5 Aspects of Horizon Zero Dawn that Really Needed Polishing

Crafting system

Crafting is firmly at the center of Horizon Zero Dawn’s role playing game loop. Players will spend a significant amount of time harvesting resources, machine scraps, and flora to facilitate the construction of ammunition, traps, and health potions. But while many of these items are genuinely useful in combat encounters, I still can’t help but wish the crafting system had more depth.

Horizon does find a way to make use of harvested machine parts; they are used in tandem with metal “scraps” to purchase advanced weaponry and items from merchants. It’s a fine enough way of encouraging players to hunt and loot, but had those components been reserved for a more complex crafting system that allowed players to forge unique and exotic items with a more diverse array of special effects/stat boosts, it would’ve really opened up the RPG side of things.

Horizon’s traps and potions are fairly one-dimensional for an RPG; not much deeper than what we’ve seen in linear action games such as The Last of Us. How about giving players the option to combine crafted shock and explosive traps to create offensive items that cause AoE (area of effect) slow down and damage bonuses? More detailed and traditional RPG-like item options might have added another layer of strategy to the gameplay.

This also extends to the game’s modification options, too, which are bought rather than crafted. Similarly to The Witcher 3’s Mutagens – enhancements that could be created via alchemy to produce dozens of varying effects on one’s character – the ability to tinker with modifications would put further emphasis on“building” Aloy into a more specific type of character.

And weapons aren’t able to be crafted, either. This is a rather bewildering oversight, given that much of the resource gathering is about harvesting weapons from fallen machines. When you consider what a superb job games such as Fallout 4 did in making every piece of scrap or loot feel valuable thanks to the depth of its crafting and customization system, Horizon feels disappointingly shallow at times.

Customization

When we think of RPGs, we typically associate them with in-depth customization options; we’re role-playing after all. But unlike Geralt in The Witcher 3, Aloy’s equipment and appearence can’t really be altered in any particularly noticeable way. Nor can they really be tinkered with so as to mold and “build” a certain style of character. There’s no doubt Horizon does a great job of balancing action with RPG fans, but in the case of customization, it might have been better to include more RPG-centric options.

Horizon Zero Dawn only offers a handful of different weapons and each of their upgraded versions is virtually identical in appearance, only differing by the distinction of their associated tribe. Weapons can only be bought from one of the many merchants around the open world, too. And frustratingly, apart from the merchants in the “Embrace” region of the game, all of these traders sell nearly the exact same stock of weapons. The whole process is a bit bland.

“Modifications” do add stat boosts to weaponry that certainly add extra elements to the game’s combat, but again there’s only so much one can do with the 1-3 slots available for each. Introducing a greater emphasis on typical RPG stats like stun, freeze, bludgeon, crush, and pierce would have surely put a greater importance on forging unique weapons, and given their construction more diversity, too. None of these statistics needs to bog down Horizon Zero Dawn’s balance between role-playing and action, but rather, it would’ve added more options, strategy, and replay value to the game.

The same applies to the outfits, which are not only a bit unsightly at times, but their modifications are even more limited in number. The effects of modifications feel even more negligible to gameplay, too. Never once did I really feel the need to equip a different outfit for an encounter or mission type. Again, this seems like a slightly wasted opportunity, and as much as I adore the happy medium between action and RPG, it sometimes feels a little too dumbed down.

Greater Human Enemy Variety

There’s no doubt that Horizon Zero Dawn’s terminator-meets-prehistoric creature adversaries are a huge part of the game’s appeal; so much creativity and thought that has gone into the varied and unique designs of these bad ass robo-dinos. But in between the awe of staring at giant Tall-Necks and fist-pumping at the sound of Watchers being knocked to the ground in intense melee combat, hostile human enemies comprise many of the game’s camps and Cauldrons. And, unfortunately, there isn’t nearly enough variation in their design to keep these encounters fresh and interesting throughout the game.

For starters, visually, the Shadow Carja are very samey. There are some subtle differences in the color of their cloaks, and then there are cultist variants, too. But even as early as a quarter way through the game, it’s largely a case of seen one bandit camp, seen them all. The lack diversity is a stark contrast from the imagination that has been put into the machine-creatures. Even small nuances such as changing the design of their appearance based on the climate that they operate in would have given some individuality and uniqueness to each area. A thick coat for the cold, shirtless in the desert, adorned with fauna in the forest; articulating the region’s populace in this fashion might have injected a bit of much-needed flavor.

More troublesome than their aesthetic, though, there’s also not enough variety in the way combat encounters with human enemies play out. Some bandits do wield heavy weapons or wear thicker armor and additional corrupted machines do add some individuality, but I would have liked to have seen more unique enemy types. For example, a Shadow Carja unit specific to the forest dwelling tribesman, donning a stealth cloaked and a long range bow. Or perhaps, a mountain Shadow Carja unit with superior climbing skills, swinging from clifftops to attack in close range with ice picks.

As players advance through its open world, the game should be adding a new dimension and challenge to combat against human enemies. In current guise, there’s very little motivation for players to engage in these encounters other than ticking off an objective on the map. Horizon’s human enemy encounters often feel like filler to break up segments of machine combat, which is what the game clearly does best. But there’s just not that same potential for emergent gameplay with human opposition as there is versus the machines, where baiting creatures over trip wires and traps, and using weapons to tie them down or tear away parts downoffers more interesting and varied experimentation. As good as Horizon feels as a machine-hunting playground, though, both gameplay and world-building would benefit from a greater diversity in human enemies.

In the end, as good as Horizon feels as a machine-hunting playground, both gameplay and world-building would benefit from a greater diversity in human enemies.

More Believable NPCs

An open world should be more than just a way to facilitate non-linear gameplay, it should create a believable and immersive environment that feels busy and alive, too. And as interesting as Horizon’s thematic setting and narrative premise is, there is, at times, something a little off about the behavior of the NPCs.

What is with the NPCs’ lack of acknowledging their surroundings? Run into them at full speed, jump on their heads, observe them happily sitting in the pouring rain without a single comment – Horizon’s NPCs might be the easiest going, placid people I’ve ever met. Nothing fazes them! Don’t get me wrong, I admire a happy-go-lucky attitude as much as the next man, but Horizon’s population is borderline creepy.

Beyond the strangeness of their mannerisms from afar, they don’t get any more believable up close, either. For a game that does such a wonderful job animating facial expressions, there’s something a bit bland about the way the interactions with the NPCs play out. There just isn’t much personality to them. They issue quests in a similar way to other open world RPGs, but where the colorful character of NPCs in those games made them feel genuine and memorable, in Horizon, they’re vanilla to the point of indifference. The NPCs are never quite bold enough to be eccentric, deceitful enough to be evil, or so cute as to be endearing; void of these enduring traits, Horizon’s NPCs don’t give a satisfactory weight to the stories that motivate the game’s side quests.

A More Interesting Skill Tree

If we’re going to call Horizon an RPG, then we have to call it out as being far too shallow in its RPG systems. I’ve spoken to its crafting and customization, and those complaints similarly apply to the game’s skill tree, too. It just isn’t especially detailed, adding generic and predictable upgrades that feel far closer to action games such as Far Cry than deep RPGs such as The Witcher 3 or Dragon Age.

In fact, I’d go so far as to call the skill tree decidedly boring. A “long roll” as an upgrade… seriously? I would have liked to have seen skills that actually change gameplay, beyond just increasing the damage of the silent kill, or performing a takedown from the air – those are action game upgrades I’d expect to see in Tomb Raider, but they feel shallow for an action RPG.

Of course, not every RPG needs to adhere to the same mechanics and systems, but much of the appeal when role-playing is the ability to “build” one’s character. Perks such as a health regeneration when attacking, or increased damage at the cost of health would have combined nicely with the aforementioned deeper crafting and customization. In brief, Horizon would have benefited from more RPG-centric perks that give me an ability to shape Aloy into a “build”, as opposed to just ticking a progress box.