Horizon Zero Dawn

Guerrilla recently showed off more of its ambitious open-world game, which stars a young woman named Aloy as she wanders through a post-apocalyptic wilderness 1,000 years in the future. Humanity has returned to tribalism, and massive mechanical creatures roam freely across the land.

The original E3 demo for Horizon focused on the action elements, which seemed like a logical fit for the creators of the Killzone games. This more recent look at some of the same gameplay sequences reveals that Horizon has deeper RPG roots than first imagined.

The work-in-progress HUD is minimal, but the presence of a compass with quest markers recalls similar systems in other open-world RPGs like Fallout 4. We also see a small onscreen meter that indicates XP gains and progress toward a new level. While the fighting is focused on speed and tactical approaches to targets, Guerrilla pointed out floating damage value numbers popping up after scoring a hit — a mainstay of RPG-style combat — as a way to show off growing power and damage over time.

Beyond the classic trappings of RPG interactions, Guerrilla also alluded to quests that would see Aloy retrieving items for multiple quest givers from the various tribes in the world.

Players can also freely wander to various locales, including deserts, snowy mountains, ancient overgrown human cities, mountaintops, and fertile valley forests. We’ve only had a close look at the latter of those environments so far, but the level of detail and beauty on display in that small space is impressive. While Guerrilla is keen to communicate the role-playing potential of Horizon, the demo makes it clear that taut action is still paramount for moment-to-moment gameplay. Stealth allows you to approach enemies for quick takedowns, or to set up explosive traps.

The mechanical creatures often employ herd behaviors, which you can exploit to drive them into snares. While the smaller mechanical beasts are intriguing, nothing sells Horizon’s potential like the appearance of the Thunderjaw. This massive 24-meter-long T-Rex-like machine has more than 90 destructible armor plates, on-board launchers that can be shot off and turned against it, and weak points that can be uncovered and targeted.

The fight against this creature proves out the potential for great boss battles, presuming that same complexity shows up from other large foes. Horizon continues to impress with both its gameplay and visuals, but I was disappointed that this latest glimpse showed off the same small valley area, and much the same conflicts that were shown behind closed doors back at E3. Guerrilla has made some big promises about a vast open world, various social groups and quest givers, and a deep story, but we’re forced to take the developer at its word for the time being.

In the meantime, if this returning demo really is a microcosm of a much larger experience, Guerrilla’s new project could shape into one of the most thrilling debuts on the horizon.

The Horizon Zero Dawn announcement stunned gamers at last year’s E3, and it was easy to see why. While most games set in the post-apocalypse tap zombie plagues and nuclear holocausts for their source material, Guerrilla Games has crafted a compelling world where posthistoric tribes face off against an ecosystem full of predatory robot dinosaurs. Last year’s show gave us our first glimpse of Horizon Zero Dawn’s promise, but our hands-on demo at this year’s show proved just how fun the gameplay is.

During Sony’s press conference this year, Guerrilla Games shared a lengthy demo showing off Horizon’s many gameplay systems. The audience got a look at the robust crafting system for making ammunition and traps, a Mass Effect-style dialogue system that allows Aloy to pry for more information when talking to NPCs, and her focus-scan ability that highlights an enemy’s vulnerabilities and what components it’s made out of. We also caught a glimpse of the world map, which promises a massive expanse of land for Aloy to explore.

In addition, the demo shared more about Aloy’s backstory. Set 1,000 years after the fall of modern civilization, a strange power is turning Horizon’s giant mechanical beasts hostile toward the remnants of humanity. Aloy’s tribal leaders chalk the shifting aggression up to demons, and believe only the goddess can save them. However, Aloy is sure there must be a scientific explanation. Her beliefs set her at odds with her tribe, which she must leave behind to find out the truth about her people and the threat.

It doesn’t take Aloy long to run into trouble. After saving a fleeing human from a possessed walker, she heads to his nearby abandoned village, where she comes face to face with a towering corruptor. The scurrying machine looks like a hybrid of a spider and a scorpion, and (true to its name) can corrupt other machines by shooting them with a glowing beam, making them even more hostile toward Aloy. A quick scan reveals that the creature is vulnerable to fire and is packing a deadly spike launcher, though its ability to throw boulders with its tail proves the bigger threat.

The ensuing showdown plays out like an improvised boss battle, as Aloy cycles through her wide array of weapons. One risky strategy involves laying small, floating explosive traps on the ground, then luring the corruptor within range and detonating them with arrows. However, despite its size, the corruptor is surprisingly nimble. Not only can it quickly catch up to Aloy on foot, it can also leap clear across the battlefield. After dodging a few boulders that obliterate nearby village shacks and smash trees to splinters, Aloy focuses on robbing the deadly creature of its mobility. First, she takes out its spike launcher with a few well-placed explosive arrows (and a little help from Aloy’s slow-motion ability). Then Aloy switches to her ropecaster, tethering the corruptor to the ground with successive shots. A half dozen more explosive-arrow shots and the beast finally goes down permanently. The hard-fought battle served as the endcap to another impressive E3 showing for the game, as well as a reminder that humans are no longer at the top of the food chain in Horizon’s deadly world.

As exciting as polished stage demos can be, you can’t tell how a game really plays until you get your hands on it. I’m happy to report that so far Horizon doesn’t disappoint. I spent 30 minutes running around a small wooded area and trying a number of objectives, including collecting canisters from gazelle-like grazers, knocking the cargo containers off the backs of shellwalkers, and overriding a broad head, which allowed me to ride the steer-like creature for quicker traversal. For a pseudo-cavewoman, Aloy is satisfyingly agile, whether she’s scurrying up cliff-sides or sliding beneath the legs of attacking machines. Aiming Aloy’s deadly bow also feels good, and is aided by the ability to temporarily slow down time and craft extra ammunition on the fly. Horizon’s stealth options allow you to play as a silent assassin, sneaking up on unsuspecting enemies in patches of tall grass similar to Uncharted 4. You can take them down with a melee strike, or even better, override them to fight alongside you. Just be ready to run if you get spotted; even the diminutive watchers are dangerous in packs, and most of the synthetic creatures are just as fast as Aloy.