With Horizon: Forbidden West on the….. Horizon (Not sorry), my interest in the franchise has hit an all time peak. But before I ordered the game I kept telling myself “Luke, You didn’t really like Zero Dawn. You thought it was too empty and the gameplay was far from solid”.
Well, dear reader (and myself) I was incorrect.
Around about a week ago I decided I would replay Horizon Zero Dawn just to see if I actually did like the game as I know for a fact that there is more than one game that I originally didn’t like but then came back too and absolutely adored (I am looking at you Ghost of Tsushima) and it would appear that Horizon Zero Dawn happens to be one of those games.
Yes, the PS5 upgrades for the title do a massive part in reducing the issues I had with the original game. The 60fps feels so much smoother, the loading screens so much shorter and the game so much better. There is something about that 60 fps that genuinely just makes every game feel around 30% better.
But here’s the thing…. what’s totally shining through to me on this playthrough are the two things I genuinely didn’t love before: The world and the gameplay. Oh my word the Gameplay of Zero Dawn is some of the tightest 3rd person gameplay I have ever had the pleasure of playing and the WORLD… how the hell did I think this world was boring and empty, there is barely 2 minutes of exploration that I don’t find something that interests me or something attacks me (and often beats my shit in) I am genuinely adoring the world and the gameplay to an extent I didn’t think possible.
Then theres the story! Another thing I completely forgot about and I am hooked. Becoming the Seeker and discovering why this cult has attacked my village is such a simple story but it’s a story type that I absolutely adore.
As I say, I restarted this game around a week ago and I am absolutely hooked beyond belief. I think in the past week I have spent around 30 hours on Horizon Zero Dawn just exploring and completing challenges (I haven’t even got to Meridian yet!) and I appear to be showing no signs of stopping, EVERY night once the little one is in bed I am finding myself completely addicted and playing until I physically begin to fall asleep.
If this is any indication into what I am in for when Horizon: Forbidden West comes out, I think even Elden Ring (my most hyped game of the past 5 years) might even be put on the back burner. (And that right there is my 1 Soulsborne mention every article)
If you are like me and didn’t rate HZD in the first instance and you have a PS5 – then I cannot recommend enough that you give it another go. I am blown away.
So yeah… I was wrong about Horizon Zero Dawn.