Horizon: Zero Dawn first impressions: Visually impressive and plenty to do

We’ve played the first few hours of Horizon: Zero Dawn. There’s still much to see and things to do, but here are our first impressions.

Guerilla Games ventures off into new territory with its latest open world action RPG, Horizon: Zero Dawn. If you’ve seen the trailers, you can sense that the world is full of life, whether it’s peaceful or dangerous. We’d like to touch a bit on that before getting into the actual gameplay.

The introduction is outstanding. It’s a lengthy cinematic, but you truly see incredible details within the game engine. From the characters exchanging in dialogue to the simple things, like the leaves on the trees, everything is breathtaking. This isn’t surprising, though. This was evident from the moment we saw a gameplay video.

However, there’s nothing like seeing it at its full potential on the PlayStation 4 and experiencing it firsthand. We’re actually a bit jealous of PlayStation 4 Pro owners since they can gloat about playing this in glorious 4K resolution. So far, this is shaping up to be one of gaming’s greatest visual spectacles of the year.

From what we’ve played, the world seems very interactive. We don’t want to spoil much, but you obtain a device that helps you on your journey. You simply use it to discover certain objectives like puzzle hints. You can also use it as a means of collecting, such as audio files.

The device makes its debut very early in the game. We expected it to play a huge role as we continued throughout our play-through. Sure enough, we were right. We’ll discuss hunting next, which is where the device also comes in handy.

Hunting is extremely fun. The stealthy approach is the way to go, especially in action RPGs. Then again, it’s always fun to test your luck and recklessly attack a wave of enemies. Usually, that doesn’t work out, and we learned that the hard way.

A particular type of machine that we’ve run into is called a Watcher. The most efficient way to take these out is by taking the stealthy approach. It’s in the name, really. If they detect you, they will try to kill you. These machines have to be respected like Rost said (Rost is the guardian and father figure of the main character, Aloy).

At first, you let Rost do all the work. Of course, you’re in stealth mode. You pick up rocks to throw them in a certain location to distract the Watcher. Once it falls for it, you see Rost go for the kill. This is where looting the dead bodies is introduced. By looting these bodies, you gather items that will help you craft weapons, such as arrows for your bow.

Once you’ve done this, you go for your first kill. This time, you’re introduced to another species known as Striders. With your device, you’re able to detect a weakness, which is highly beneficial. By knowing its weakness, you attack it with your bow and arrow and kill it. This seems to be the basics of hunting.

As time goes on, you’ll be able to upgrade our weapons, kill bigger and stronger enemies and explore new areas of the world. The story seems very interesting and there seem to be plenty of secrets to discover. With what we’ve played, there’s still a sense of mystery. So far, we absolutely love it.

It’s visually stunning, the gameplay is very smooth and an absolute blast and the story seems extremely compelling. The attention to detail is noticeable in almost every aspect. We can’t wait to dig more into this beautiful world and experience everything it has to offer.

Next: Middle-Earth: Shadow of War has been announced

Expect a full review in the coming days once we’ve had more time playing it. But if first impressions speak volumes, then Horizon: Zero Dawn is an absolute buy.