So, I just played Horizon: Zero Dawn at the press/business day at Brazil Game Show, and since the game will also be playable at PAX West starting tomorrow, I thought would be interesting to create this thread since many gaffers should have played by the weekend.
I played a 10 minute demo which I believe was the same one press got their hands at E3.
The demo starts with Aloy at a higher ground with a vista to some robotic creatures. There are watchers, the one used as a mount and also a shielded creature that kinda looks like a turret (?) on the fields, and also some natural wildlife like some rabbits and boars. The demo was basically an open area where you could fuck around for some time.
First of all, wow at the visuals and also the animations, both from Aloy and the creatures. They are not only good to look at, but also very fluid while playing. My biggest concern with Horizon was always the fear of having a janky gameplay as other open world RPG have, but Im so relieved now. The bow and the spear are great and work as a nice combo for the combat. The focus ability is also a big part of it since the creatures have weak spots as we already seen. In a couple of minutes of combat I had already felt really comfortable with the mechanics.
Shooting a enemy from distance then watching it rush at my position and then dashing away from its rush and then hitting with the melee spear felt soooo good.
Stealth gameplay was also good, but sometimes AI felt a bit dumb by not seeing me, but that happens in most games. A big thumbs up for the AI was when I took control of the mount and then watchers came and attacked it, the AI vs AI encounters were awesome too see, again thanks to the great animations.
The mounting felt great but when going too fast I did notice some texture popping. Also, the game has a climbing system that reminded me a lot of Uncharted climbing.
Basically that was it I think, the game just felt and looked really good and more than ever I feel like Sony and Guerrilla have a big hitter on their hands with Horizon