foya-beninax:

Just some random rambling about Horizon Zero Dawn (Spoilers alert)

Before I bought my PS4 I have been thinking about buying it for a long time. I originally wanted to buy it merely because I want to play HZD. I kept seeing people talking about it all the time, especially some game devs I respect a lot. Later I had a bad day and I decided to buy a PS4 (yeah it has to be a very bad day for me to buy something like this) and I bought HZD with it.

It turned out to be my best gaming experience in years. I played some really good games and had been addicted to them, or deeply moved, but this game is more than that.

I value the narrative of a game, especially a RPG, a lot. A RPG without intense narrative and rich stories would hardly make me interested as much. As much as I love the gameplay of some games, they lost their charm because its lack of a strong story.

Of course by story I don’t mean it has to be a linear main storyline. It could be decentralized and fragmentized, but there need to be something–I think I am looking more than just telling a story or some fictional narrative. I am looking for a deeper meaning, a resonation and some philosophical aspects. I am picky that’s why there are a lot of popular games I don’t enjoy at all. I value the artistic aspect of a game. By art I don’t mean it being pretty or fancy. I mean it needs to have a soul.

The main story of HZD is powerful. It is not that easy task to tell a good story about the love of world and nature, the continuation of life, and self-sacrifice without feeling like a phony. This is a warm and loving story without falling into a conservative melodramatic propaganda. Especially the “something higher than yourself”, which could easily be a red flag, turned out to be the ingeniously noble course of the main character. The action and thoughts of the characters come naturally in the narrative, and fit in the context very well. I still can’t pinpoint the details make it feel that way. I have to admit I have seen too many phone stories and they sick me to the bone so I get some minor PTSD on these kind of narratives, but this game heals me deeply.

HZD also touched the topic of the relation between science and religion/spirituality. It is a topic I am really interested in. At the moment Aloy met GAIA in mountain All-Mother, it all makes sense. I love how they named the Zero Dawn program after Greek and Roman gods, meaningful and fit in the world build very well. I think the relation between science and spirituality is shown in the relation between human beings and nature, which sounds like a duality but it’s actually not. In Zero Dawn program I see how the two could be one. It is fascinating and I cried the first time playing this game when I see the briefing of Zero Dawn program proposal.

The game talked about the dark side of human being and the complication of human nature, and it played a strong part of the story. Sometimes a loving story would shun the shadow side of humanity, or squeeze an oversimplified version of “evil" into the villains, but HZD is not the case. That’s part of the reason I was intrigued by Ted Faro and Sylens. They are the counterparts in the two timelines, with some differences. They are, at least partly, allies, but at the same time threatening and dangerous. This kind of complicated characters show the real narrative capability of the writers.

The final villain in the story is HADES, who was built as part of GAIA. This reminds me of Moana, where the volcano monster turned out to be the deranged goddess without her heart. HADES was supposed to be an assistance of GAIA to rebuild life on the earth. We can see HADES as the “dark side” of GAIA, as being in control and used properly, it serves a critical purpose that cannot be replaced. These touches on the “dark side”, both AIs and humans, make the story rich.

And there are a lot of other good stuff about this game…I don’t list all here. The only wish of improvement is make more interesting and in-depth side quests! I finished most of the side quest and errands I could find, not a big fun of hunting ground though. I did all the bandit camps for Nil and it worth it. I think Nil is a character with potential and could be made fuller.

I could use a little bit more romance there with both men and women, but what it is right now is totally fine. I actually hate the stories filled with cheesy and chaotic romance; it totally ruins everything. HZD balances the amount of romance well, or maybe a little bit less than I expected but, I won’t complain.

And if there is a sequel I am pre-ordering it for sure! Hopefully I can hear something in this E3. Gods I am excited for this June!