Horizon: Zero Dawn [Gameplay #2] - Blood Meridian
0While the HDR setting on my UHD TV doesn't make for good video clips through the PS4's internal DVR function, the in-game experience is nothing short of breathtaking. Travelling to the game's main city of Meridian for the first time while the sun rose over the horizon (no pun intended) was a very satisfying reward for finally returning to this game after having abandonded my playthrough well over a year ago.
More than extravagant robot hunting or dazzling visuals, though, it's the sincerity, understated humor and quiet dignity of its protagonist Aloy which drew me back to Horizon: Zero Dawn after all these months. A revenge-seeking warrior from a rigid neo-tribal society could easily have been portrayed as a hermetically sealed bundle of aggression, but voice actor Ashly Burch brings subtlety and emotional resonance to the role.
And while the post-apocalyptic world has been criticized for appropriating Native American culture, there's a refreshing lack of cynicism to the characters you interact with in this surprisingly dialogue-heavy action adventure. Life might be tough in this new world of the braves, but there's a genuine sense of wonder (no doubt fuelled by the aforementioned HDR graphics) which keeps ill-tempered Mad Max/Planet of the Apes-style denunciations of the prelapsarian society at bay. Although the story deals extensively (albeit in a tantalizingly fragmentary fashion) with the precise nature of modernity's collapse, most people you meet are far more interested in caring for each other and building a better society in the here and now.