MULTI [OT] Horizon Zero Dawn | More than 10 million copies sold lifetime

[bravoguy]

Wow not expecting such good scores for this game. I think I have under estimated it.

 

[CerebralTiger]

Anyone saw Eurogamer's review? They're really pounding it

Yeah, for the design elements it borrows from games like Far Cry Primal and The Witcher 3. The reviewer felt that Horizon loses its own identity in the process. However, another review has presented this aspect in more positive light, so I guess how it affects you varies from person to person.

Horizon: Zero Dawn‘s variety of inspirations is one of its most astounding features. Bringing together elements from Far Cry, Monster Hunter, The Witcher, Mass Effect and more, Guerrilla’s first major original work outside of Killzone could easily be written off as derivative, but it’s the way in which these disparate ideas are brought together as a cohesive, lovingly crafted whole that makes it truly special.

Horizon: Zero Dawn Review – Heavy Metal – The Jimquisition

I'm just glad nearly every review (including Eurogamer's) is praising the combat. There is literally only one other open world RPG with a good combat system, and that is Dragon's Dogma. It'll be great to add Horizon to that short list. Hopefully, Zelda as well next month.

 

[Necrokiller]

At this point I think it's safe to assume that it's more of an open world action game than an Rpg.

If thats what GG aspire the game to be, then it seems only a sequel can fully materialize that vision. As it stands, calling it an proper RPG in the same sense as Dragon Age, Witcher, Mass Effect etc is a stretch.

Crafting is one of a handful of familiar tropes that mark Horizon: Zero Dawn out as a modern action RPG – others include optional side quests and errands being doled out by non-player characters with exclamation marks above their heads, or Aloy’s ability to use an augmented reality device to follow tracks in a manner ‘borrowed’ from The Witcher 3. But in truth, there’s no real freedom here to play any role other than that proscribed by the game’s writers.

Sure, our heroine can chew the fat with the supporting cast of (we have to admit, largely forgettable) characters she meets in settlements dotted around the map, but as with the limited customisation options afforded outfits and weapons, it feels like lip service to genre expectations. A handful of clearly signposted, story critical encounters aside, these conversations are entirely cosmetic – to the point where even the developers’ review guide distributed alongside advance copies of the game points out players can skip them entirely should they “just want to get to the action”.

It’s difficult to discern whether this is a guilty admission on Guerrilla Games’ part that the RPG elements of Horizon: Zero Dawn are undercooked and ultimately unnecessary, or a sneaking acknowledgement that its action is so good players will want to jump straight into it – but both sentiments have a ring of truth.

Horizon: Zero Dawn review – a stunning but barely evolved RPG contradiction | Technology | The Guardian

Mechanically and design wise it has everything you will find in Far Cry, Tomb Raider, Watch Dogs, Mordor, Arkham Knight, Assassins Creed, and none of those games are considered RPGs.

Horizon mixes action with light RPG elements, meaning you can collect items from your surroundings and upgrade weapons, potions and abilities to make yourself more powerful. Anyone familiar with the Far Cry series will be at home here.

REVIEW: Horizon Zero Dawn – PLAY! PLAY!

 

[NarutimateTaha]

Horizon is a technical masterpiece on PS4 and Pro

 

[Chandoo]

Dayum. 2 or 3 reviews aside, majority are high 8's and 9's. Extremely impressive stuff, especially considering this is the same studio which made Killzone Shadow Turd.

And while we're on the topic, Digital Foundry's just put up their first look at the game:

Worse slow downs are 28 FPS in stress situations, they call it the best Pro upgrade they've seen. OG PS4 delivers as well so OG owners won't be disappointed, but Pro delivers a full phat 2160p via checker boarding and still performs generally better than the OG PS4 (which again, the worst drop is 28 FPS).

There's going to be a "Performance" patch for Pro version in a few days too, whether that means they'll target 60 FPS or not is not clear at this moment, but so far. Holy fucking shit this game looks like a visual treat. Hopefully the game itself doesn't get stale after some hours too.

 

[CerebralTiger]

Extremely impressive stuff, especially considering this is the same studio which made Killzone Shadow Turd.

Different directors. Horizon: Zero Dawn is directed by Mathijs de Jonge, also the director of KZ 2 and 3.

Though it definitely is extremely impressive that the studio's first foray into RPGs is an accomplished one. Compare that to Crytek, which tried to do a non-FPS game after Crysis and failed.

 

[NaNoW]

excellent scores all around...Also I dont know what GG are talking about when they say " a later performance patch on ps4 pro", since DF video already showed that the game is butter smooth on ps4 pro right now..

Also I am guessing the world building w.r.t narrative depth is lacking to some extent, since majority of the reviewers didnt especially mentioned that aspect and just grazed over it

 

[Journeys End]

impressive comeback by GG. i wasnt expecting the kind of reviews its getting. generic or not, it has brought back some rep to the dev and the game looks great. kinda reminds me of KZ2, generic FPS with impressive visuals and potential to spawn a great sequel.

 

[venom]

 

[Chandoo]

gotdamn this game is so hype !

 

[Salvation]

Thats one crazy bunch of machines i tell you XD

 

[venom]

Good god... I dont think I have ever been this anxious to get my hands on a game that i am for Horizon. News is that the physical copies should be here by tomorrow and although I dont expect that to be the case I really hope that I am proven wrong.

 

[CerebralTiger]

 

[NarutimateTaha]

 

[zainzombie]

Still not available in Pakistan. Normally games arrive here by friday.

 

[venom]

Still not available in Pakistan. Normally games arrive here by friday.

Yeah I'm pretty sure we'll only be getting this by tomorrow and if for some reason it gets delayed till Monday then I'll surely be getting this digital. No point in getting physical copy if we get it at launch date.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[zainzombie]

Yeah I'm pretty sure we'll only be getting this by tomorrow and if for some reason it gets delayed till Monday then I'll surely be getting this digital. No point in getting physical copy if we get it at launch date.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Monday is still 1 day early. Its not much but it does make a difference when you're hyped.

 

[venom]

Kojima on Decima Engine Via The Hideo Kojima Death Stranding interview: Strands, Decima and Guerrilla Games - PlayStation.Blog.Europe

During your studio tour with Mark Cerny, did you have a vision of what you were looking for in a game engine already?

Hideo Kojima: We visited 15 studios around the world with Mark Cerny, and after this we spent another 6 months visiting other studios of people that I know. In total we visited 30 studios looking for the engine. I had a vision for the type of engine that we needed because I knew the type of game that I wanted to create.
So, first, I knew that I wanted to create an open world game, so the engine had to support an open world game structure. As far as the visuals were concerned, I was looking for very photo-realistic presentation, so the engine had to be able to support those types of visuals.
Also, the tool-set had to be easy to use. With some engines, the tools are behind a ‘black-box’ and for our purposes we needed to be able to optimise and edit the tools. These were the conditions we had when looking for the engine. As you know there are some commercially available engines and these are the ones with the ‘black-box’ type structure.

And what specifically led to the adoption of Guerrilla Games’ Engine?

Hideo Kojima: I visited many studios all around the world, meeting many great people . Guerrilla Games in Amsterdam: their technology was just a league-ahead of everywhere else. Even though they have an open-world they are able to render very rich scenes with many objects. As you know their upcoming game Horizon Zero Dawn, which is coming out in March, has an artistic sensibility, particularly with regards to the use of colour, whereas we’re looking for a very photo-realistic sensibility.
Their engine is built for their purposes, for the game that they wanted to create, and as I said we wanted to create a game that even at the very base levels looks very different from that, so we needed to test it to see how far we could tune their engine to fit our purposes.
Usually when you go to use, buy or borrow an engine, someone will say, “Lend us your name”, or of course ask for payment. We had no contract with Guerrilla Games, but when we met them they suddenly gave us a box, a very pretty box. When we opened the box, there was a USB dongle inside that had the source code for the engine.
Keep in mind we had no contract or anything at this stage, yet still they handed over what was basically the crystallisation of their efforts over many years. They simply said, “Mr. Kojima please use this engine”, and we thought these people are incredible.
There was one condition though, that Kojima Productions doesn’t just use the engine, but that we develop the engine together with Guerrilla Games, that it should be a collaborative effort. So we were really blown away by their stance on this and being so open with the engine and we thought “Wow, these are the people we have to work with”.

How has this collaboration with Guerrilla Games grown since first adopting the engine?

Hideo Kojima: We were looking for a realistic presentation (for TGA), so we had to make changes to the tools and other adjustments to the engine. Over the course of 6 months we passed the code back and forth between Guerrilla Games and Kojima Productions, working off the same code base. At this point our code had completely merged together.
It was different from the engine they originally gave us, so we decided we should give this new engine a name. That’s when we came up with the ‘Decima’ name (derived from Dejima – an artificial island in Japan where The Netherlands and Japan would trade during the Edo period). I really feel that with both of us working on this engine we are accomplishing the work at twice the speed and building something really fantastic.

 

[CerebralTiger]

Digital Foundry Tech Analysis: What works and what doesn't

What works

The world: From both a technical and artistic perspective, the world of Horizon is a triumph. The sense of scale on display is truly breathtaking and the game is rich in detail. Foliage and rubble pepper the landscape, towering mechanical cities tower in the distance while volumetric lighting hangs gently in the air. This is backed by a remarkable real-time cloud simulation that enables a realistic portrayal of the sky building a more cohesive environment in the process. The way in which these elements complement one another to create such an impressive environment stands out as a remarkable achievement in design.

Materials: Killzone Shadow Fall was one of the first games this generation to make use of physically-based rendering and Horizon continues that trend with a rich materials system. Horizon combines natural materials such as wood and stone with the ancient technology of the old world to great effect. The machines are decked out in futuristic looking polymers and metal plates which play nicely off the more natural surroundings resulting in a unique looking game. Textures are rich with detail and look great under a variety of lighting conditions.

Character animation and detail: Open world games sometimes make sacrifices to character detail out of necessity but impressively, Guerrilla manages to maintain a level of quality on par with a linear action game. Textures used on clothing and skin are of high resolution while the applied shading introduces an extra layer of realism. World traversal feels natural thanks to smart design, while inverse kinematics allow Aloy's feet and body to react naturally to the wild undulation of the terrain. The skeleton system from Killzone Shadow Fall makes a return enabling even more robust animation work. Each outfit exhibits bits and bobs which make use of a physics system designed to allow these materials to react naturally while moving. The quality of the models and fluidity of the animation all come together to create a satisfying sensation of movement and interaction which enhances the basic feel of the game - a key element in any third

Post-processing effects: Since Killzone 2, Guerrilla has pushed the envelope in terms of the quality of its post-process pipeline. From motion blur and depth of field to reflections and light blooms, Horizon makes use of the full suite of effects available in Decima. Motion blur is prominent throughout the game and applied to camera and character movement alike. This helps increase the fluidity of animation while emphasising dramatic actions. The effect is beautiful but subtle enough so as not to distract those that don't care for it. A high-quality bokeh depth of field is used both in photo mode and during conversations. The soft-focus effect is striking at times when contrasted against bright backgrounds. Each of these effects combine with one another to create an highly appealing final composition.

Frame-rate: On the surface, 30 frames per second doesn't sound especially impressive, but reaching such a stable level of performance in a game of this size and scope is an achievement indeed. We've tested many open world games over the years including Fallout 4, Just Cause 3, The Witcher 3, Infamous: Second Son and even the remastered version of Skyrim and many of those games suffer from noticeable hitches, skips and drops during traversal and combat alike. To play a game like Horizon at such a stable level of performance without any of these typical issues is something that simply must be commended. Beyond that, frames are evenly paced throughout eliminating any sense of instability in the process.

Loading times: Another potential pitfall we've often encountered with open world games are the loading times. Whether it's the lengthy waiting times of The Witcher 3 or the constant barrage of loading screens in Fallout 4, many gamers have become accustomed to staring at loading screens in open world titles, disrupting the all-important sense of immersion. In comparison, Horizon manages to dodge most of these issues. The initial startup can take between forty to fifty seconds to complete but once in the game, loading remains fast. Death generally means waiting less than ten seconds to retry while fast travel manages is always reasonable.

Pre-rendered video: While Horizon generally sticks to real-time cut-scene for its exposition there are several pre-rendered videos included as well. As a game in development well before the existence of the PlayStation 4 Pro, we wouldn't have been surprised to discover a selection of video encoded at 1080p. Thankfully, that is not the case and all the video content included in the game is displayed at a full 2160p instead. This ensures that there is never a disconnect between the game itself and the video sequences - a particular bugbear of ours on PS4 Pro and indeed PC gaming.

The map and menu system: As a role-playing game, players spend a decent chunk of time navigating Horizon's menu system and the experience really couldn't be more pleasant. While the game itself operates at 30fps, the frame-rate is increased to 60fps within the menu system. In addition, the map system is one of the best we've ever encountered thanks to a detailed 3D map that quickly communicates height and distance. The cherry on top is the high-resolution text and menu graphics used throughout - these elements use high resolution artwork designed for 4K displays.

What doesn't

Water rendering: Water often plays a large role in natural environments and Horizon is no exception. Unfortunately, the way in which water is portrayed here is at odds with the rest of the presentation. Screen-space reflections are kept to a minimum, only reflecting a small part of the surrounding environment with the game relying more heavily on baked textures instead. When encountering calm pools of water, the result sticks out against the otherwise superbly detailed environment. In addition, water does not react in any meaningful way to characters while moving through them. At least the portrayal of turbulent streams, such as water rushing down a rocky mountain pass, is decidedly more impressive at least.

Artificial intelligence: The world of Horizon is populated by an eclectic mix of humans and machines but engaging them can result in some head-scratching moments. When facing machines, the behaviour doesn't feel out of place but humans generally react to the player in less than satisfying ways. Case in point - early on, the player gains an ability to whistle which grabs the attention of the nearest enemy. By hiding in the bushes and whistling, you can attract a human to your position where you can immediately kill them from cover. By whistling repeatedly, it's possible to attract the attention of all nearby humans over time resulting in a pile of bodies as you dispatch each one. This type of behavior feels unnatural and cheapens the encounters with human enemies.

Lip sync: Horizon features a lot of conversations and a wide range of characters but not all characters exhibit the same level of quality. NPCs responsible for handing out lower tier quests often exhibit inaccurate lip synchronisation which looks out of place in such a beautiful game. There is a distinct feeling that lip sync quality is tied directly to the important of the character as main characters tend not to suffer from these problems.

Audio mix: Horizon sounds great overall apart from one small detail - voice playback positioning. Traditionally, when using a surround sound setup, voices should play back through the center channel speaker. In the case of Horizon, voices are panned right which means they play through the centre and right speaker but not the left. This creates a sense of imbalance that is highly distracting on surround set-ups. Now, this may seem like a nitpick, but at least for us, the effect of having voices panned right is distracting. This isn't an issue when played in stereo mode, but we would like to see this addressed in a future patch for users of a surround sound setup.

Camera position: Third person games often give users a choice on which side of the screen a character is placed - essentially letting you select the dominant shoulder. In Horizon, the game decides for you and in many cases, it doesn't feel quite right. Aloy is often pushed to the right side of the screen even in tight environments where the left side of the image is pushed up against a wall. It's a personal preference, but if you're used to playing with characters positioned to the left, this can be distracting and could potentially have been addressed with a simple option.

Anisotropic filtering on a standard PS4: The experience on a standard PlayStation 4 is generally excellent across the board but that doesn't mean it's perfect. Texture filtering is kept at a very low level on a standard system with otherwise detailed textures appearing blurry at oblique angles. It's likely that system resource limitations prevent the inclusion of higher quality filtering, but the results here are underwhelming nonetheless.

Shadow distance: In close proximity, shadow filtering is of exceptional quality but the resolution of the shadow maps quickly dissipates just a few metres from the player character. The shadow cascade quickly jumps from highly detailed to amorphous blob shadow in a way that can prove distracting at times. In the larger open areas, this is never a real problem, but it stands out while exploring dense forests and areas with lots of complex shadow work. Still, we'll always trade shadow quality for increased performance so Guerrilla made the right choice here.
Foliage interaction: You'll spend a lot of time traipsing grassy hills and dense forests and while the dense foliage looks beautiful, most of the plant life does not react to the player in any way. Instead of brushing up against these plants, the player simply clips right through them which looks a little off-putting next to the otherwise stunning animation work. As with shadow distance, however, this is likely a necessary trade-off in order to hit the target frame-rate.

Minor glitches: As polished as Horizon may be, this is still an open world game and as such, strange things can happen. From ducks walking in mid-air and boars clipping right through a stack of crates to enemies that just disappear into a wall after death, there's no shortage of this stuff. Most of it is good fun and harmless to the overall experience at least, but it's worth pointing out as it does momentarily break the immersion the game world works so hard to generate.

Shadows
Shadows are rendered beautifully close-up, but the effect transitions to a lower quality surprisingly close to the player. It's not noticeable in many scenes, but hard to ignore in foliage-heavy scenes like this one.

This bit is extremely disappointing for me:

Artificial intelligence: The world of Horizon is populated by an eclectic mix of humans and machines but engaging them can result in some head-scratching moments. When facing machines, the behaviour doesn't feel out of place but humans generally react to the player in less than satisfying ways. Case in point - early on, the player gains an ability to whistle which grabs the attention of the nearest enemy. By hiding in the bushes and whistling, you can attract a human to your position where you can immediately kill them from cover. By whistling repeatedly, it's possible to attract the attention of all nearby humans over time resulting in a pile of bodies as you dispatch each one. This type of behavior feels unnatural and cheapens the encounters with human enemies.

Should've taken notes from The Last of Us or MGSV's stealth AI behavior.

On the other hand, it's very impressive that open world traversal is entirely seamless, with no loading screens in-between (unless you fast travel or reload).

 

[venom]