So yea I'm a little late to the party. I did start Horizon when it originally came out early in the year and I was super impressed with the look of the game. The writing was good and I especially liked how little kid Aloy interacted with a hologram she found, the way she voices it back and just everything about that scene was impressive.

Then the culture appropriation really kicked in, so I'm native American and hearing characters(white characters) throw around the word brave did not sit well. It's also not just that, everything about these people is taken from other cultures. Also when you get into the meat of the main story these appropriations make no sense. There is one scene from a hologram later that could explain the "braves" term outside of the real word meaning. I bailed on the game, either I got bored or something else stole me away. Anyway I just wanted to get that out of the way, now let's just discuss the story and character. Although feel free to hit me up on the cultural appropriation.

So due to some life choices I have a ton of time on my hands and the games this year are so good and so long. A few days ago I resolved to finally get into and finish Horizon zero dawn. The game starts very strong introducing you to Aloy and her place in this world. Everyone loves a good montage into adulthood, right from the beginning Aloy is presented as a strong character who will not let others bring her down while also being compassionate(although how much of that is her genes, more on this later). That could also just be the way I played the character and her choices you can make.

The one thing I will say about this game is while the side quests are decent I never felt the need to do them. The main story is so damn good that I just needed to know more and more. Also I'm not gunna lie just walking around and navigating the world is a chore. Machines are always in packs and they always want to kill you when I just want to run by to the next mission. The main reason to play this game is the main story of how the world ended all those years ago.

So the main story missions that involve the tribes of horizon are ok but are bogged down by the appropriation, the Nora that Aloy comes from is an amalgam of various different tribal cultures in our universe. The Carja are just Mayan/Aztec culture. The Oseram I am not completely sure but I'm sure it's stolen as well. It feels all very lazy, which hurts to say because I really like this game. There are some decent characters inside of these tribes but Aloy and her connection to the machines is what this game is.

Ok let's get into the guts of the robocalypse. So kind of early on Aloy sees a hologram of Ted Faro consulting Dr. Elisabet Sobeck on a mistake he made. Turns out this is a world ending mistake, so Faro runs a company who makes "peacekeeping" robots that can use biomass as fuel. Something goes wrong in the code and they start consuming the planet. Sobeck tells Faro that there is now way to fix this and that the earth has 16 months left, holy crap. Sobeck says we need to get project zero dawn done before the 16 months is up. Of course that's where it stops and the player has to run to the next installation, which turns out to be U.S. robotics command. How can you stop and do side quests after hearing that.

So wandering around these various installations you find e-mails and voice recordings. Before finding out what zero dawn is you hear how humanity is throwing everything they got at these robots to buy time for zero dawn. This one voice recording recounts how they set the ocean on fire to slow the robots down, about how they fought slag covered robots for about an hour before the swarm showed up. The tired voice on this person and the fact that you know they have that thousand yard stare recounting this hit me pretty hard. They go on to recount dropping buildings on the swarm and giving literally everyone a weapon to slow down the swarm.

The civilians are told that zero dawn will generate the codes to stop the swarm but it's just a lie to get more bodies in there to slow them down. It is immensely sad, you find a hologram later of the general who sent all these billions to their deaths. He laments the fact that he killed more people than all the monsters of history. All this time I am thinking damn I want to be playing that game. So all of this sounds awesome in a tragic way. Strange how the past is always more epic than the story of the moment, I'm looking at you star wars and lord of the rings.

So we come to it, project zero dawn and the whole reason I am writing this. Turns out it's a terraforming project using A.I.. Doctor Sobeck surmised that the only way was to rebuild the earth after it was devastated and to use the population as a shield. So they name the main a.i. Gaia and her subroutines after various other greek gods based on what they do. Apollo is the sum of humanity's knowledge(this one is important and we'll get back to it). Hades is a failsafe in case the terraforming fails and they need to try again, hades will scorch the earth so Gaia can try again. Turns out hades is the reason all these machines are being jack asses and he's the main villain.

There is much more to get into about Gaia and hades and the connection to Aloy's origins. The thing that really got me about this game is what I believe to be one of Gaia's attempts at repopulating. So you go into mother's cradle which is in nora territory and where Aloy's comes from. It's basically an installation to breed and teach humans to repopulate. When you first walk in you see children's drawing's everywhere on the walls. these are not pleasant drawings and right away something is off. There are a few bodies here and there. You find these holograms of children playing with a a.i. trying to tell them to go to bed or something, the kids say nope guess what your not a real person. Right away you can tell this will not go well. The children also call the various a.i. mom or dad, which is heartbreaking in it's own way.

I have to say the sadness creeps in as you watch these knowing these kids aren't going to get what they need from these machines. You get various holograms of machines and when I say machines I mean a.i., not knowing how to deal with teenage humans. When they get out of line they say "let's go outside and blow of some steam". The kids are also clearly not growing up right they still speak and whine like children when they should be further developed. One of the last recording shows a machine talking to a group of 18 year olds I think saying they need to go into the world and fend for themselves because there is no food left. The machine says "you need to take care of each other and be brave" the brave part could be used as an excuse for the "braves" thing. Anyway the children ask if they can come back if they get cold and of course the machine says no. It's goddamn heartbreaking but I do believe these kids are the first to start these other tribes we see like the nora, perhaps these are just nora ancestors.

So you may be asking what about Apollo the a.i. that was supposed to teach this new humanity. In one of the recordings you see the children asking if they can go into a particular door, there are windows off to the side so they can see this room but never enter. The machine says something about it being offline. So these kids grow up seeing all this immense space while essentially growing up in the living quarters. Later on we learn that Ted Faro is still alive and bunkered with the rest of the super smart survivors who built zero dawn. I was pretty pissed that he was still alive by the way, homie should have been put down. Anyway he surmises that this knowledge of humanity is something earned not given and erases Apollo. Now I assume that he was guilty over ending the world and wanted this knowledge to stay dead but that's just my theory. So Ted Faro master mistake artist condemns these children to grow up like this.

I got so sad after playing this maybe it was the acting but damn I thought about this for days. There is so much more to discuss but this was the main thing for me. I did not even get into the overall theme which is obtaining knowledge at any cost or stopping to think on whether or not you should. Ian Malcolm was right. Anyways I just needed to get this off my chest and if you want to talk some horizon hit me up. So much I didn't cover about sylens and hades and Aloy's origin, the tribal religions also I have not got into the dlc yet but I'll probably play it. Thanks for reading if you did.

Hey. I saw your blog a couple of days ago, but life prevented me from replying until today. I want to make it absolutely clear that I found Horizon Zero Dawn to be exceptional. Like you, I thought about the ending days after, and I had never felt such a need to replay a game just to read up on the lore. However, I did feel grossed out by the cultural appropriation and felt that the game inadvertently fell back on racist stereotypes from time to time. I'm not Native American, but rather a woman of Hispanic descent, yet I had an extremely negative response to the use of the word savage. It felt like a gut punch every time even though I'm sure the writers tried to make it clear that the characters using that word were racists and/or bigots. They definitely should have not tried to inject humor in some of those situations as the issue needed to be treated with respect and the end result fell short of the mark. My other issue was with the depiction of the Banuk. I felt that a lot of the character design fell into the witch doctor stereotype, and it did not help that many of the Banuk were of a darker skin tone. I would be interested in hearing more of your thoughts as I have other minor gripes, but I was surprised when you brought up the term "braves" as I am wholly uneducated on its usage in general and as a pejorative term.

In regards to the tribes, I completely glossed over the Carja being representative of Mayan and Aztec culture. It seems silly that I didn't make that connection although it made perfect sense the second I read it. Part of the reason why I failed to connect the very obvious dots is that it seemed to be that the Carja culture was not as developed as the others. It seemed that there was a lot of emphasis on the 13th Sun King's penchant for sacrifice and his implied mental illness so it seemed like that affected the Carja's beliefs more anything. The game also spent a good chunk of time developing the Shadow Carja, which continue in the bloodthirsty King's tradition. It could be that I missed some information somewhere so if you can point me in that direction, I would greatly appreciate it.

I have more to say on the story and Ted Faro, but these were my most pressing thoughts. I would love to hear more from you if you're up to it, but I just love this game to bits. I hope that GG can improve on some of these issues for the sequel so that it can at least not be blown out of the running GOTY next year.

@yaobikuni: Thanks for the response it's nice to see some other people taking a liking to this game although I understand it was buried in this awesome year of games. So yea the Banuk I never gave much thought to since they were only in that one mission in the main game. When I get to the dlc I will have more to say about them but yes they did seem more spiritual and shamanistic. This is a very strange world where people like Aloy and Sylens know what's up and basically tolerate people like Aloy does or just use them like Sylens.

Aloy knows they are good people and just wants to help. I do find the spirituality interesting, the nora for instance are a matriarchal society. Does this all stem from the "all mother" computer voice? I didn't run into any lore on the carja that informed me why they worship the sun. It's probably in the texts you find I should probably read those. The use of braves is a minor gripe there are definitely worse terms but it's still a European word thrust on native warriors, it's hard to explain. It just feels icky hehe.

The shadow carja kind of bored me to be honest they were very much just evil cannon fodder although I do like that the game showed they were not all bloodthirsty. Like the king and that ripped female warrior, I forgot her name. Overall the main three cultures did not grab me which worries me a little about a sequel. Hopefully they have more ancient world stuff hidden away. A few side quests or characters I did like though and the two bickering shopkeepers which has been done before but I still liked them. Erend was ok he had a nice little story arc, when you first meet him he is very much a "big deal" in a backwater talking to a pretty girl which he brings up later.

I do appreciate as time goes on everyone sees Aloy for the badass she is and acknowledges it. One thing I love is the yin and yang of Dr. Sobeck and Sylens. Sobeck learns at an early age that knowledge can be dangerous and to be careful how she uses her intellect. The bird story was not great but it got the point across. Sylens on the other hand just wants knowledge no matter the cost, while I really like Sylens as a villain I'm curious of his motivation outside of just gathering knowledge. Will he try to resurrect Apollo?

One thing I thought strange was the ending, how hades flew out of the shell like a "demon" and into Sylens magic lamp. I very much want to see how Sylens uses hades but it was just kind of silly. Hopefully they will flesh out more of the different cultures and give Sylens some good motivation or perhaps a better villain like a reanimated Ted Faro. Some time this week I'm going to hit up the dlc and depending how good it is I'll have more thoughts, looking forward to your reply and thoughts.

To be honest I had played through the entire game and only now did I hear anything about culture appropriation. I understand how people see it but I dunno, it just seems like if you’re depicting future tribal cultures that’s kind of what you base it on.

@humanity: I primarily play horror games, and while I like the occasional open world game, I didn't start playing HZD until November when I started seeing it pop up in discussions about GOTY. However, a quick Google search shows that there were numerous articles discussing the cultural appropriation aspects in late February and March.

Cultural appropriation has been an issue for such a long time though. The appropriation of various aspects of African American culture and music such as Jazz, Blues, Rock and Roll, and Hip Hop have been brought up time and again, mostly falling on deaf ears or written off as pure whining. Disconcertingly, the appropriation of Native American culture has become more popular in recent years with the fashion industry being the most frequent and visible offender, but I could name more than a few industries that steal from the culture to hock their wares. As for my culture, Disney tried to trademark "Day of the Dead" some years ago with little regard to the importance of the holiday to our religious practices. While I'm glad that it's become more popular in the mainstream, I still remember the horrified looks I received when explaining the holiday not even 5 years ago. As I mentioned previously though, I am not as well-versed on the issues being faced by Native Americans/First Nations peoples as I would like, nor am I an authority on African American or even Mexican culture, so it's better to research the opinions of members of those communities to get informed opinions on the matter if you're so inclined.

My main problem with appropriation though is how White culture is allowed to profit from the traditions and culture of POC while still punishing our communities for engaging with our own culture. A White woman wearing corn rows to work may be seen as hip or quirky, but a Black woman wearing the same hairstyle can face very serious professional ramifications for the same action. Personally, I don't understand why these discussions should be verboten in the gaming community and why there is such resistance to criticism. Critique in the arts has a very important place as it's quite difficult to see your artwork objectively or how it is received by the wider audience. At the very least, listening to these concerns cannot hurt even if you completely disagree with them.

I hope you understand that some of my comments are not directly addressing you, Humanity, but the gaming community as a whole. It's just that your comment spurred me to finally put these bottled-up sentiments into words. Happy New Year!

@yaobikuni: I very much appreciate the in-depth answer as I was honestly curious about the subject more so than challenging it in any way.

@doom616: Sorry for the double post. I wanted to reply separately since I'm very verbose, and I couldn't find a way to gracefully reply to both you and Humanity in one long comment.

I know you mentioned that you hadn't played through all the side quests, but there is one in the main game that fleshes the Banuk out a bit more. It involves finding, and solving the problems of, a very unique village. I'm remaining purposefully vague on the assumption that you haven't experienced it for yourself since I found each side quest to be such a treat, and I wouldn't dare rob you of that delight. Also, I hope it's not too much of a spoiler to say that the DLC does shed more light on the Banuk so I will wait to hear your thoughts after you've finished playing. Don't hurry on my account thought as there's much fun to be had.

The Nora are of particular interest to me because of their significance to the main story and Aloy's development. Like you, I realized that the reason the Nora formed a true matriarchal society was due to their ancestors from Eleuthia-9 (Mother's cradle) hearing the female voice in All Mother and assuming it to be that of a Goddess. It was also fortunate for Aloy and the fate of the Earth that she grew up among them. Even though she and Rost were outcasts, it was Rost's insistence on following Nora traditions that instilled the awe and respect for Mother Earth in Aloy that would later ensure her commitment to saving a world that was less than kind to her in her formative years. I do give most of the credit to Rost though, who seems to be a direct analog of Elisabet's mother, and I never stopped mourning his loss the entire game. And though the outcast experience was cruel, it also taught Aloy to feel compassion for those cast aside by society and gave her the chance to evaluate the values of the Nora critically, thereby avoiding their reticence to learn more about the ancient world. The last thing I want to share about the Nora is my suspicion that Aloy would have suffered far more had she been born into the Carja or Oseram. Because of their hunter gatherer society, they are more gender neutral and find it easy to accept women in traditional male roles such as hunting and fighting. Aloy would likely have had a much tougher time finding a role model that would be willing to buck those traditions and train her in the same manner Rost did. It is notable that the Nora are among the first to acknowledge Aloy's badassery and that even Sona and Varl are willing to listen and implement her tactical strategies. The Nora are by no means perfect, but life did find a way to facilitate its survival through Elisabet and Aloy.

Thank you for explaining the problem with the usage of "braves." I know it's difficult to explain why some words are problematic, but at least I know to give it some side eye were I ever to encounter it again. I feel bad now that it did not even register as an issue when hearing it initially, and I'm so glad I am walking away with this knowledge.

I agree that the Shadow Carja are boring. They are just the bad version of the Carja whose beliefs are not wholly defined beyond their two bland Sun Kings. Helis was one note as a character even though the writers did try to add some much needed depth to him later, but it didn't quite hit all the right notes to make him feel like a complete person. I loved Erend's character arc though. I was convinced in the beginning that he was part of the massacre in the Proving and that he had concocted the story about the Sun King Avad to infiltrate the Sacred Lands. I was so ready to reach Meridian and shoot an arrow in his chest to avenge the death of my beloved Rost. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I was wrong and by the end of the game, I came to love the lug as a brotherly figure. His admission to Aloy that she was his better was particularly moving considering the Oseram's patriarchal beliefs and my initial bitter hatred of him.

The dual natures of Aloy and Sylens as well as Elisabet and Ted were another highlight. To me, Ted was a narcissistic fool who had a grandiose plan without having the actual knowledge to carry it out. He hired people like Elisabet to actually implement and design those ideas while his sole contribution was funding. As Ian Malcolm said so eloquently, he was so concerned to see whether or not he could to stop to think whether or not he should. It was his money that also allowed to him stay alive long after the rest of humanity had ceased to exist. I got the impression that he had built his own separate shelter but was allowed access to Elisabet in her team because he had funded its construction. I still haven't gotten tracked down all the files so I'm hoping there's answer somewhere. Nevertheless, I agree with you that the destruction of Apollo and the murder of the Alphas had nothing to do with Ted's stated purpose. He was clearly growing unstable as the horror of his actions sunk in, and I'm pretty sure he was only interest in erasing his role in the destruction of Earth, not the well-being of humankind. Sylens seems to follow in the same vein as Ted although he is vastly more likeable. Sylens at least has had to work hard to acquire the knowledge he so desperately seeks and has spent the majority of his life dedicated to this pursuit. I relate to him a lot as I have strong desire to learn more about the world at large, and I can never seem to get my fill of learning. However, I would not want to risk the fate of the world for a piece of knowledge, no matter how tempting. Let's hope they are truly able to explain that weird ending scene with Hades and the lamp. I would also love to see the Metal Devils in actions even though I can already feel the pit in my stomach at the mention.

Thanks for reading and answering my questions. This is a very long post as I can talk about HZD's story for hours, but I won't put you through that torture. Happy New Year, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the DLC and all things HZD.

@yaobikuni: No problem reading and talking through this that's what this site is for to have awesome conversations like this. They have to use the metal devils at some point, can't just have them in mountains and they never wake up heh. Been nice reading your thoughts on this game and it's affect on you. I'm not gunna lie I've been distracted from the dlc by total war of all game. A series I've played off and on since the original shogun I just never got good at it. Think I will do a write up on the last jedi as well, been thinking about that since I saw it. Also I might do a deep dive into Warhammer, it's something I've always wanted to get into. The lore and stories of it anyway not the tabletop game.

Anyway if you have a passion for other games as well hit me up, I love mass effect(not Andromeda). Star trek is great in fact when I was playing through horizon I kept thinking this was like a great episode of that. I may write something on assassin's creed origins, I went hard on that game when it came out but did not have the same feeling as horizon. That game has some great side quests and the world is just fun to play in. Now that I think about it I have some thoughts on assassin's creed 3 to get out. No one seemed to like that game but as a native I loved it.

The Witcher 3 did give me emotions like horizon did but I never beat it dammit. After a certain scene all the wind left my sails, but I do need to get around to finishing it. Anyway I've never really put my thoughts down like this I am a very solitary person but I like it. If you got any other franchises to talk about hit me up, if not that's cool too. Hopefully see ya around.

@humanity: Thank you for taking the time to read my response as I would say that only the first paragraph was applicable to you. I had been reading through the GOTY articles and some of the comments being made in regards to this issue had started to weigh on my mind. Seeing that you and Doom both seemed receptive to conversation, I seized on the opportunity to finally commit some of my scattered thoughts to digital ink, perhaps wrongly. However, if I had thought you were simply being combative, I wouldn't have bothered to write a response as I learned long ago that closed minds and hearts do not make for productive conversation. I do apologize if any of my frustration appeared directed to you as I can assure you that was not my intent.

@doom616: I'm kind of hoping they'll actually show us some of the epic battles that took place during Operation Enduring Victory in the sequel. It would be a nice way to give us some pointers before we have to take one down on our own, but I'd be happy just to see a Metal Devil in motion.

While I have never heard of Total War, I'm sure it's a great game. As for the DLC, it's always there if and/or when you decide to go back to the world of HZD. I have fallen for and then fallen off so many games it's not even funny, but sometimes you get your fill earlier than expected. I'm still in the clutches of HZD though and hope I can make the time to hunt down datapoints later this month. I'm confident that I'll get the answers I seek as the writers have carefully crafted a strong thematic narrative with few to no loopholes.

Nevertheless, I do hope that you do end up writing more as I think you're very perceptive and have a unique point of view. I can't guarantee that I'd ever read any of your write ups since I'm only ever here consistently during the holiday break and rarely sign in to my account, but I would definitely read your blog if I saw it. I would especially be interested on your take on AC 3 and Origins. I mostly play those games for the architecture porn and the stealth murder puzzle aspects, but it wouldn't kill me to have a more thoughtful appreciation for the series. Truthfully, I almost exclusively only play horror games and Sims 4, and my taste in science fiction veers more toward the aliens-ripping-people-to-shreds genre. It's very likely that I'm missing out on some quality entertainment like Star Trek, Star Wars or The Witcher 3, but there is no accounting for taste.

That said, I really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on a game that I would have never expected to like, much less feel so passionate about. Thanks to HZD, I now have a digital father, brother and soul sister to go back to whenever I want. I hope to see you around and cheers!