Horizon Zero Dawn - open world action-RPG from Guerilla Games - now on PC

[Riddler]

That said,why do you play the PS version when you could have waited for the PC one? Old PC?

As I said, it was a gift.

 

[Zlaja]

I'd much rather have Elex 2, but who knows what's going on with that?

Greatness. That's what's going on.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

I pre-ordered. I have zero doubt that this is going to be the best video game I've ever played and I will absolutely not be disappointed.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I pre-ordered. I have zero doubt that this is going to be the best video game I've ever played and I will absolutely not be disappointed.

Abandon ship all hands on deck.

 

[Zlaja]

I have zero doubt that this is going to be the best video game I've ever played

This man is fearless. He stares the truth right in the eyes and goes "Nope".

 

[Zarniwoop]

It's Wrong_Carlo.

His schtick is to be 100% wrong on errthing errday and he does it well.

 

[cvv]

It's Wrong_Carlo.

His schtick is to be 100% wrong.

For which he's being constantly ridiculed.

But if you think about it.....how is being 100% wrong about everything any goddamn less impressive than being 100% right?

This man is our treasure is what I'm saying. We shouldn't be too harsh on him, lest he leaves and goes being wrong somewhere else.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

It's Wrong_Carlo.

His schtick is to be 100% wrong.

For which he's being constantly ridiculed.

But if you think about it.....how is being 100% wrong about everything any goddamn less impressive than being 100% right?

This man is our treasure is what I'm saying. We shouldn't be too harsh on him, lest he leaves and goes being wrong somewhere else.

The whole "wrong-carlo" thing started in the politics subforum because people there are butthurt that I'm loudly anti-Trump, but it's caught on as a meme on the rest of the forum, so now everything I say is met with, "LOL, Wrong_Carlo," even when I'm obviously being tongue in cheek.

My tastes and politics don't match the Codex Consensus, so I'm ridiculed. Oh well.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

My tastes and politics don't match the Codex Consensus,

There is no such thing as a Codex Consensus. Or is this another one of your tongue-in-buttcheek comments?

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/horizon-zero-dawn-review/

HORIZON ZERO DAWN REVIEW
Go on a memorable sci-fi safari as you hunt down robotic big game.

If you missed the buzz surrounding Horizon Zero Dawn’s PS4 release back in 2017, here are the cliff notes. This is a systems-driven sandbox where you play Aloy—a tribal outcast with a chip on her shoulder and an undeniable talent for murdering robo beasties. Why are these mechanical monsters roaming lands that otherwise look like they were ripped straight from the set of One Million Years BC? Because Horizon is that rarest of creatures: a dystopian videogame that says something original about armageddon.

Rather than spin a story about naive tribespeople battling the evils of encroaching technology, Horizon has the guts to weave a tale that encompasses complex themes. Whether addressing abandonment issues or tackling subjects as uncomfortable as ethnic cleansing, Guerrilla Games demonstrates a level of nuanced, mature storytelling it never came close to hitting with its Killzone series on PlayStation consoles.

It helps that Mass Effect-style conversation wheels give you a little agency over Aloy’s temperament. Almost every main mission and sidequest lets you answer questions from NPCs with either a thoughtful, heartfelt, or cold response. While your decisions never really affect the overarching story, these moment-to-moment choices draw you closer to Aloy. It’s a smart design decision that makes it easier to invest in Horizon’s (initially emotionally distant) world.

It’s to Horizon’s credit that it manages to turn a story involving robot monstrosities into a coherent and moving tale. Just because your open world has a mildly absurd premise doesn’t mean you can’t deliver a satisfying story. Maneater, take note.

The real crowning glory of Horizon? Those magnificent machines. Spanning velociraptor-like Watchers to lumbering Thunderjaws—a colossal apex predator that would dwarf a T-Rex—the game’s inquisitive creatures prove a joy to fight. Displaying that dumb yet sort of clever brand of AI Far Cry enemies have been flaunting for over a decade, Horizon’s machines are easy to manipulate yet hard to put down. Using Aloy’s unlikely augmented earpiece—don’t worry, it makes more sense as the story unravels—she can track the patrol routes of her hefty foes then either choose to control or kill them.

Sneak up on a Strider, then hack its systems to turn the stocky beast into a mostly obedient mount. Blast a Thunderjaw’s turret from its mighty back, courtesy of Aloy’s dead-eye Sharpshot arrows, before forcing it to the ground with electrifying tripwires. Expose a colossal metal crab’s vulnerable innards, then revel in crustacean cruelty as you light it up with flaming projectiles. Thanks to a varied arsenal and an equally inventive array of enemies, Horizon’s girl-on-goliath fights never get old.

It’s also fascinating to see these mechanical wonders simply interact with their environment when they think you’re not looking. Like the odd magic moment where you come across a wild stallion playfully rolling around in the morning dew of Red Dead Redemption’s wetlands, Horizon’s beasts can enthrall with the same style of naturalistic behaviour. Well, if you can call a 45-foot android crocodile slithering into a lake natural. One moment you might observe jittery packs of elk-like Broadheads munching on knee high grass, because apparently robots need to eat too. The next, you might witness a group of smaller machines scurrying out of the path of a deadly Ravager, as Horizon’s three-ton puma sniffs around for its next likely mechanised meal.

Aloy meets world
Most captivating of all? Those moments where you crane the camera skywards to admire a lumbering Tallneck leisurely stomping around a set perimeter. These magnificent leviathans more or less work like walking versions of Far Cry’s antenna towers, uncovering areas of the map once you clamber up and hack their satellite skulls. They’re among the most awe-inspiring creatures I’ve seen in any game. The first time I encountered one, I may as well have been a flummoxed Alan Grant fumbling to shake off his shades after drinking in the sight of Jurassic Park’s grazing brachiosaurus.

Encounters with Aloy’s fellow humans don’t fare quite so well. When Horizon first launched on console three years ago, there’s no denying it was a little derivative. In 2020, those overly familiar notes are even more out of tune. Clearly Aloy copied Far Cry 3 when they were both taking that course in Enemy Strongholds 101, because her map is dotted with encampments you’re encouraged to capture through repetitive stealth takedowns and silent bow kills. What makes these samey, if inoffensive assaults worthwhile? The dangling promise of more XP and unlocking fresh machine-taming abilities.

Want to earn that fancy stealth drop that will let you plummet 50ft without being heard, or open up that skill that lets Aloy draw her bow in slow-motion whenever she jumps? You better murder every primitive bad guy in that nearby camp with the minimum of fuss. These base-conquering quests appear all over, so it’s a shame they never showcase the sort of streamlined sneaky confidence Ubisoft finally hit with Far Cry 5. Aloy is great at swiping oversized machines down in wide open plains, but plonk her in a boxy camp with guards who can swarm from all sides, and she’s nowhere near as competent a fighter.

Horizon Zero Dawn’s world is a lot more interesting than Hope County, though. Alongside The Witcher 3, this is one of the most intriguing, believably lived-in open worlds on PC. While the opening hours point to the sort of generic, frost-covered environment so many hypothermia-courting games have already covered, Horizon’s gorgeous world quickly proves itself to be one of the most visually varied around.

As the story progresses and the restrictions Aloy has been bound by lift, the hunter quickly finds her feet scampering across a hugely diverse landscape. Snow-covered wastelands that outdo Rise of the Tomb Raider’s tundras eventually give way to baking prairies that could pass for one of Red Dead Redemption 2’s sweltering deserts.

Early signs point to Horizon being a slightly inconsistent PC port, though. Several of the team have played the game across a variety of hardware, and the results are somewhat patchy. Happily for our features producer James Davenport, he ran Horizon at a mostly consistent 60fps at 1440p resolution on an RTX 2080 GPU. The hardware team has also been busy benchmarking the game and experienced averages upwards of 75fps at 1440p on an RTX 2080.

Yet on my setup? Despite playing on a 2080 Ti with a beefy CPU, I experienced framerates that seesawed between the mid 40s and low 50s at the same resolution. Hoping to play Horizon in 4K with performance beyond what the PS4 version can offer? You may also be out of luck. The best I could manage at 2160p on a mix of medium and high settings was a stuttering experience that ranged from 25fps to 40fps. The day one patch didn't improve things for me, but that's certainly not the universal experience.

While Horizon’s PC port can’t quite go toe-to-toe with the likes of RDR2’s conversion, this is still a highly polished, top-tier open world adventure. Though it lifts stealth and exploration elements from other games, Aloy’s imaginative combat and captivating metallic foes ensure the time I spent with Horizon will burn bright in my memory.

THE VERDICT
86

HORIZON ZERO DAWN
A classy sandbox that stands out from the pack thanks to its brilliant battles against an array of fantastic beasts.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

https://www.pcgamer.com/horizon-zero-dawn-review/

This just reads like a written version of dick sucking.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.gamebanshee.com/news/124073-horizon-zero-dawn-complete-edition-pc-reviews.html

GameSpot 9/10:

Overall, Horizon Zero Dawn can be a fascinating open world action game--it goes to great lengths in building out its world and establishes an excellent combat system that relies on precision aiming and outsmarting enemies with its many tools and weapons. It does need some work on the technical side, though.

PCGamesN 7/10:

A very workmanlike open-world game. Great to look at, competent overall, and charming when it tries something new, but formulaic when it doesn’t - which is most of the time.

PCMag 4/5:

Horizon Zero Dawn was critically acclaimed when it came out in 2017, and it still stands as a fantastic game in 2020. The PC port is capably produced, with strong performance even on mid-range gaming hardware. It offers a massive, fascinating open world to explore, one that's filled with primitive tribes and mysterious robots; you can easily lose dozens of hours stalking, fighting, and discovering its secrets. If you didn't play it when it came out on the PlayStation 4, now's the perfect time to pick it up. Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition earns our Editors' Choice.

Windows Central 4/5:

This game is worth every penny of the $50 you'll need to shell out to enjoy it on your PC through Steam, and it's my sincere hope that the popularity of this title on Steam is the start of an increased focus on PC players from Sony. Who knows, maybe Spider-Man is next?

Screen Rant 4.5/5:

Horizon Zero Dawn is therefore a worthwhile buy for PC. It's easy to see why - the game is still one of the best on the PS4 - although it's unlikely that those who have previously played the game will feel the need to pick it up just because of its new PC home. If consumers missed out on this console exclusive because they didn't own a PS4, however, it hasn't lost any of its power since its initial release, and remains a must-play for those who've yet to experience it.

CGMagazine 8/10:

Horizon Zero Dawn is a worthwhile open-world action game on PC carried by its captivating environments, awesome combat, and thrilling main story
Then, there’s also a couple of articles focusing specifically on the quality of the game’s PC port.

IGN:

Overall, if all you want is 60 FPS and you have a relatively recent system and a sufficiently fast GPU for your target resolution, that should be easy enough to achieve as long as you take note of the settings and configuration requirements I pointed out in the performance deep dive section. However, chasing consistent very high framerates above that (e.g. 120 FPS) seems like a fool’s errand even on top-end hardware. Ultimately the game is a visual spectacle and the gameplay is not particularly fast-paced, so the severe sacrifices in graphics necessary to achieve even relatively consistent 120 FPS do not appear to be worth it in this case.

PC Gamer:

With a wider FOV I can actually manage fights with flying and terrestrial creatures at the same time. I don't need to drag the camera up and down or pray my headphones and the sound design perfectly interlock.

Now that I'm playing on PC, I'm excited to get into messy situations. I throw myself into danger because I have faith in the combat design, the enemy AI, and my ability to react to however they collide. Horizon's PC release erases almost all friction. It's where games like this belong.

 

[Drowed]

 

[cvv]

Whoa PCGamesN coming out with the critical take.

Didn't know non-gushing reviews of games with stronk female protagonists are still possible.

 

[ADL]

Basically if you're a 1080Pleb you're fine but if you're running anything above that you're fucked. Unless the day one patch fixes this up a ton, I'll be refunding and buying this again in five years when I can brute force through the shitty optimization.

Really surprised given how good Death Stranding was on PC.

 

[cvv]

"If you have 4K the game will downscale into 1080p and from that it'll upscale into 4K."

LMAO.

 

[toro]

My tastes and politics don't match the Codex Consensus,

There is no such thing as a Codex Consensus. Or is this another one of your tongue-in-buttcheek comments?

I think he is more buttcheeks than tongue

 

[DalekFlay]

Really surprised given how good Death Stranding was on PC.

Was Death Stranding actually a good performer at 4k or are you counting running it at 1080p and using DLSS to upsample it? Genuine question, I don't know. In my experience 4k performance is fucked in most of these open world games.

Definitely sounds like it needs some patches either way.

 

[cvv]

In my experience 4k performance is fucked in most of these open world games.

I was arguing with someone a while ago about if you can finally run Witcher 3 in 4K/Ultra/60 FPS. He claimed you can but I remain doubtful.

Linear, limited corridors like TLoU, maybe. But full blown open-world games like this or RDR2? I would have to see it to believe it.

 

[ADL]

In my experience 4k performance is fucked in most of these open world games.

I was arguing with someone a while ago about if you can finally run Witcher 3 in 4K/Ultra/60 FPS. He claimed you can but I remain doubtful.

Linear, limited corridors like TLoU, maybe. But full blown open-world games like this or RDR2? I would have to see it to believe it.

Native 4K/60 became viable in most modern open world games back when the 2080Ti came out. My 1080Ti struggles but even the Radeon VII fares well at 4K/60 without DLSS or FidelityFX. The new Ampere/Navi GPUs are rumored to be a 30% increase over the 2080Ti so they'll be running everything with ease.

 

[DalekFlay]

"If you get a $1200 graphics card you can run at 60fps using medium-ish Xbox One settings" isn't the big ad for 4k performance you seem to be painting it as.

I'd make some comment here about 1440p and 144fps being better than 4k60 anyway, but 100+fps is just as rough for big open world games like that. They usually use more processor grunt too, so while I can run AC: Origins right now at 1440p60 on ultra, lowering it to high or even medium doesn't add a ton of frames in busy areas.

 

[Jrpgfan]

Really surprised given how good Death Stranding was on PC.

Was Death Stranding actually a good performer at 4k

Got a little confused with the settings and ended up setting 4k without DLSS. I was genuinely thinking I was running 1440p + DLSS on my RTX 2080 Super because it was silky smooth. Only realized I didn't have DLSS on when I experienced some stuttering on a cutscene later in the game but it got better after I updated my drivers.

That said, I wasn't really impressed by that game's graphics even on native 4k. Last "pretty" game I played was Kingdom Come Deliverance and even on 1440p it impressed me way more with the lightining and vegetation than Death Stranding.

 

[Drowed]

Stuttering is what kills this game to me, according to the technical analysis I saw.

I don't mind playing the game at lower resolutions. I mean, most of the games I play often have resolutions ranging from 512x448 to 800x600 anyways. More than that, my vision is not so good nowadays, so often I don't even turn anti-aliasing on since I can't notice the difference most of the time. With high resolutions the advantage is lost on me. But framerate? That I can tell even with very subtle differences. I can easily give up playing at 4k or whatever, but don't mess with my 60fps. Action games become literally unplayable for me, and stuttering is so deeply annoying that I end up giving the game up.

 

[ADL]

"If you get a $1200 graphics card you can run at 60fps using medium-ish Xbox One settings" isn't the big ad for 4k performance you seem to be painting it as.

I'd make some comment here about 1440p and 144fps being better than 4k60 anyway, but 100+fps is just as rough for big open world games like that. They usually use more processor grunt too, so while I can run AC: Origins right now at 1440p60 on ultra, lowering it to high or even medium doesn't add a ton of frames in busy areas.

RDR2 is a very particular instance where people are using medium settings for very particular things because a small quality improvement is not worth a 7% loss in performance. Take a look at all the other videos, they're maxed or running very high settings that are well and above consoles at 4X the native resolution.

Also Red Dead Redemption 2's advanced settings were not intended to be maxed out on current gen hardware or even next gen hardware, it likely won't be maxed out at 4K for another five years because they future proofed it.

 

[Jrpgfan]

"If you get a $1200 graphics card you can run at 60fps using medium-ish Xbox One settings" isn't the big ad for 4k performance you seem to be painting it as.

I'd make some comment here about 1440p and 144fps being better than 4k60 anyway, but 100+fps is just as rough for big open world games like that. They usually use more processor grunt too, so while I can run AC: Origins right now at 1440p60 on ultra, lowering it to high or even medium doesn't add a ton of frames in busy areas.

RDR2 is a very particular instance where people are using medium settings for very particular things because a small quality improvement is not worth a 7% loss in performance. Take a look at all the other videos, they're maxed or running very high settings that are well and above consoles at 4X the native resolution.

Also Red Dead Redemption 2's advanced settings were not intended to be maxed out on current gen hardware or even next gen hardware, it likely won't be maxed out at 4K for another five years because they future proofed it.

What really improved performance for me they didn't show in the video was downscaling from 4k to 9/10. The performance gain was somehow massive for so little decrease in resolution and I noticed no visible degradation at all.