[h1] I will start this review with a few disclaimers, because I think that’s only fair given the circumstances of this review: [/h1]
[h3] 1. I just finished the sequel including the DLC and its been about three months since I played this game, so this review will be largely based on my memories from playing the game. [/h3]
[h3] 2. Between me starting to play the game in 2020 and me finishing the game this year was a six-year break. Back in 2020 I started playing the game for about 16 hours and then lost interest. Just this year I picked it up again and got immediately hooked and finished it within a month. [/h3]
[h3] 3. I rarely play large open-world games and I’m more of the competitive shooter-type person, so me reviewing this game might come across as a “dad”-Review, which is entirely fair. [/h3]
So, with those three disclaimers out of the way, let me start this review by writing about the game more in general and then later on write about more specific parts of the game.
Again, due to me playing the start of the game six years ago, I don’t have many memories about it, just that I found the start of the game alright. The tutorialization was fine and the Focus you get was a neat concept. I think I got to Meridian before I lost interest. After that, now in the year 2026, I decided to pick up the game by random chance (I was just scrolling through my steam library as you do) and got immediately hooked. Why?
Simply put, I really liked the world-building/the backstory. It was just the right amount of science-fiction combined with themes of robots replacing humans, corporate greed, egomaniacs and one plan the save humanity. I had found that many themes that seemed entirely fictional back then, have come, in some aspects, to reality now. Modern corporations, the use of AI and such are as relevant as ever and i personally found some "predictions" the story-writes made back then to be eerily accurate and now, somewhat believable.
Also, Aloys journey to discover who she really is, where she came from and what her mission in live is, is quite relatable. Well, not in this particular scenario, but the overall theme is very much relatable. Aloy herself then is, apart from her visual design, not the most memorable main-character in video game history. Apart from her upbringing, she doesn’t have any rough edges, some traits that makes her prone to faults and so on. The game portrays her as Miss infallible, which sure, she had a bad upbringing and was an outcast, but still: apart from that her personality is basically “hey, i have to save the word, but sure, I can pick up these flowers for you from the other side of the valley, no big deal.” Which just seems silly to me.
But overall, I very much liked the main story and found if very enjoyable.
Now, the side characters/quests on the other hand… well, let’s say some budget cuts had to be made because the way the dialogs are framed/executed was just downright boring. For the most part the same three camera angles, voice acting that just didn’t quite hit the correct tone or facial animations that just didn’t seem to add up.
I did all the side mission, but most of them were rather forgettable.
Except for some in the DLC, the Frozen Wilds. I completed the main questline before I went to the DLC area and it was quite nice. The story there, the background lore about the place was all very well executed. You even had memorable characters like Gildun! Some great set-pieces as well. Though most of the facial animations throughout the side mission cutscenes weren’t that great, even for 2017 standards.
[h2] Anyway, less rambling, more about specifics now: [/h2]
[h3] Graphics: [/h3] objectively the standout part of the game. I have played the game at 1440p with maxed out settings and every now and then I just took a pause and marveled at the visual fidelity on display. Every part of the world had it’s own distinct look, but every part had a very high standard throughout its compositions, color grading and lightning. Except for the water. Apparently, Guerilla Games forgot they had put large bodies of water into the game and slapped some half-baked shaders onto it and called it a day. At least it looks like that to me.
[h3] Sound: [/h3] Very good. All machines your fighting sound unique and quite brutal as well. The first time you fight a Thunderjaw will be quite the spectacle. All voices are mixed well, even without headphones and just using a simple 2.1 Stereo setup I had no trouble orientating myself in the world. So as far as I’m concerned, Audio design is a standout as well. Music on the other hand was fine. It served it's functions, but wasn't a standout part as far as i'm concerned.
[h3] Gameplay-loop: [/h3] It’s been nearly 800 words and I haven’t written about the gameplay-loop? Well, even for a “dad”-Review such as this, the gameplay-look was alright. It’s quite straight forward and up to the standard for large, open-world type games of the era. Meaning: you have a large, open map, with lots and lots of “?” which could be anything: a collectable, a settlement, a campfire (a place for you the save your game), some form of activity etc. You just go from point to point, do some collecting of resources, fight some machines, do a little dungeon of sorts and then a couple of hours are gone again. Rinse and repeat.
[h3] Combat: [/h3] Quite enjoyable. I mostly focused on large, heavy bows and less on physical combat, which served me well on my journey throughout the game. It seems that the developers either forgot, or intentionally balanced the game so that with the first sharpshot bow you can basically, as long as the human enemy doesn’t wear a helmet, one shot most human enemies at very long ranges. Which made the game quite a lot easier and quicker to get through. Most machines are also very fun to fight and was always a highlight for me. Except for a few that were introduced in the DLC (looking at you, Scorcher).
Final verdict:
Overall, I rate this game an 8.5-9/10. Since I picked the game back up earlier in the year I got immediately hooked and every game that makes me wake up and looking forward to playing it in the evening after a long day’s work is a really good game in my book. Sure, it has a few shortcomings in a few different places, which I pointed out above. But overall, the main-story, the main-plot, albeit a bit predictable, was still good enough to keep me invested into the game and wanting to know how it continues until the very end. So much so that after finishing this game, I immediately bought the sequel and only a couple of days after finishing this one, I started the sequel.
Thank you very much for reading!
