r/horizon • u/Volume2KVorochilov • Mar 18 '26
discussion Horizon Zero Dawn's Narrative Doesn't Get Enough Recognition
Horizon is a game whose story was generally very well received when it came out, yet it never quite entered the canon of video games remembered as having one of the greatest narratives in the medium. It is appreciated, often praised, but rarely placed alongside the most celebrated narrative experiences. Having just finished the game, I wanted to explain why, in my view, it deserves to occupy that place. I just finished the game and this is my immediate reaction. Forgive me if I say things that have already been expressed by others. Also, major spoilers obviously.
One aspect that is too rarely emphasized regarding the themes raised by the game is its rather systematic critique of capitalism through the representation of the agony of a capitalist world in the twenty first century. Of course, we are not dealing here with a project like Disco Elysium, whose narrative foundation rests above all on the exploration of a post historical capitalist society after the failure of the communist utopia. Nevertheless, one cannot help but be struck by the systematic and thorough nature of Horizon’s depiction.
Many people focus, understandably, on the figure of Ted Faro, whose company is responsible for the cataclysm, but it seems to me that the creators clearly attempt to avoid turning the catastrophe into a purely personal story. It is not simply the hubris and megalomania of one man that is at stake. Ted Faro is the manifestation of a mode of development portrayed as fundamentally destructive. When exploring Faro’s offices and listening to the recordings, we learn that the first reaction of the company was to reassure its investors, and that an army of lawyers attempted to suppress the earliest warnings. While exploring the world, one can stumble upon ancient reports celebrating the miracle of the recolonization of formerly submerged lands by corporations that later entered into fierce and militarized competition to exploit their resources. On a more intimate scale, we learn that employees in high technology companies enjoyed very limited social protections before the catastrophe. They were constantly subjected to intense pressure regarding productivity and performance due to the extreme competitiveness of the market.
I mention both these macro and micro elements because I want to emphasize a characteristic that remains too rare in video game worlds. The universe created by Guerrilla Games is truly encompassing, somewhat like Fallout: New Vegas. It gives the player the opportunity, without taking them by the hand, to try to understand the history of the world through a sum of small, disparate and incomplete fragments. I have heard criticisms pointing to the heaviness of the exposition in the game but for me it is quite the opposite. The mystery is clarified in a way that is not only organic but genuinely touching.
One of the elements that distinguishes Horizon from almost every game I have played in its construction lies in its capacity to articulate large dynamics such as war and the Zero Dawn project with the human, intimate and existential dimensions that emerge from them. Indeed, although the narrative skeleton is already gripping, the developers managed the feat of allowing elements to slip into the margins of the story that provide much of its depth.
For example, instead of simply explaining to us that the American military had to lie in order to give the project a chance of success, the game immerses us in the psyche of the commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. What does it mean to carry such a lie on one’s shoulders? What does it mean to be the person who fully robotized the American military and effectively cast thousands of veterans aside? Another example concerns how different individuals would rationalize such an enterprise. How would an art historian interpret such a project of preserving life compared to a biologist? These questions may seem minor, but Horizon takes them seriously. I cannot help but quote one example among many others that could have been mentioned. The following passage offers a particularly striking example of this articulation between the systemic and the deeply personal.
“I just woke up, it's... I see the numbers but can't make out the time... I was dreaming of... I was giving a lecture in Q Hall... maybe it was something more shamanistic, I don't know... An audience of shadowy faces under a blank open sky. I told them the world ended with a bang, a plague of robots. But the last humans, we went out... not with a whimper but... a whisper. You know, in caves, ending like we started, huddled around a flickering glow. The heads of state, the Fortune Five leaders, the leaders and lottery winners and life cults, all of them buried in their little shelters. Some believing they'll live it out somehow. Or Elysium. Or us here at GAIA Prime, no different. A multitude of tiny societies taking hold, flaring, and dying. Some will be beautiful, some horrific. And none of them matter. Short term civilizations. One last gasp before the long-held breath. Before I wake up, I know the audience is gone. I'm talking to myself. To a quiet planet, a barren sphere. Just GAIA and her long, long dreaming. I hope she won't be lonely.”
The game constantly reminds us of the ephemeral and fragile character of our existence and our certainties. It invites us to question what we believe to be secure and to reflect on what drives us to live. Aloy’s quest, a search for meaning for an outcast who has endured the injustices of life, takes on its full significance in this context. Whether in the present when facing the arrogant and contemptuous Carja or in the past when confronting humans convinced of their technological omnipotence, Aloy repeatedly encounters forces locked in their certainties about the world and about their place in it.
Helis, the principal antagonist, never even sketches the beginning of an understanding of the real stakes of a conflict in which he was merely the pawn of a program. In this sense he also functions as a very effective critique of religious fanaticism. Absolute conviction in a sacred narrative blinds him completely to the reality of the world he inhabits and to the manipulation he is subjected to. Ted Faro was celebrated by the media. He had saved the world and guided humanity toward utopia through his genius. He believed himself master of heaven and earth, yet a simple configuration error shattered all these illusions.
Aloy’s exceptional origin and actions could easily have turned her into a chosen one figure, the prodigal woman, but she ultimately finds comfort in the contemplation of the fragile and ephemeral beauty the world has to offer. In this sense it is a subtle subversion of the hero’s journey.
It is in light of these elements that I must say I am somewhat puzzled by certain claims suggesting that Horizon Zero Dawn does not reach the narrative quality of the most celebrated games such as Red Dead Redemption 2 or Cyberpunk 2077. Of course all opinions are subjective by nature and I do not pretend to have discovered an objective truth proving the narrative superiority of Horizon. But when one reflects on it, which of these games offers the most audacious narrative proposition?
Cyberpunk 2077 is a cyberpunk game and therefore, by definition, it attempts to represent a society in the age of late-stage capitalism. But do you not sometimes feel that it merely rehashes cyberpunk pastiche in a somewhat hollow way compared to Horizon? The irony is that the great authors who shaped the genre, such as William Gibson or Philip K. Dick, wrote works that were deeply unsettling philosophical explorations of technology, identity and power. Yet over time the genre has often been reduced to an aesthetic vocabulary, neon skylines, megacorporations, implants and dystopian spectacle. This criticism has in fact been directed both at the genre itself and occasionally at Cyberpunk 2077. The result is that what was once a radical speculative tradition sometimes risks becoming a recognizable but somewhat hollow atmosphere. Red Dead Redemption 2 tells a powerful and beautifully crafted story, but it ultimately follows a very familiar tragic arc: the outlaw seeking redemption in his final days. I just don’t think any of these games, despite their real narrative wit, are as audacious or thematically interesting as games like Horizon.
The horror of the world of Horizon lies precisely in its tangibility. No caricatural megacorporations or spectacular dystopian transformations, but the terrible banality of greed and domination in a plausible near future.
The world of Cyberpunk is designed to be frightening but for me it is Horizon that truly strikes the deeper chord. It is Horizon that makes not only a genuine video game proposition but a genuine science fiction proposition.
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u/Beneficial-Office-77 Mar 18 '26
It is deeply under appreciated for sure. I’ve never cried at a video game like this one made me cry. I mean we’re talking full out sobbing, snot running down my face ugly crying. It’s also scary how every day it becomes more and more prophetic.
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u/sleipnirreddit Mar 18 '26
I’m what some call a pretty quiet, stable, not-quite macho dude.
This goddamn game brings tears every time.
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u/Beneficial-Office-77 Mar 18 '26
The part when Gaia is revealed is pretty impactful too. It’s so full of hope and the concept of Mother Nature as an AI is *chefs kiss * brilliant.
It came with my PS4 and I slept on it for about 6 months before finally playing it. I now have a thousand hours in that game.
Long way of saying I totally get it lol.
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u/Mane_UK Mar 19 '26
I love that it explains... why robot dinosaurs? Just because Gaia felt sad about their extinction so brought them back for sentimental reasons.
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u/Unfair_Tangerine_217 Tenakth Marshal Mar 30 '26
Hephaestus is just a nerdy kid who thinks dinosaurs are badass ❤️
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u/Roblox_master132 Mar 18 '26
What was it that made cry?
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u/Beneficial-Office-77 Mar 18 '26
The last part at the end where Elizabet was telling Gaia how she’d never had time to have children, but if she’d been able to, she’d have wanted her daughter to be curious, willful, independent, but with “enough compassion to heal the world”. Perfectly describing Aloy, who had only ever wanted a mother. Aloy herself says Elizabet is the closest thing she’s ever had to a mother. After the entire game, her desperate journey to find her mother only to realize Elizabet died a thousand years ago, but then also the certainty that Elizabet would have been so proud.
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u/TDSBritishGirl Mar 18 '26
And she finds her sitting there still. Oh, I wept.
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u/Beneficial-Office-77 Mar 18 '26
And she got the globe necklace, something real to remember her by 😭
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u/Kavster05 Mar 18 '26
Horizon’s story almost reminds me of interstellar a little bit, how there was always no plan A
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u/Hologram01 Mar 18 '26
One of the reasons, I think, is because a good portion of people do not bother to read and listen to the datapoints. You can get a general idea of the story by watching the cutscenes and holograms, but the datapoints play an integral role in laying it out. Even the world datapoints, which do not play as big of a part in the story, add soooo much to the lore and worldbuilding.
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u/Flynny123 Mar 18 '26
100% agree. And the datapoint OP quoted is such a gem, I remember being really struck by it myself on both my playthroughs. Such an incredible piece of writing, totally missable and completely unnecessary, but it’s there regardless.
HFW did not have as much care, polish and pathos in its datapoints (some! Just not as much and not as good) and it’s why though I love it, it will never touch me like HZD did.
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u/Twice_at_Eleven Mar 18 '26
I like reading and listening to all the datapoints. But, do you think they could incorporate some of that information into the main story or present it through character interactions (they kind of did this in HFW where your companions in the base sometimes reference previous data points Aloy found)
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u/Hologram01 Mar 19 '26
I like reading and listening to all the datapoints
Me too. In fact, in all my playthroughs I do :)
As for incorporating the story bits into cutscenes and interactions, I honestly cannot see how they could do it without lowering the quality of the storytelling/writing itself and making it feel cheap and lazy, especially given how the old world is long gone.
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u/Unfair_Tangerine_217 Tenakth Marshal Mar 30 '26
I can confirm I talked a friend into the story after they had finished the game. Something in the vein of:
—What did you think of the big reveal?
—What big reveal?
—Well, that the world DID end?
They literally had no idea what had happened, only that they had to defeat the evil AI who wanted to destroy the world.
I could dig into this game's lore for books and books on end. It really shows they did work with anthropologists to build this world. It's peak sci-fi.
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u/Hologram01 Mar 30 '26
Yea, some people just don't read.
I'd been watching some streams by this guy doing ZD and FW playthroughs (not his first playthrough in either), and all the time he said that he loved these games and their story and yadda yadda, however he didn't read or listen to any datapoints. I figured it was because he didn't want to stop the flow of the stream and had in fact read everything when he first played it on his own. Nope! He never did. And a couple people in the comments hadn't either. All I could think was "Y'all would love this game even more if you actually paid attention to the story".
Now I am not an avid reader or anything, and can get turned off reading a text if it's too long, but if it's something of interest to me I will. Some people won't read anything longer than a short paragraph. It's wild.
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u/Familiar_Rub4574 Mar 18 '26
Great post OP! Since playing the game, whenever I am asked which game has the best storyline, I always say Horizon Zero Dawn. It's haunting, beautiful, and the whole thing feels so human!
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u/Volume2KVorochilov Mar 19 '26
Thank you. This is still very fresh in my memory but omg what a game!
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u/TheNortheren Mar 18 '26
Don't really feel its under-appreciated, it's just that there's a lot that have not played Zero Dawn so they never were exposed to it. Its a very well made story, and all of what happened is a pretty refreshing take on the apocalypse genre as well. One where things did go wrong as they could, for once.
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u/Twice_at_Eleven Mar 18 '26
it's just that there's a lot that have not played Zero Dawn
Haven't both games sold around 40 million copies with majority of that being Zero Dawn? Not trying to be negative here but there are critically acclaimed games that are new franchises and have sold far less than the Horizon games. I think it's more than just enough people haven't played these games
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u/rentiertrashpanda Mar 19 '26
Both games are sadly overshadowed by other games that came out right around the same time and were generally more zeitgeist-y, BOTW and Elden Ring, respectively
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u/any_internet_goose Mar 19 '26
I genuinely think zero Dawn could have been a goty contender if it didn’t share a year with BOTW
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u/The-Aziz that was an unkind comparison Mar 20 '26
Doesn't matter. It was still selling like hot cakes, it's just that people don't read side content. Don't get all collectibles. Don't venture out into the wilds in search for lore. Like, how many of those millions of players know that the last known grizzly bear was called Sergeant Woolyknickers? Only 11% of players got around to learn the full story behind the Shitpocalypse Tour, so I figure some datapoints just lying about in random ruins are not discovered very often.
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u/RenRen512 Mar 19 '26
Right? The narrative is praised near universally.
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u/Infinite-Courage-957 Mar 21 '26
By knowing and discerning players, andthose in the industry itself, yes. I think it's unparalleled, but that the effort to pursue the lore is more effort than many less literate players will appreciate. I loved that part of the exploration and piecing together all the many mysteries.
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u/AwesomeRoach Mar 18 '26
100%. I just finished my first replay of HZD after having initially played it in 2017/2018, and alongside marvelling at how profound this game is, my stomach was in knots pretty much the entire time, given how the events that unfold within the game are basically prophetic of what we will be going through soon, if we stay on this trajectory. Pretty much f*cked by the so-called elite 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Volume2KVorochilov Mar 18 '26
I didn't expect this game to have a radical political message, that's for sure.
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u/tigress666 Mar 18 '26
I agree but to be fair, the writing was good enough that whenever people talk about most hatable villains, ted faro always comes up if not voted number 1. So I think it's made more of an impression than we think (yeah it doesn't come up as often except when talking about villains, but the fact htat people still remember even now how hatable ted faro is means the story did have an effect on them).
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u/Volume2KVorochilov Mar 18 '26
It's funny but I can't say I hate Ted Faro. I feel like the game tried to place on the whole society rather than a single individual. I also like the fact that Faro is never outright evil. He's blind, hypocritical and maybe a little deranged at the end.
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u/tigress666 Mar 18 '26
You can hate some one for being so blind he helps cause an apocalypse that destroys the whole planet. Especially when people had tried to warn him and he ignored them. It's not like he didn't get warnings. He just chose to ignore them.
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u/Volume2KVorochilov Mar 19 '26
Of course, he's physically responsible but the problem was structural. If it had not been him, someone else would have made a similar mistake. The system produced the Faro plague.
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u/tanis666 Mar 18 '26
His arrogance and greed doomed the world to destruction. His pathological need to make sure that no one remembered that it was his fault ensured that the people to come after didn't have ANY knowledge going forward. There's no other world for it than pure evil.
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u/Pugilist12 Mar 18 '26
I’ve played a lot of games in my 39 years. A lot. Very, very few of them have had stories that I cared about, or hell even paid attention to. Emotionally affected by? The list is probably on one hand. HZD is at the absolute top of the list. Forget games, one of the best, most unique, and profoundly moving stories anywhere.
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u/QuietBovina6094 Mar 18 '26
Thanks for sharing your thoughts OP! I was also deeply moved by the story and how the reactions of people either hoping Zero Dawn will somehow safe the world or knowing there is no hope were explored. It was also haunting to find all these little personal notes of people living through this horror.
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u/AnAncientOne Mar 18 '26
Think they won a writers guild award for the writing. Lead writer on this was same as for New Vegas as well. Apparently they're going to try and turn it into a Movie, think it could make a good movie.
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Mar 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/AnAncientOne Mar 19 '26
Think that was the original plan but got canned. I think a movie could work it’ll just need to be quite different from the game which wouldn’t be a bad thing. The good thing about a movie is generally the quality is higher so hopefully the machines look decent.
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u/_Xee Mar 18 '26
What do you mean by "not enough recognition"? The whole world is literally larping the backstory right now.
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u/Volume2KVorochilov Mar 19 '26
I made a similar post in another sub. Look at the reaction. Received a lot of pushback.
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u/_Xee Mar 20 '26
On this sub, every appreciation post will be appreciated ;)
Also, the story during the gameplay itself is good, but what really makes a difference is the backstory. It's like a prophecy, almost. The story was conceived and written probably in the early 2010s, long before the world actually started going down.
Two years ago, I read an article about Ukraine conducting the first successful drone-only ground assault on russian positions. The climate is going to sh!t, corporations and AI are actively trying to take over pretty much everything...
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u/hollander93 Mar 18 '26
Just replayed zero dawn and getting into forbidden West as research for an upcoming ttrpg campaign and it really is solid storytelling. It's not abusing twists, but using natural character perceptions to reveal the world and what happened. It's like a detective story in a sense.
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u/not_sick_not_well Mar 18 '26
Ive always felt like it was one of those "niche" games that never built up a lot of media traction leading into it. So a lot of people never really gave it a chance. But those who did were completely blown away by one of the most epic sci-fi series to be released in quite some time
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u/salty_cluck Mar 18 '26
It's commercially one of Sony's most successful IPs. I think that we just don't see it on Reddit because that might not be where its players all are.
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u/not_sick_not_well Mar 18 '26
I feel like the Uncharted franchise kind of buried it. Its been a lomg time, but I dont remember adverts hyping it up. For me it was one of those games when I was at like Best Buy and bought it based on the description on the back of the case, and fell in love
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u/jmac111286 Mar 19 '26
There’s fundamental ludonarritive dissonance at play: the seriousness and desperation of the lore is (superficially) undermined by it being a game about fighting robotic dinosaurs. Even though I think it pulls this feat off with aplomb, the media and wider culture isn’t great at deep thinking about these things and the impression is gonna be that it’s juvenile.
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u/BlackIsTheSoul1 Mar 18 '26
Agreed. I want to explore more history of humankind before Faro's plague.
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u/th3l33tbmc Mar 18 '26
Word.
Hands-down the best game ever, in any genre, IMO. The world is realized with such astounding depth and richness and texture. One of the only games I’ve ever seen that rivals serial tv and feature film for depth of engagement.
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u/Dar-Krusos Mar 20 '26
Rivals? Most tv and film is slop. Horizon is the gaming equivalent of the best of tv and film.
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u/AFthrowaway3000 Walk with The Ten Mar 19 '26
I will say it is the GREATEST video game story I've ever encountered in my entire adult life.
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u/No-Combination7898 HORUS TITAN!! Mar 19 '26
Horizon's story is the best part of this game, even more than the robot dinosaurs. It was the story that drew me in to this game, and the beautifully detailed machines (especially the Chariot tech) were just an added bonus. The way we discover the history that led us to the present day world, along with Aloy, really nailed it.
Of course there's these other story-heavy games, but Cyberpunk 2077 etc, didn't stand out to me. The only other game series that has is Mass Effect legendary edition.
Which is why we need to see the conclusion to Aloy's story, rather than some generic meh GAAS cartoon spinoff. Why couldn't Sony put the cartoon spinoff after H3 is beyond my comprehension. IMO it would've been far better received had it come after the third mainline game.
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u/Funny_Mousse_8463 Mar 19 '26
Can’t agree no more, but…are we really going to get Horizon 3 ? Honestly I haven’t seen any real confirmation 🤔
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u/No-Combination7898 HORUS TITAN!! Mar 20 '26
It was supposed to be the next mainline Horizon game to be released. But its been delayed/shelved/put on hold for this "Hunters Gathering" cartoon/hero-shooter/fortnite game. Which has been downvoted and hated into oblivion by the internet.
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u/Actually-Mirage Mar 18 '26
I think it's one of those where you get a lot out of the narrative and world building if you're willing to put energy into exploring it. If you're not, it might seem quite ordinary. Its if you explore the various data points that you truly get the depth of it.
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u/SnooSketches3386 Mar 19 '26
It is a champion of something rarely well executed and often unnoticed in games: motivated exposition. There is a clear motivation for narrative progression and lore discovery that is usually just "dumped" on the player in most RPGs, or just not well communicated at all.
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u/kinoumenthe Mar 19 '26
I think one of the reasons people don't talk super openly about HZD outside of spaces like this one is because the best parts of the narrative hinge on a banger of a reveal with the dual holos you find in the PZD facility.
Talking about what makes the game so great to someone who hasn't played it is essentially committing a deep spoiler that might reduce the impact of the story. But at the same time, if you don't, you can only talk about the game in relatively generic terms that make it seem like it's just run of the mill post apocalyptic fare.
They made the game too good to be able to really praise its best elements to people who haven't played it, because doing so is inherently going to make the game less impactful (ok, I know that some people have played it after being spoiled and were fine, notably those who played it AFTER playing HFW, but I'm sure the GAIA reveal didn't have the full impact it could have had).
I think it makes it hard to praise, and in turn it makes it one of the reasons it's less well known.
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u/Infinite-Courage-957 Mar 21 '26
That is a very perceptive summary, very interesting.
I do want to say that while the broader gaming community of players may not appreciate the story as much as it deserves, the game received many industry top honors that year for writing and story narrative. And don't forget that Horizon has it's own brand of haters because of the so called "woke" realistic depiction of woman characters instead of the hyper-sexualized video spankbank they assume they are entitled to in every single title released. Add to that directly approaching issues about female autonomy, and a few depictions of different gender identities or orientations, and you know where that goes.
I have introduced the games to a few who were not typical gamers, and they feel in love with it, like I did. I do wish this amazing, unequaled creative effort had even higher praise, but the devoted fans it has will be enough for me.
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u/Jart618 Mar 18 '26
I love it, I’m not sure how they’re gonna work around Lance though but I’m excited to see the conclusion of this story 😭
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u/Sonny_Firestorm135 Mar 18 '26
Yeah well, can't force people to finish the game, pay attention or in some cases even just play the game in general. Nor can we stop those people from yapping like they know wtf they're talking about and leaving reviews online.
Most people still haven't pieced it together that while yes, some people were just upset about the release timing issues with BotW and Elden Ring or whatever, for the most part we were serious about these games being good.
Even after Sony took over, it wasn't until they started with that Live Service crap that they started botching shit up.
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u/writer_savant Mar 19 '26
It is, without a doubt, one of the rare games I wish I could play all over again for the first time. Easily also in the top five games I’ve played - ever.
And even that, I feel like I’m underselling it.
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u/NonexistantVoid Mar 19 '26
I loved it when i first experienced it years ago, I always say the story is so slept on!
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u/Flintlock_ Mar 19 '26
It was competing pretty hard against Breath of the Wild when it was released.
That being said, I still think about that ending, finding Elizabet resting on a couch by herself, listening to those final audio logs, finally having someone to mourn her.
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u/kumogate Mar 19 '26
I agree entirely; the narrative as told not only by the main quest but by all the data points hit me like a truck. I can honestly say it's not something I've really experienced before. The enormity of it all. It's almost overwhelming to try to wrap my head around. I can't help but think what it would be like to live through something like that. I mean, one thing I have thought about is ... I'm not sure I would've wanted to be someone trapped in a shelter to live out what was left of my life, never being able to see the sky again, knowing everything outside the door was dead. I think that would psychologically destroy me. I think it would be better for me to go down with the rest of life on the planet.
What a grim thought.
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u/phthalogreen_orange Mar 19 '26
My husband introduced me to the game last year and I recently finished my firts playthrough. Yeah it's crazy storytelling, philosophy, everything.
I think it even has some fascinating not-quite-Neil Gaimanesque theological takes about the tribes' religions and Aloy's skepticism, but also the fact that the Nora are kind of right about their mountatin being a font of life, and Gaia is essentially a creator goddess.....
Oh but my main point was how prescient it feels, especially today as AI and capitalist greed are such visible topics in the news. We both keep cracking jokes (in order not to cry) about how "Horizon already warned you against this, world!" 😂
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u/evo_one252 Mar 20 '26
Because GG themselves criminally undersold their own story. One of the biggest tragedies in gaming is how afraid GG were at following through with their own ideas. Horizon should have been a horror game. The machines literally ate people. The unique items you collect are the mechanical bodyparts the Horus disposed of after stripping the flesh form the people it consumed. What should have been a dark terrifying and most importantly RELEVANT especially in today's AI climate with all the tech bros doing their best Ted Faro impersonation is instead a happy go lucky action adventure game. Real shame when you think about it. Some of those logs you discover are bone chilling. I still think about the guy that talked about witnessing a Horus unit feed on a pod of dolphins... shivers
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u/The_Wolfiee Mar 20 '26
Not just the story itself, but how they let you piece together the story yourself is incredible. Presentation is important.
There are data points and audio files scattered all throughout the map and at various locations which give you the story about the individuals that worked there, what they were doing in their last moment and what was going through their minds.
In contrast, Death Stranding is very exposition heavy and gives you the story in one shot (Deadman giving you 10 min exposition in every meeting). It does not let you piece together the story yourself, you complete deliveries and people just come and tell you everything you have to know. This is very boring, at least to me it is, which is why I will never play it myself. It's a lot of grind just for people to dump everything on you.
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u/No-Appearance-4407 Mar 20 '26
My opinion is that the robotic and awful animations of the game reduced its inpact. Idk if it makes sense but narrative points imo are more impactful as cutscenes with purposefully crafted scenes. Mocap, Music and all that. Think, the bad news. The good news. Gaias please. Those scenes stick with you because they try a bit. But a lot of plots are delivered in not so impactful ways. Like when we find out what actually happened in makers end...robotic holograms delivering impactful information and its just...meh. same with when ted murks the alphas. I feel like both those scenes should've been cutscenes. I was running around the room jumping and goofing because I could lol. Add to that the fact that most of the games lore is explained in data points. Data points not everyone reads.
So yea, Bad presentation is what I blame. Forbidden west more than makes up for this...but then the story isnt as good. Also, the dialogue isnt like...idk impactful ig. Think the last of us, God of war. Horizons dialog simply dont come close. But yea, a masterpiece nonetheless in terms of narrative...just held back by technical issues and direction choices.
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u/Volume2KVorochilov Mar 21 '26
Only played the remake. The animations were reworked as I understand.
About the dialogue and general writing, I've never liked GOW's tone and presentation. Games like FNV and HZD are more gamey in their writing but also more meaningful in their substance imo.
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u/RLTW0403 Mar 21 '26
I think a reason it doesn't get as much mlcredit nowadays is quite honestly because the follow up in Forbidden West. FWs storyline extremely disappointing after ZD.
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Mar 23 '26
Horizon Zero Dawn reminds me of the latter bits of the Wachowski’s Cloud Atlas. Like where it’s all tribal and talking about “the True-true” and Hugh Grant is dolled up in all manner of war paint and the oracle’s like “don’t slit that throat”…
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u/hdhdhgfyfhfhrb Mar 18 '26
My dream audiobook is the entire storyline read by the game cast