Guerilla games have been on a roll recently. After completely milking fame and revenue from their previous game series; Killzone, Guerilla has now picked up steam again with the latest addition to their game collection with Horizon. Loyal fans may have thought that given the success and sequels of Killzone, Guerilla was only capable of producing amazing shoot em up based games but they’ve been proven wrong after the introduction of the Horizon series.
The Idea Behind Horizon
Horizon came out at a time when the market was saturated with combat shoot-em-ups. The likes of COD and Battlefield were dominating the market and having a new game battle it out with these giants in the industry was super risky.
Guerilla, therefore, adopted a smarter strategy and went for primitive incorporation in their game. Instead of a mini-gun being equipped for the main character, Aloy, the developers gave her a bow and arrow.
Also, Read About: How Does Good Music Develop Your Writing Skills?
Next, they made the game open world, which was to be post-apocalyptic. But the most intriguing and exciting addition they made was to put in mechanized animals that each had their own characteristics, and environments and came equipped with specialized weapons.
The idea was to give the players something they had never played before. Dino fan? You get mechanized dinosaurs. Farming fan? You can farm materials and parts. Love exploration? You get a world streaked with dynamically changing environments.
Size and Expansions
We’ll be honest. Horizon is a big game. There’s a reason why it has so much to do and explore. The game weighs around 60 Gb and goes up to 90 Gb if you decide to download additional updates and DLCs. This would no doubt take up a lot of time.
We’d recommend having CenturyLink equipped to handle the load of such a big download and minimize your wait times so you can dive into the game ASAP. CenturyLink Internet plans offer a wide variety of options to choose from and their download speeds go up to 5gbps which can download the base game of Horizon in a couple of hours.
The first game has only one expansion which goes by “the Frozen Wilds” and the sequel has none but given the short amount of time it’s been out; there’s a good possibility Guerilla has something up its sleeve for it.
What Makes the Game Tick?
Diving into the specifics, Horizon anchors itself as a solid addition to the gaming foray because of its unique disposition. Simply put, there is no other game like it that introduces such a world, ripe with adventure, animals, and a juicy, post-apocalyptic story.
The story of Aloy is one of struggle and self-enlightenment and it’s a delight to experience a young girl search within and around her world to understand where she stands. All while taking down meticulously designed mech-animals.
What’s interesting about these mechanical wonders is that they have parts that can be stripped off to craft more powerful weapons, traps, or gear. They get even spicier when they have specialized canisters incorporated into their design.
For example, you get ice-throwing and breathing crocodiles that are called Snapmaws or fiery gazelles that are called Lancehorns. The latter is a nuisance to deal with since they behave basically like deer and will sprint at the first sense of danger. This makes their antlers (which are required for crafting amazing gear) a pain to acquire.
Aloy’s Gear
Did we mention there’s just a bow and arrow involved? Apologies, apologies. There’s a lot more than that in Aloy’s arsenal. She carries a pouch that looks small only visually. Our protagonist has access to a wide variety of weapons that include slings that can lob elemental bombs, tripwires that can shock and stun mechanicals, and even rope casters that can tie down animals and render them immobile.
And with a tasty assortment of bloodthirsty mechanicals ready to defend their territory from your escapades, you can never really run out on having fun with them. At least we didn’t.
In the sequel, Aloy expands on her gear too with a digital umbrella that acts as a perfect, aesthetic glider enabling you to channel your inner Batman and glide from the top of a mountain straight into the middle of a grassy valley. Guns didn’t completely disappear as enemies crafted a Gun-Esque arsenal that is capable of firing arrows instead of bullets at an accelerated rate.
So if you miss having a simple shooting gadget, you can go take down a couple of baddies and equip their toys to quench your thirst.
An Ever-Evolving Story and a Dystopian World
The story is what you may have guessed. The inhabitants of this world have really no clue of what happened before they came. They keep finding remnants of the “old ones” i.e. us but no actual person from our time to greet and guide them.
The AI in charge of teaching them, “Apollo” seems to have been mysteriously wiped from the database it was kept in and what should have been a thriving, hustling bustling population is now various tribes scattered all over the world trying to make a living off the land with very primitive thought processes.
And this is where Aloy drops in and accidentally stumbles upon a few interesting revelations that prompt her to pick up clues and understand what happened and why it happened. We won’t spoil anything else pertaining to the story for you but it truly is one to experience firsthand.
Conclusion
Horizon has established itself as the first to a niche of mechanizations and post-apocalyptic games. Its lush environments, colorful and beautifully designed mechanicals, gripping story, and a plethora of activities are sure to get you playing for hours on end.
The sequel provides the same energy and Guerilla has promised to deliver a third, final game to offer a fitting culmination to the story. Until that happens we highly recommend catching up on the world of Horizon Zero Dawn if you haven’t already done so.
