Horizon Zero Dawn – Ancient War Machines Arise

What a ride! It took me a whole year to complete this game because I was very conservative when I played since I did not wish to be disturbed. I am so glad I picked it up because I became hooked instantly and am so excited to share my thoughts! This is the second major PS game that I’ve played ported to PC.

Spoilers are ahead as usual. I have so much to say and it’s been a while since I played an open-world game!

I went into this game knowing nothing about the lore as very little was explained in the beginning other than civilization has collapsed from an Apocalypse. Nature has reclaimed the world, humanity lives on in primitive tribes, and dangerous machines now roam Earth where humans hunt them for parts. The machines were originally designed to serve as a terraforming system but eventually, something called the Derangement occurred and then they became hostile.

When the protagonist, Aloy, is born, she is declared an outcast by the Nora tribe, a very matriarchal society because she has no mother and is raised by a fellow outcast, Rost. She discovers a device called a Focus that gives her perceptive abilities which she uses to her advantage. Growing up, Aloy yearns to know more about her origins and learns how to hunt and she eventually participates in a competition that allows her to be officially initiated into the Nora, but is then attacked and nearly killed by cultists which prompts her to leave the Sacred Lands to find out why she was targeted and the truth about her purpose and the universe, and as she does, a bigger plot unfolds.

The gameplay is lots of fun. The world is beautiful and there are tons to do. Even if I have no active quest, I would always find something to do because there are machines everywhere so I can even practice against them.

Speaking of combat, I enjoyed it much more than in Witcher III, it was fast, intense and for every machine, I had a different strategy as each of them has different weaknesses to identify with the Focus. The best way to defeat a machine is to use weapons with ammo that target that particular machine’s weakness. They also have weak spots most vulnerable to damage or they can be torn off so I had to learn that too. It’s easy if there’s only one machine to fight but not so much when there’s more and I get pummeled! Maybe if I remembered to use the Ropecaster that wouldn’t have happened!

I would mostly use bows, and eventually, I had three different very rare bows that I used for the majority of the game, and each had a variety of arrows to meet my needs in combat. I would still try to be stealthy at times because Aloy is a hunter, not a warrior. So you know what that means, I gotta scavenge and craft to fight, heal, trick, etc. But not that I’m complaining because it was an additional challenge that I enjoyed learning.

One of my favourite features is being able to override machines and the more Cauldrons I cleared (which are dungeon-like quests), the more machines I could tame. So you can imagine how satisfying it was to override a Thunderjaw because it’s one of my favourite machines! They are fun and challenging to fight and have a badass theme that plays, but it’s even better if I can get one to fight for me! I’ll never forget the suspense of entering the ZETA Cauldron where it was open and empty. I heard strange noises then saw the Thunderjaw, took it down and then immediately went to find one outside to tame!

I also love how exploration is tackled in this game and I will admit for an open-world game I went crazy and ended up going to a few places that I realized I couldn’t access until advancing the story! Like the time I went to Sunfall before stopping Dervahl’s scheme and another time I found some ruins atop a mountain guarded by some very territorial machines and a Stormbird.

Fast travel is somewhat limited as long as I have a pack with me but another satisfying part of gameplay in terms of exploration is when I climb a Tallneck and get a map of the area. The first time I was like whoa that thing is huge! It made me happy that there is just one other machine I get excited to see, but isn’t hostile so I love climbing them.

The only thing I never bothered with in gameplay much was the Hunting Grounds. Some of the challenges I just found too stressful so I just did enough to enter the Hunter’s Lodge and start the side story there and let them be. I did manage to get a few Blazing Suns though.

There are lots of characters in this game and some of them took time to grow on me. Aloy of course, she isn’t perfect, but I loved the fierce determination in her eyes to find out more about herself. She also overcomes a lot of prejudice along the way. See, one of the things I never liked about the Nora is how outcasts are treated. Aloy had to put up with that her entire life so I totally understand why she wouldn’t like them suddenly declaring her Anointed later in the game!

Aloy also has a habit of talking to herself since she’s more used to being alone, not that I mind that because I do it too. Sometimes she even makes me laugh and she’s always willing to lend a hand to people even if they underestimate her in the beginning. Even though she was considered motherless due to being found outside ruins of the Old Ones inside the All-Mother Mountain, I think she came to see Matriarch Teersa as a motherly figure while Rost was like a father to her.

All in all, she is a strong woman who stands up for herself when people see her as a mere outlander and is always on the move, doesn’t want to settle down anywhere, or with anyone, which is okay because we need more independent female protagonists. (Something was leaked to me that this changes but I won’t mention it here.) She does forge some strong bonds along her journey.

Some other characters I like are Varl and Erend. They seemed like the first people Aloy could rely on. I think Erend is the one I liked first as he was the first person at the Proving to strike up a conversation with Aloy and they talked about machines, the Derangement, and he seemed like the type of guy who would follow her into battle always, even if it led to death.

I like Talanah too. As a member of the Hunter’s Lodge, she was the first person to make Aloy feel welcome when Ahsis wasn’t being that. She takes Aloy under her wing at the Lodge and she’s just a badass warrior that I enjoyed fighting alongside against Redmaw, a legendary Thunderjaw. She makes a way better Sunhawk than Ahsis!

Everyone knows I love Sun-King Avad. His backstory is extremely intriguing, which would be great spin-off material. The Carja are my favourite tribe for their history, religion, and design. Although known to be patriarchal and used to enslave and slaughter other tribes, this came to an end when Avad and his allies rebelled and he usurps his tyrannical father.

Avad is compassionate and wise and seeks to undo the tension between his tribe and the others. He also hopes to take the Carja to a more inclusive direction by outlawing slavery, allowing women more roles in Carja society such as access to the Hunter’s Lodge and more. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with his decisions but as he said, change will not come in a single sunrise.

His biggest flaw though is due to having grown up in a patriarchal society, he is still learning how to treat women such as assuming Aloy will be the perfect rebound after he loses Ersa but the former calls him out on that. But I love Avad because not only is he compassionate but also deep down I believe he has so much love to give if he learns how.

It was really difficult to pick the best parts of this game because, after the attack on the Proving, it took time for the story to really tighten its grip. Then again, I think that’s also due to the game becoming even larger once I left the Sacred Lands!

There was so much excitement with every main quest that took me to different ancient ruins because it continued to build the lore as I followed the aide of Sylens who is another great character with a lot of backstory.

Every ruin I visited gave me more answers to what happened to Earth. The FARO plague when those military robots were out of control, the discovery of HADES, and hearing his voice for the first time. Then of course learning about Project Zero Dawn where it all comes together it is a massive AI called GAIA designed to rebuild the Earth following extinction and it has many subsystems used for different functions like the creation of new humans, construction of the machines for terraforming, etc.

Now that it all made sense to me, I couldn’t put the game down, especially when after that, Helis threw Aloy into the Sun-Ring against a corrupted Behemoth! Then Sylens finally arrived in person to save me and that was the most epic thing ever! Hearing HADES for the first time prior comes quite close though.

This game’s story also has several subplots that center around the Carja civil war, which I enjoyed very much. Ever since the Liberation, those still loyal to the Mad Sun-King Jiran divided into a faction called the Shadow Carja. So when I went to Sunfall, I felt so terrible seeing the frightened child-king Itamen and his mother, dowager queen Nasadi, living in such a controlled situation so hence it’s easy to say I loved the quest where I worked with Vanasha to get them out of Sunfall and to Meridian! Avad was very pleased to see them as I was pleased to see him again!

The Carja also have an alliance with the Oseram and I loved the quest where I had to stop Dervahl from assassinating Avad out of revenge for not being able to kill Jiran himself. It’s like Dervahl wanted revenge on the Carja for the Red Raids even though those violent practices were put to an end once Avad took the throne. Dervahl’s basically just a big discriminating bastard so it was very satisfying to save Avad from him, even if I had to face several Glinthawks, which are one of my least favourite machines.

The final battle almost felt like doing the suicide mission except it’s not as crucial to make certain decisions prior to ensure the survival of the characters. Ever since Avad asked when the attack would come, it had my heart racing as I learned of the real conflict at large. A sub-faction of the Shadow Carja, the Eclipse led by Helis plan to destroy the world by reviving the ancient war machines of Faro. Despite its challenge to take down multiple Deathbringers while avoiding getting pummeled by other corrupted machines, it was a fun fight and made me happy to see all of Aloy’s friends that I got her to help, at her side.

I also liked finally learning Aloy’s origins toward the end as that set the tone for the fight against the Eclipse. She is, in fact, a clone of Dr. Elisabet Sobeck who deployed Project Zero Dawn to stop the Faro Plague and restore Earth. Should something happen to her, she made Aloy finish the job. It gets me also thinking, if one of GAIA’s subsystems APOLLO was not reduced to an empty husk, then what kind of person would Aloy be then? Would humanity be the same and end up repeating their mistakes?

But that would have also taken away the authenticity of this game’s setting! Seeing Erend, Varl, and Talanah agree to fight by my side just before the final push and everything else done to prepare for the fight shows that despite humanity living in a primitive state, they found a way to adapt against a powerful foe and defeat it.

I want to say the main antagonist is Helis at first but then I realized he’s just a pawn. Helis formed the Eclipse while serving Jiran and I believe he wanted to attack Meridian to retake the city for his own but then his men found HADES and it gave them a greater purpose. Therefore, I came to believe HADES is the main antagonist.

As one of GAIA’s subsystems, HADES is responsible for being a failsafe protocol that would wipe the planet clean if GAIA say, screwed up, allowing her to start over. But eventually, HADES became rogue and independent, and so did another AI as well but I will cover that in my DLC review. GAIA had to eventually sacrifice herself to stop HADES but left a master override that could be used only by Elisabet Sobeck or Aloy, in this case, the latter. Helis and his Eclipse troops knew that at this time Aloy would be able to foil their plans so he sought to eliminate her. So that makes me believe, if Aloy is a clone of Elisabet, then her purpose is to save the world from the rogue AIs and perhaps even restore GAIA someday so the system is under control again.

What are the motives of HADES? It’s hard to say because it’s an AI programmed to wipe out all life on Earth and without GAIA to stop it, the system is out of control, new life doesn’t grow as expected, then there was the Derangement with the machines. The Eclipse has managed to dig up the ancient machines known as Corrupters and Deathbringers from the Faro plague in order to accomplish their goal and it seems that the Eclipse has come to see HADES as a God of some sort just like the Nora worship All-Mother, the Carja worship the Sun, the Banuk worship the Blue Light, etc.

I have come to also believe that HADES has the ability to possess certain machines throughout the game, hence the corrupted zones I had to deal with as I explored and then it possesses a Deathbringer to stop Aloy and her friends to buy it time to begin the end of the world. While Deathbringers are fun to fight, including this one, I did not expect there to be a timer and what I felt I should have learned sooner when fighting these powerful machines is that once they overheat, I can aim for the coolants. But then again, there are still plenty of things in this game that I am still learning, like all these AIs for instance. Nonetheless, a fun fight and next time I will be more prepared!

So to sum it up, this game is fantastic, I have much to learn in the lore but I always love learning and it is a rich environment with a story that eventually grabs on and doesn’t let go. The gameplay is fun, the characters are charming, the environment is gorgeous and it had me hooked from beginning to end that I would just sometimes play to explore even if I didn’t feel like doing any quests! I am also very curious about Sylens because he used to be part of the Eclipse and helped Aloy on her journey to find answers and I know that have not seen the last of him.

I had no performance issues with this game, however, the only complaint I have is in certain cutscenes, Aloy would suddenly be back to wearing her default Nora Brave outfit at the beginning of the game, but that’s it. There were some other little things that seemed out of place but I’m not extremely bothered by them.

Anyway, this game is a wonderful piece of art that I love so much, and will I play the sequel you ask? Well, it depends, I might have to wait a few more years for a port, unless I buy a PS5 to play it now, DLC and all. I might have to upgrade my graphics for it depending on system requirements when a port is announced so we’ll see. No matter when I pick it up, it will be worth my time.

My favourite machines are:

Thunderjaw

Sawtooth/Ravager

Trampler

Once again, this was an amazing game, not flawless but so much fun and exciting, I couldn’t put it down.

👽Emily