Horizon Zero Dawn - Easy Allies Review (Patreon)

My most anticipated game of 2017 is almost here! Post-apocalypse, killer robots, bows and arrows, open-world, towers that walk, I could go on and on. I’m ecstatic to not only have this review finished on time, but to have played so much of it. If a task was marked on the map I checked it off, mostly to get as much XP as possible and try out all the upgrades. I got more than a little obsessive with having the best mods, and even buying outfits I don’t plan to use. Guerrilla Games wisely put fighting machines at the core of the experience, because it’s the best thing the game has to offer. I’ve played other open-world games that had stories I was much more involved in, and worlds that were much grander in size, but the combat here is unlike anything else. Not better, necessarily, but different. The smarter you are about weapons, and the more you hit your marks, the more you win. If the world was made of Brandon Joneses, I would have given this game 4 and a half stars. But games need to do more than give us stuff to kill and bits to pick up. At the end of the day the tribal affairs are a bit silly to me. Beautiful and exciting, but not ultimately fulfilling, like James Cameron’s Avatar. Then I get to the biggest reveals at the very end and I’m literally crying during the credits. Zero Dawn is a good warm-up. I think of Horizon 2 and my imagination goes wild. Flying mounts. Robot pets. Co-op. I’m excited to see where this is going. I hope those of you that are already signed up for it enjoy Horizon as much as I did.

- Brandon