Review Roundup: The hype around Horizon Zero Dawn was worth it

Horizon Zero Dawn is set to release next week, on February 28th, exclusively on the PlayStation 4. Over the past few months, gamers have been eyeing the seemingly beautiful game from, Guerrilla Games, the studio behind Killzone. It turns out, the hype was pretty much worth it.

Overall, a majority of outlets found the game to be everything they expected and easily became enamored with the "vast and beautiful open word." The gameplay is built off of the age-old 'loot-and-craft' playstyle (like FarCry), but it adds some newer elements to keep it fresh.

Some of the lower scores call the protagonist bland and find the missions repetitive, in addition to that, they found that there were too many tropes in the game.

Get a good idea of what reviewers have in mind when it comes to Horizon Zero Dawn below:

GameZone

Horizon: Zero Dawn is a PS4 must-own exclusive. It crafts a wonderful, fully realized and explorable world, and an interesting story that's worth seeing through to the end, if just to find out what Zero Dawn actually means!

IGN

Across a vast and beautiful open world, Horizon: Zero Dawn juggles many moving parts with polish and finesse. Its main activity – combat – is extremely satisfying thanks to the varied design and behaviors of machine-creatures that roam its lands, each of which needs to be taken down with careful consideration. Though side questing could have been more imaginative, its missions are compelling thanks to a central mystery that led me down a deep rabbit hole to a genuinely surprising – and moving – conclusion.

9.3/10

US Gamer

Horizon Zero Dawn is disappointing. It has a story that I struggled to care about (complete with massive expository dumps—yay), a bland protagonist, and overtly repetitive and constraining missions that worked against its open world sensibilities. When Horizon Zero Dawn hit its rare strides—from its gloomy Cauldrons to traveling across its sprawling vistas—it only made me wish the rest of the game were as worthwhile.

2.5/5

Destructoid

Horizon Zero Dawn is a fascinating premise wrapped in a tortilla of tropes.

7.5/10

Polygon

Horizon Zero Dawn thrums with the energy of a creative team finally allowed to explore something new. It builds on elements of open-world and loot-and-craft gameplay that we've seen before, but it does so within a context, a setting and a style that feel fresh. Horizon Zero Dawn discovers a stronger sense of its own personality in one game than Killzone ever managed across half a dozen. Guerrilla Games has long been developing some of the most buzzed-about games in the industry; with Horizon, it feels like it has finally found its own voice, one worthy of all that buzz.

9.5/10

GameRant

Dark Souls, Far Cry Primal (or any open world Ubisoft game), Uncharted – these are just a few of the games players will cite when finding points of comparison for Horizon: Zero Dawn. But the Guerrilla Games developers have made sure that its game still feels unique by comparison, thanks to a vibrant world bursting with stunning detail, challenging robotic enemies, and a story that explores an uncivilized world in an inventive way. Some weak AI, awkward dialogue sections, and a prototypical open world framework are the game’s bigger faults, but they don’t weigh the game down to much or ruin the experience. When all is said and done, Horizon: Zero Dawn could easily be Sony’s next great franchise, but even as a one-off it’s very impressive.

9/10

Forbes

No, Horizon probably isn’t as monumental of an experience as playing Uncharted or God of War for the first time, but it’s well-made, engaging and probably worth your time.

9/10

Gamespot

Guerilla Games has delivered one of the best open-world games of this generation.

9/10