I finally got my hands on a PS5, and so far I've only used it to clear my backlog from the last generation. I've finished God of War (not crazy about most of the side activities, but otherwise pretty great!), and now I'm on to Horizon.

Boy howdy, do these cavemen love to whine. It's not just that they're rooted to one spot so they need you to go retrieve the Mystic Spear of Fwangus or whatever, it's that they're so MOPEY.

The voice acting is partially to blame for this, paired up with relatively static facial animations. The actors are working so damned hard to convey how sadly sad they are. Pair that up with a flat expression, and the whole Nora tribe just look like they're all suffering from a mild case of the trots.

Aloy herself is the worst of the bunch. The game can't decide if she's a Lara Croft-ian badass ("Grr! I was raised to do parkour in the wilds!"), a smooth, resourceful snarker ("I might be an exile, but you're a wiener!"), or a painfully sincere teen. ("I'm so sorry you're a caveman with schizophrenia. Have I mentioned my dad is dead?")

I'm only about five or six hours in, but no amount of hunting robot dinosaurs is worth this. Please tell me these prehistoric goobers get over themselves at some point.

And the worst part is that nobody asks Aloy what she's playing.

Aloy is fine for the most part but all other human interactions in the game are pretty bad. It says a lot that the best human stuff in the game comes from holograms delivering massive lore dumps to one another.

I like Aloy quite a bit but yeah she's really all the game has going character wise.

Even then you're right about the weird disconnect in her personality sometimes. She often feels like the main character of a different game guest starring in this world that is very different from her original setting.

I didn’t mind the NPC blandness in light of the setting itself outshining performances, and the combat being fun on its own, at least to me.

The first time through I was just dazzled by everything, it wasn’t until a more recent play through that my critical eye noticed some of the cracks.

If you don’t like it 6 hours in, I’d just quit.

meh, i didn't really have a problem with the characters in this game. aloy is a sufficiently motivated (if not terribly complicated) character, and i thought those gravestone visits with rost were actually fairly well done. if they could find a way to layer in those moments in a more organic way that doesn't require visiting a specific location repeatedly i think it would go a long way.

in terms of the other characters, aside from erend, sylens, sobeck and faro- yeah they're forgettable. the facial animation did get a big boost the dlc though- and i imagine the next game will be better (hopefully).

This is the sort of game that would be fun to play modded, but unmodded makes me extremely bored. I just want to fast travel from the start and ride a robo-velociraptor. That is it.

I must have had a somewhat different experience than some of you. I'm having to remember some years back, but Aloy's interaction with most NPC's was, well, I don't remember them to care.

But there was a couple of hard-core dudes that seemed decently developed, including a mentor of hers who was a thinly concealed psychopath.

The one interaction I thought downright awkward was with the emperor. It just did not seem contrived well enough. The story wanting to convey Aloy as a well knitted female warrior, fine and done. A nature lady also, with the ability to forgo bathing for weeks, and knowledge of what leaves to wipe with (inferred). I was surprised the Emperor was immediately so smitten, and yet so sincere. It just seemed out of place, something that could possibly happen, maybe, after he got to know her.

As @humanity put it, the holograms were a show in their own right.

Stuff like this is why I'm actually not at all excited for the sequel. The mystery of the true nature of the world and what happened in the past kept me going despite how awful the current day characters were, it was all really intriguing piecing things together. Finding old ruins and having all the "what happened here?" things answered.

The sequel is going to have none of that obviously, that's a one and done. Without that thread to keep me going I can't see myself wanting to play it.

The problem is Aloy doesn't have Solid Snake's voice. I've seen comparisons between Horizon and The Witcher 3 and Geralt almost has a Solid Snake voice. Aloy herself is a clone of somebody so there's really no reason she can't have a Snake like voice. Imagine if she said those lines you typed out as examples sounding like Snake. Instantly better.

Strongly considering it. I keep giving it another go out of misplaced hope, but man, it ain't panning out.

I did climb my first longneck, which was pretty neat. But that's not much of a thread to hang my expectations on.

Still have yet to meet a caveman that isn't a candidate for anitdepressant therapy.

I've tried multiple times to enjoy Horizon, because I love the general worldbuilding. It gives me some Nausicaa vibes, which I am desperate for in more games. Unfortunately, everything else is just so mediocre to me. I find the gameplay loop to be very generic assassin's creed-y. I wish so much that it was more like monster with some actual depth to the combat, but it's just so shallow and un-rewarding. Beyond that, the open world reminds me of Dragon Age Inquisition with how static it is. I have some hopes for the sequel, but I'm expecting it to deliver more of the same.

@el_blarfo: so, one problem might be that you are taking too much time going competionist with it. 6 hours in and your first longneck. That’s like within the first hour after the tutorial for me. And that’s not some brag, that’s just how I played it, the main line story made me push forward without doing much side content until later.

If you really want to give it another try, try mainlining the critical path and not worrying about simple quests or the hunting grounds. You can always go back to the side stuff if you want later. You might like the characters in another area that aren’t members of your own tribe once you get to the big city and there is a bit more diversity.

Or not. I endorse dropping games that are not being enjoyed, everyone is allowed to not like whatever to want, and no one obligated to play anything. I love Zero Dawn, but if you don’t, don’t force yourself through it.

Yea I would say if the combat isn't gripping you, the characters won't save you. I found Horizon to be exceptional in terms of sound design, enemy design, A.I. interaction, general combat flow and discovery of what exactly this world is that you're exploring, but the world itself is not always the most gripping. Some of the NPC interactions are downright comical and it's unintentional 90% of the time.

All that being said, as someone who very likely considers this his game of the generation, any brushback or critique can't help but sting a little. I wish you'd give it more of a chance. But some people just don't find that combat flow that I did, and for them I do feel sympathetic.

Yeah, I have to say, I'm not finding the combat terribly interesting so far either. Which is too bad! It's robot dinosaurs! That SHOULD feel cool. So far it's mostly been Striders, Grazers and Watchers though, and those are pretty same-y after a while. I did like that first corruptor fight. Tying it down with ropes and shooting it was pretty fun. More of that, please!

That's the thing, though. I've done a couple side quests, but I don't feel like I'm stopping to dot every i and cross every t. And it's pretty clear that you can fast travel around to grab collectibles whenever you want. I'm gonna do another main mission or two tonight before I decide whether to hang it up.

@el_blarfo: I would say reach the next major zone and see from there. It introduces a lot more of the larger machines that it sounds like you may enjoy fighting a little more.

Yea, if what you want is a need to use the traps and ropes and explosive arrows, you should just keep going. Grant that I played this game on Hard and later Ultra Hard+ because, again, I just loved it so much (and found the early enemies terrifying because I am a terrible underpowered gamer) but as the areas open up you are going to find a great need for pre-gaming your enemy encounters and swapping weapon and ammo types to get the most out of fights. It really is exhilarating.

Yes, i am agree.