearly 20-year history. Since being founded in 2000, this Amsterdam-based studio has stuck almost entirely to a single series: the drab sci-fi shooter franchise Killzone. The successes and failures of individual entries in that franchise have varied — 2009's Killzone 2 was arguably a high point, while PlayStation 4 launch title Killzone: Shadow Fall was a disappointment — but regardless, Killzone has never really seemed to catch on in the gaming zeitgeist compared to popular competitors like Halo and Call of Duty. It seemed like Guerrilla Games might be trapped churning out Killzone games forever until the surprise announcement of Horizon Zero Dawn at E3 2015. Here was something stunningly different from the moody, dark shooter heritage of this team: a gorgeous, colorful, third-person open-world game that focused on tracking and hunting massive robotic beasts. Could they really do this? The answer is yes. Horizon Zero Dawn is a refreshing change of pace for Guerrilla Games. While playing it, I couldn't shake the feeling that this game was made by people excited to be working on it, and that excitement was contagious.

It is post-post-post-apocalypse Horizon Zero Dawn is a post-apocalyptic game, but not of the variety we've seen lots of in games like Fallout 4 and The Last of Us. It is post-post-post-apocalypse: hundreds if not thousands of years after whatever catastrophe befell society. In this strange, barely familiar world, the massive skyscrapers and technology of our modern civilization have been abandoned. What humans remain form tribes, hunting with bows and spears and living a life shaped around an earth-based, shamanistic religion. These human tribes also have to contend with another force for survival: the machines, giant robots that resemble dinosaurs and other animals. These terrifying opponents were left behind by the Ancient Ones, before the old world ended, and little is known about them other than that they're equipped with weaponry and power that humans of the new world simply can't compete with. It's in this vision of the future that players take control of Aloy, a talented young huntress cast out from her tribe and desperately seeking answers about where she came from. Though she is in many ways the traditional video game protagonist — brisk in speech, unstoppable in power, ready and willing to go along with whatever quest she is given — she provides a perfect pair of curious eyes to slowly reveal the mysteries of this world. Those mysteries are a driving force in Horizon Zero Dawn, so I'll only say that the game surprised me in numerous ways. It's darker than I expected in its imagining of what ended civilization, but it's also more hopeful regarding humanity's chances at continued existence. Aloy herself is largely a tool accomplishing the needs of the game, but Horizon's cast of characters was strong enough to earn my investment. That cast includes characters like the drunken warrior Erend, the new-to-the-throne and progressive-minded Sun King Avad and the mysterious, omniscient Sylens. It's a cast whose progress through the story I was eager to witness, and the political maneuvering of the world of Horizon weaves myriad opportunities for intrigue both in this game and the future. Horizon Zero Dawn answers the vast majority of the questions it presents. It leaves characters with arcs that feel completed but also a bear sense of continuity, of possible direction for the future. It builds in the potential for sequels and spinoffs, but in a smart, natural way, without the need for frustrating cliffhangers or unresolved plot threads. (OK, there's one tiny thread left over in the post-credits stinger, but I found the game's handling of this tease more clever than cynical.) Aloy herself may not be an incredibly deep character, but she grounds Horizon's gameplay via a wide array of combat abilities that grows as the game progresses. Through both crafting new weapons and items and learning new skills via leveling up, Aloy grows from an above-average hunter to a woman revered across the land as an unstoppable machine killer. While she's up against technological nightmares, Aloy embraces technology in a way other members of her tribe do not.

The bigger the robot, the more of a struggle the fight is