One of the best story-focused games of the 2020s. Combat is phenomenal, Aloy is an awesome main character, the voice acting is (for the most part) really good, and the voice memos and text documents you find in the world are legitimately well-written. I have around 180 hours on Playstation, and almost 300 hours later, I still find myself coming back to this game just to do it all over again more or less once a year.

Awsome game totaly worth playing 10/10

This game (and series as a whole) definitely has a reputation of being behind the pack compared to other popular open-world RPGs made by other studios like CD PROJEKT RED, Bethesda, or FromSoftware. Most people agree that's it a good game but people don't sing it's praises as much.

I'll get the strongest aspect of the game out of the way: its gameplay. More than most other non-FromSoftware open-world RPGs, this game relies on the player using tactics other than just running straight into combat. Even at higher levels, you're disincentivized to strike with just your spear or regular arrows, as you'll get two or three shot even at Normal difficulty. Instead, you're expected to rely on stealth or equipment you've crafted beforehand - specialized arrows, bombs, ropes, etc. Each enemy also have specific weaknesses that can be tough to exploit at first, but become a breeze as you get used to the game's satisfying movement and systems. It's a very satisfying game to play overall, one that rewards you for your preparation and thinking. The game looks great and sounds great, too.

Now, unfortunately, the game's main issue is quite a big one - its story and world. It feels very impersonal, mostly due to how generic the main character, Aloy, is. An RPG lead being bland isn't an uncommon nor bad thing necessarily, but Aloy has just enough of a background in this world and dialogue in this story to be hard to project yourself unto while not having enough of a personality to be fun to follow around. This affects everything else, as well - because you don't identify with the main character, her interactions with NPCs and the world overall feels disconnected. On paper, the world of Horizon should be interesting - a post-apocalyptic world where hostile automatons roam it, and it is interesting sometimes with the robot designs and such. But it's kinda hard to really get into it 'cuz you're interacting with it through Aloy. Story is also overall kinda bland and predictable.

It is a great game if you ignore that aspect of it, though.