3.5/5 ★ – peacebrendanp's review of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered.

There's a couple of ways to describe this game. One way, would be to title this game, "RPG-lite Game: The Video Game." Another would be to describe this game as "video game fast food." The former portrays how this game includes a lot of different systems that are reminiscent of RPG's, but takes away a lot of the depth of those systems that would maybe be there in other games. It also describes all of the different facets of video games that exist in this one game. Which leads into the latter description; this is a game that aims to provide feel-good moments and satisfying accomplishments. Due to the quality of certain aspects of the game, I would say this is more like the Shake Shack of fast food restaurants, as opposed to a McDonalds. Putting the analogies to the side, this game is really good and really fun. However, there is something about it that prevents it from feeling especially unique when compared to some of the greats. The game excels in three areas: combat (specifically the player vs. machine combat), environments, and story (the whole world/concept is maybe a better broad term to use here). The combat, when versus the machines that inhabit the world, can be pretty special and flashy. There is a nice amount of weapons at your disposal to tackle the nice variety of machines to combat. And, it rarely gets old seeing different parts fly off the machines you will encounter. However, sometimes it felt like you couldn't shoot as much stuff off of a machine as I would have wanted, which sometimes made the combat feel slightly static. Your movement set allows you to roll, slide, and jump around machines lunging at you. The game feels really good in these moments. And it looks the part too. The human-enemy combat is good, and sometimes feels pretty good too. However, sometimes these encounters end up feeling like facing a bunch of different bullet-sponges. And, in comparison to fighting the various machines, it can really feel static. It pales, I guess is what I'm trying to say. By the end of the game, you feel pretty powerful. Which, is both a negative and positive. It feels great to be able to just blast through certain machines with a full arsenal. It doesn't lessen the strategy per se, and doesn't even cut the tension. It is a power fantasy. And, it does cut some of the tension that exists in the first 15-hours of the game. Battles feel daunting in the first half of the game, but slowly you start to acquire tools to make that less-so. Which, maybe feels more like an issue with the pacing of the design of the game. Despite my issue with this, it was nice that a lot of the content is just open from the jump. Environments steal the show here. Graphically, the game is easily one of the most beautiful games out there. And, the variety in biomes really makes the world feel diverse and beautiful. Traversing this world is pretty good, with climbing feeling snappy, despite it not working sometimes. I wish there were more ways to get around the world. But, by the end of the game, I was so ready to move on, that I started using the fast travel system more often. There is even animals to hunt, and in-game lore given as to why there are only Boars, Foxes, and rabbits. The main story and concept of the game is also pretty great, in my opinion. The main run of the story took me close to 35-hours to complete. But, I put another 7-hours of game time in to complete all the side-missions to set myself up for the platinum trophy. The game has light politics, creating an interesting dynamic between different tribes of people. It explores themes of over-consumption, capitalism run amok, and the ethics of implementing advanced technology (AI). The main story had me engaged throughout the entire run-time. I think the story is strongest while you are uncovering the mysteries at play. Once a lot of secrets are revealed, there is less intrigue in what is going on. It's still an engaging experience, and a really cool concept. There are certain elements that feel a bit "gamey," such as an AI that just kind of flies around at times. I assume that we are meant to believe that it flies around via a futuristic network, but the way it is executed feels a bit too fantastical for my taste. I do think this game suffers from mediocre writing, however. The game sometimes feels like it was made for babies. A lot of the writing feels elementary in it's implementation, and the ending especially feels a bit too "feel-good." That's kind of an asshole's interpretation of it. So, stepping back, the ending is hopeful and gives closure to the story they are telling (not to be contradicting). The animations during dialogue are way better this time around, despite them still looking a bit stiff at times. Side-activities are mostly engaging, despite them sometimes feeling a bit throw-away. And, again, some dialogue options are just plain silly. To speak to the RPG-lite of it all, the game gives you dialogue options, but they rarely feel like they have any impact or reverberating consequences down the road. To speak on Aloy, as a character, I feel really conflicted about her. She is really shrewd, but it borders on abrasive at times. There are some dialogue moments where she is just straight up unlikable. Sometimes it feels like she is talking down to everyone, or she is acting like she knows better as a 19-year-old. Maybe that's pretty in-character for a 19-year-old. And, she is definitely portrayed as a strong and determined character. Aloy also is the victim of circumstances that are completely out of her control, and I could see that impacting how she was written to have a chip on her shoulder. This is all to say, there are moments when I really found the writing of Aloy to be annoying. But, by the end, I came to appreciate her character and what she goes through. Aloy does speak to herself quite a bit throughout the game, but I didn't find it to be annoying or excessive, for the most part. There are some moments where she repeats dialogue, either communicating a piece of information that has already been communicated, or repeating a line that is no longer applicable (i.e. a story beat that has already resolved). The sound design of the game is pretty good. Nothing crazy, but there's a lot going on at times. Bird-song, ambient music that is reminicient of a techno-inspired Skyrim or The Last of Us, and the hum and alarms of machines all create a pretty complete soundscape. Upgrades are fine here, but only a few unlocks really alter the gameplay. Every upgrade adds something that is useful, but towards the end of the game, I felt disinterested in the remaining upgrades. I just ended up getting the final upgrades because I had the skill-points. I have actual issues with how inventory management is handled. There are inventory upgrades to obtain, but it's not enough. It's a real pain to have a bunch of resources that you might need for certain purchases or upgrades, but then constantly not having enough space really dampens the experience. This isn't a super realistic game, so this aspect feels at odds with the game. Weapon management is confusing as well. It makes sense to be somewhat limited, but having only four weapon slots available at a time feels like too much of a limitation. And, when you're in the midst of combat, it really halts the flow of the game when you need to open up the inventory menu to switch out a weapon. There is some asset pop-in that is sometimes pretty noticeable. There is even moments where certain assets aren't loaded at all. It doesn't happen often, but I wanted to note it. Also, something to note, there are major pacing issues in this game in regards to some collectibles. For instance, you will be working through a bunker for a main-mission (sometimes this applies to side-areas). And, you will be working towards a mission objective, but there will be 10-collectible pieces of audio-recordings and text that will add to the story. Now, all of this is optional, but I believe that it was put there to flesh out the world and story. And, it does! But, it really halts the pacing of certain sequences. This needed to be tailored back. It's also an issue because if you move forward in the level, Aloy will start talking to herself, over the playing dialogue. It's really annoying. By the end of my playthrough of the main-game, I was just about ready to be done with it. The game isn't terribly big, but it's big enough. 30-hours flew by without me noticing, so that's a positive. Frozen wilds is a pretty substantial add-on, that adds about 15-hours of content. The main story here adds some elements that ties into the base-game pretty nicely. It takes place in a region that is very beautiful, and pretty big. It adds some weapons, but I didn't really find them interesting or effective to use. I was skipping a lot of optional dialogue as it went on, as it's pretty run-of-the-mill. Also, I think this DLC makes more sense to maybe complete before you finish the main story. It technically takes place before the end of the main story, but adds significant challenge. There's even a few new machines that are definitely a challenge. All-in-all, a very good game and package. It probably took me close to 50-hours to complete all of the game, and achieve the platinum. I'm moving onto the sequel, and I really hope that it improves on everything. This game is worth a playthrough, and has some really interesting things going on. Despite it's uniqueness in concept, it does feel like a sterile game. Not that it doesn't have heart, rather that it doesn't take any risks or make any super interesting decisions with it's game-design. It feels like a game that is designed to appeal to the widest audience possible. In this, it succeeds. But, due to that, it fails to capture my love. Console Played On: PS5 (Remastered Version) Game Played: 06/2024 - 06/2024 Review Written and Published: 06/19/2025