Horizon: Zero Dawn

During a hands-on session that followed the demo, I got to try out some of Aloy's ranged and melee abilities in a sequence where I was challenged to complete a number of objectives. These included things like taking down a set number of watchers and overriding bigger creatures and then riding them to attack a group of other Machines. It was intense and challenging, in part because the enemies are quite intelligent, never staying in one place for too long and attacking from all sides. It's thrilling to be in a battle with these unique-looking beasts. And the numerous ways in which you can defeat them brings about an element of strategy that I was not expecting.

Guerrilla Games surprised and intrigued many when it debuted its new franchise, Horizon Zero Dawn, at E3 in 2015. The Dutch developer is best known for its work on the Killzone franchise, but after toiling on that series for over a decade, decided it was time to change things up. Horizon Zero Dawn is an open-world action/RPG starring a fierce redhead named Aloy. She must survive in a post-post apocalyptic world where machines have taken over and humans are living in a primitive state at the bottom of the food chain. We traveled to Guerrilla Games’ studio in Amsterdam to find out how Horizon Zero Dawn became a reality and why the team wanted to try a new genre.

Throughout our trip, we discovered more about Aloy and where her journey takes her. As a resourceful hunter with a bow, Aloy has always been fascinated with technology and the ancient relics from the past. Growing up as an outcast with no parents, she searches for the truth about her origins, but she also finds more than she bargained for about the dangers of the world and why it has been changing. We got up and close and personal with new machines such as the laser-blazing, hyena-like Scrapper. We also went hands-on with a new, early portion in the game, where we encountered a side quest and saw more of the game’s machine ecosystem in action. Animals travel in packs, and often come to each other’s aid, meaning victory rarely comes easy. Our cover story is packed with information about the tools that Aloy has at her disposal to stand a chance against these mammoth beasts, the lore of this strange backdrop, and what types of side content is available in this vast open world.

Horizon Zero Dawn launches on February 28 for PlayStation 4.

"It's an Action RPG"
"We made a RPG, that feels like an action game"

We’ve mostly seen action-oriented gameplay in the footage Guerrilla Games has shown off, with only minor story beats teased. Guerrilla is deliberately keeping much of the story under lock and key, because so much of the experience is about discovering the answers to the game’s larger mysteries, such as why Aloy was cast out of her tribe at birth and why animal-like machines have taken over the world. The main narrative focuses on Aloy's personal quest to find out more about her origins, but also to discover a way to stop the dangerous machines from taking over. While we were at the studio, Guerrilla assured us that a compelling story is there for those who crave it. Not only is there a main quest, but there are also extra goodies to find for those don't who really get into the lore. “For people who are story junkies, for people who like to collect every audio log or text log out there, people who want to have a grand narrative to their game, I think they're going to be really surprised and delighted by what we have prepared for them,” says lead writer John Gonzalez.

Because we’ve seen a few gameplay demos now, it’s easy to think we’ve seen everything, but that's not the case. For instance, at the PlayStation 4 Pro event, Guerrilla surprised us by showing Aloy platforming up a gigantic Tallneck machine to hack it. Guerrilla also kept teasing there are multiple mounts you can tame that will change up the gameplay. Not to mention a bevy of weapons that Aloy will get later in the game, such as a rocket launcher. In addition, Guerrilla’s main goal has been to appeal to a wide variety of players by letting them play how they want and giving them options to build Aloy to their play style. When you upgrade her, there are three different tiers: Forager, Prowler, and Brave. Putting points into Forager gets you better materials for crafting and override skills, Prowler is centered on stealth, and Brave is all about upgrading your brute force with new melee attacks. When you upgrade these tiers, you gain access to new skills to change up the way you fight, from instant-kill attacks to certain bonuses such as stat boosts. New machines also pop up in different areas, forcing you to adjust your strategy and learn their weaknesses.

Aloy is an outcast who discovers that only she holds the power to unlocking the secrets of how this mysterious ancient technology works, but will she constantly be on her own? When we asked Guerrilla if any other faces will join her in battle, the answer was yes. She has a strong relationship with Rost who has taken care of her since birth, so we wouldn’t be surprised if he joined her at times in combat or was a prominent presence throughout the narrative. In addition, Aloy will meet various colorful characters on her journey through side quests and the main story. Remember, Aloy is searching for answers and a place to belong. We were told depending on the relationships and choices she makes, some characters appear again later in the story. We're guessing with all the people she meets in the different tribes on her trek, she's bound to foster some relationships.
While Horizon's RPG elements aren’t super complex, they are there. Various quests are scattered throughout the world and you can upgrade Aloy in various ways. As she levels up, you earn points, which can then be used to purchase upgrades for her. Furthermore, Aloy can equip modifications to her weapons and armor that can increase your attack power or resistance to certain attacks.

Because the game is more of a hybrid of the action and RPG genre, Guerrilla didn’t want to leave anyone behind. “What we wanted to avoid is complicated menus,” de Jonge says. “We also didn’t want to go too deep with the RPG features we were developing. We wanted to have a certain level of accessibility and understandability for players. We also didn’t want to go too hardcore with stats, so at some point we just cut it off and said we weren’t going to go any further because it would confuse players.”

In Horizon Zero Dawn, humanity has regressed into tribes and are all living off the land in different ways. For instance, Aloy's tribe, the Nora, is a hunting group that's dependent on the bow to take down wildlife and mechanical beasts. But the Nora are just one of many tribes in the game, and the writers were tasked with figuring out how all the tribes would differ from one another and what conflicts they would have. This meant creating a rich history full of warring tribes, crafting different religions for them, and most importantly, Guerrilla made sure to consider their different climates when deciding how the different tribes lived off the land.

This required them thinking more deeply about the tribes and their histories. "As is unfortunately common in our world, different groups of people usually don't like each other, and there are certainly exceptions to that, but in this case some of the recent events that have taken place that have led to longstanding hostilities in the groups, and that's something Aloy needs to navigate on her journey," Gonzalez says.

What's cool about each tribe is that they all have their own variations on the array of different weaponry and armor that Aloy can equip. Aloy has only known the Nora tribe, so her stepping into these other cultures will be an eye-opening experience. As an outsider, she doesn't hold any grudges or preferences, and is just eager to find solutions and a way to help people in need. In addition, the game has side quests for each tribe so players can learn more about them at the same time Aloy does.

M99 wrote:I want to see more of the story.

M99 wrote:I want to see more of the story.

For those interested, #HorizonZeroDawn will receive a day one patch of around 250MB.

— Guerrilla Games (@Guerrilla) February 16, 2017

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