On the last Aftermath, Jeff and Ben took a call or voicemail about game titles with the caller mentioning that Horizon Zero Dawn is a terrible name. I kind of agree, but it’s easy to complain and hard to put yourself in the devs’ place.

I tried to come up with something better and found it quite difficult. My best effort is “Digital Frontier” because of the double meaning of AI being a current actual digital frontier, but also the game’s setting in the robot animal populated wilds being like a historical natural frontier.

Anyone else think they have a better title for HZD?

How 'bout just Aloy.

The Legend of Aloy: Machinewaker

Machine World

GAIA

Machine Learning

Horizon doesn't stand out as a particularly bad title for a video game.

Most titles are better off without subtitle, should have gone for Horizon.

Is there a subtitle out there that made the title better? I just keep thinking back on Halo : Combat Evolved... and that's not a good subtitle :D

As a tribute to the source material, I would have just called it Zoids.

For this reason I think they should have just called the game "Horizon" and dropped the rest of the name, because you're right, Horizon is a cool video game name.

This is incredibly picky but I have to point out that the game doesn't have a subtitle. Its exact title is "Horizon Zero Dawn," - no colons or subtitles.

I have a lot of nostalgia for Zoids...

Horizon Zero Dawn is okay as a title because it sort of sounds cool, but it doesn't actually mean anything and is actually an internal reference that only makes sense after you've played the game.

I think that was the main issue actually. The game was supposed to be kind of mysterious as to what was going on, and you aren't supposed to have more knowledge of the world than Aloy does, so many names that make sense in retrospect are kind of spoilers, which Horizon Zero Dawn is not.

I would have called it "Frontier" or "Robot Frontier" because I think those are a little more descriptive titles without being spoilers, but the flip side is that Horizon Zero Dawn had a TON of marketing behind it so it didn't need a memorable or descriptive name because all the customers already knew what it was.

If this had been a small Indie game with no marketing the name would be much worse because it doesn't tell you anything when you're flipping through an online store.

At least it's not El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. Now there's a game that could have used a clearer name.

It absolutely is a subtitle. Look at the stylized title.

It may not have a colon, but the way the title is presented clearly demonstrates that Zero Dawn is a subtitle. It seems obvious the next game will be Horizon "Something Else".

Robot Hunter. Done.

@onemanarmyy: While Combat Evolved doesn’t really hold up, Halo was just that when it was launched. It wasn’t a great name, but it was apt.

I haven’t gotten around to Horizon Zero Dawn yet, but I own a copy.

I do wonder if the name means anything at all.

Going into Lord of the Rings with no prior knowledge, one might ask “what does that even mean?” Having read, watched, whatever, you’d know once you consumed that story.

Without spoiling anything, at the end of Horizon Zero Dawn, does that name mean anything?

Yes.

@nutter: Zero Dawn absolutely does. As Exile pointed out above, Zero Dawn is clearly presented as a subtitle and the intention was for Horizon to be the franchise name. In this case the phrase Zero Dawn is alluded to at points in the game, and is fully explained in the later portion of the game.

This doesn't mean, of course, that marketing won't dictate that the game won't be called Horizon Zero Dawn: Subtitle or 2. It has happened before. People seem to forget one particular game was called The Operative: No One Lives Forever. The sequel was NOT called The Operative 2 or The Operative: [Other Subtitle]

@thursday1977: @ll_exile_ll:

Thanks! I’ll probably get to Horizon a little bit sooner, now.

Robo-Animal Shootin' 2K17

All names are inherently meaningless until we apply a meaning to them. HZD is fine as a name, sure you don't know what it means until you play the game, but that's everything. Die Hard, The Legend of Zelda, Lord of the Rings, and even Giant Bomb. They are only cool names because we know what they are because they are a cool product. The name alone means nothing.

Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'? - The Game

I think it's an ok name. I never once misremembered one of the words and always felt that it rolled of the tongue (compared to something that I find hard to say - Apex Legends). It is a little long for a title, but it's fun to say imo. And you can just call it Horizon. And I think the name Horizon for the franchise is cool.

After Horizon, or Horizon After.

I haven't played the game so i don't know what the story is, but i know there was some kind of apocalypse, hence the "After".

Never questioned Horizon; Zero Dawn. It was neither awkward sounding, or had that sort of Ad hoc connotation. Literally because I did not know what the two parts of the title was referring to.

Afterwards to boot, it made total sense. Especially as a title. Thus I am in total peace with the whole thing.

The only reason I didn't go with something involving her name is because I feel like they've established a good enough universe that they could have eventually sequels in the same continuity that don't involve her, though I would certainly expect an immediate sequel to stick with her. I think character names are avoided in the titles of most triple-A "could become a franchise" games in general for that reason.

All names are arbitrary and dumb out of context.

Apex Legends: a reference to one of the factions in Titanfall 2

Resident Evil: The residents are evil....I guess? On it's own it's a pretty sill name haha

Dark Souls: What?

I could go on, my point is, in my opinion there's no such thing as a "perfect" game title.

OP doesn't ask for a perfect game title.

The "Zero Dawn" portion of the title makes sense after you play it, so I think it's fine.

In general, I feel two things about game/console names:

1) They are often dumb.

2) It doesn't actually matter. If a game gets a following, it will become a household name.

X-box? Terrible, nondescriptive. PlayStation? Sounds like something your grandparents would call it (if they didn't refer to the brand name of Nintendo).

Wii? This means nothing. It sold like crazy. Names don't actually matter.

The "Mass Effect" series is named after the fictional technobabble that allows FTL travel in that universe. It's a name that, like Horizon Zero Dawn, is justified within the game itself.

Same with "Dragon Age," too. Any game that takes place 40 years before Origins or 60 years after Inquisition would have to carry a different name, because the name refers to that particular century in the history of that world.

I never remember the subtitle of a game, with rare exception (i.e., I call Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim just 'Skyrim'). With HZD, I only refer to it as Horizon. I never say the full title. Which to me means the better title would have simply been 'Horizon'. But, I wonder if there's something behind the scenes that leads to decisions like adding a subtitle to a game/movie/etc. Was there property already called 'Horizon'? Is there some property out there that is primarily identified as 'Horizon' and would calling this game 'Horizon' lead to confusion? Was it for a copyright reason?

Shit's weird, man.

I think its fine. The Zero Dawn makes sense once you play the game. It could've been just Horizon or Zero Dawn. I refer to it as Horizon anyways. I'd guess the next one is Horizon: subtitle

Zero Dawn would've been good. Saying Horizon when it comes to video games makes me think of Forza. Horizon Zero Dawn feels too long and kinda random - Metal Gear Solid or Gears of War are kinda random, but they have a flow to their titles, Horzon Zero Dawn doesn't, but I don't think it's a big deal.

I like that it has a subtitle. Aside from being what the game is about, it will also help in the future. Based on the fact it has a subtitle, one can assume they are going with subtitled sequels rather than numbered. In this case, having the first game be subtitled as well will makes thing easier in the future.

Say at some point down the line there are 3 games in the series. When making reference the first one, you won't have to call "Horizon 1" or "The first Horizon" or any other differentiator people have to come up with referring to the first game in a series who's name is the same as the series name. It will just be "Zero Dawn."

Horizon zero dong. yes i had to go there.

Like Ryan Davis once said: "Really, if you remove any one word from there, it's way better."

It's not just called "Horizon" because the sequels will be called Horizon: something

So we can refer to the first game as Zero Dawn in the future

Aloy.

Horizon Zero Dawn 2 doesn’t sound so so great.. Uhm..