If it has a flaw, it could simply be that it borrows a little too much in terms of play concepts and mechanics - outpost raids, crafting, dialogue design, and more - from its open-world contemporaries. Some battles are nothing short of exhilarating. Aloy's battles with the machine animals are fast and furious, forcing players both to strategize and rely on their reflexes as they lay traps, acrobatically leap away from attacks, quickly switch between weapons, and pick the right types of ammunition to suit their enemies and the situation. But what might eventually prove even more gratifying for some players is the action. The story and the stunningly rendered world in which it takes place is what will pull most players in at the start. At the heart of it all is Aloy, a smart, skilled, self-assured heroine who's easy to like and fun to cheer on - not just while fighting the massive machines that roam her land but also while confronting closed-minded or conniving adversaries during her quests. And everything is cleverly woven together to create a mythological tapestry where it's easy to lose oneself. It has the depth and breadth of an epic fantasy or a science-fiction novel and just as many factions and characters. Horizon Zero Dawn provides players with a captivating world rich in history, culture, politics, theology, and conflict. This is one big game - not only in terms of length but also the size of its enormous map and the scope of its story and lore. During her 60-hour quest she continues to grow her abilities as a warrior and hunter, encounters and aids countless people, and learns the truth about herself, the machines, and the old world. Her adventure takes her beyond her homeland into a vast and seamless world pocked with the skeletons of ancient skyscrapers and the architecture of contemporary tribes and filled with mythology and mysteries. Where do the machines come from? What happened to the old world? Most importantly, who is she, and who - or, perhaps, what - was her mother? She becomes a fearsome warrior and hunter, capable of taking on the fiercest of the machine animals using an array of weapons ranging from a bow and arrow to a 'tripcaster' that instantly creates trip wire traps for machines to stumble into.

But when she comes of age she makes a bold bid to rejoin her people and eventually sets out on an epic quest to learn the answers to several enigmas. She's an outcast from her tribe, raised by a fellow exile named Rost. Born into this world is Aloy, a mysterious child without a mother. Humanity has regressed to a tribal culture largely devoid of technology, though working machines still exist in the form of robotic animals that roam the wild. The world as we know it is long gone in HORIZON ZERO DAWN, an expansive role-playing game set centuries in the future.

Horizon zero dawn ps4