Easily my pic for game of the year. After Mass Effect: Andromeda, I was just ecstatic for a game with realistic facial animations...



The Easily my pic for game of the year. After Mass Effect: Andromeda, I was just ecstatic for a game with realistic facial animations...



The writing in this game is brilliant. The reluctant hero female protagonist is pitch-perfect. Aloy is motivated by self-interest, and often unabashedly exasperated and sarcastic about all the *help* everyone around her needs, especially since she never had the help she needed coming of age. But she warms and forms genuine relationships with those around her, decisions that are rewarded by the game in realistic ways. The writing is also surprising. Often time I think I see an obvious trope only to watch it subverted by a *genuine* response.



Aloy, as a tribal huntress wandering into a world of ancient computers and machines, is not dumbstruck, nor does she play to the *ignorant savage* stereotype. Her curiosity is well-reasoned. She doesn't understand what technology does, or how it works, but makes obvious logical connections based on her own humanity. In a world where others look at technology superstitiously, she's relentless pragmatic and brilliantly adaptive. And for all that, she still comes across with a charming vulnerability that subtly reminds you that this is a 19 year old girl, outcast from society, just trying to find out who she is, and what her place in the world is.



On top of this, the gameplay is brilliant. I mean, it's hard not to make hunting robot dinosaurs with a bow fun, but the game exceeded my expectations. The fact that your weapons gain new abilities, but don't get more powerful, and new outfits increase skills, but don't offer more protection, means that you don't have an issue with power creep as you explore. Sure, early machines aren't a challenge later in the game, but only because you know how to defeat them by now, not because your bow can now blow them away with a single shot. Even on easy difficulty settings, it pays to prepare the battlefield with traps whenever possible, and if you don't use the right weapons and techniques, late game fights will destroy you without mercy. But for all that, the game feels perfectly balanced. Enemies are hard at first, because you have to figure them out. Once you do, accuracy and preparation will carry you through, but the challenge is a constant.



Finally, brilliant graphics and music design layer over the fun game play and excellent writing. The voice acting is particularly on point, with every character coming across as uniquely human, and possessed of an entire life that has nothing to do with you. The world feels large, and full of things to explore. Animations are a particular strong point as well. When going up stairs, while crouching, Aloy will actually scamper on her hands. Sometimes, for no reason, when mounting a rock, she'll throw in a little parkour flair. Everything moves fluidly, and realistically, which is important because the machines are supposed to be designed to move and feel like animals. The artists and animators perfectly captured the juxtaposed animal grace, and steel design of the creatures. You can just sit and watch them go about their lives and admire them.



All-in-all, for a game I added to a list when I saw the trailer, but never thought about again, it's the most fun I've had playing a video game, and experiencing a video game story, in recent memory.. … Expand