Horizon Zero Dawn

**Horizon Zero Dawn** is an open-world action role-playing video game developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 in 2017. It was officially revealed at E3 2015 during Sony's press conference, and is the first intellectual property created by Guerrilla Games since Killzone in 2004, as well as the developer's first foray into the role-playing genre.

## Synopsis

Horizon Zero Dawn takes place a thousand years into the future, in a post-apocalyptic world where colossal machines dominate the land. Over time, human civilization has regressed to tribal societies of hunters and gatherers who survive in immense forests, imposing mountain ranges, and the atmospheric ruins of their ancestors – all while the machines become increasingly powerful. The player controls Aloy, a huntress who uses her speed, cunning, and agility to stay alive and protect her tribe against the force, size, and power of the machines.

## Gameplay

Horizon Zero Dawn is an action role-playing game played from a third-person view. Players take control of Aloy, a hunter who ventures through a post-apocalyptic land ruled by robotic creatures. Aloy can kill enemies in a variety of ways: setting traps like tripwires using the Tripcaster, shooting them with arrows, using explosives, and a spear. Machine components, including electricity and the metal they are composed of, are vital to Aloy's survival; she can loot their remains for crafting resources. Ammo, resource satchels, pouches, quivers; resistance, antidotes, health potions, and traps can all be crafted.

Weapons have modification slots for dealing more damage. Aloy wears a Focus, a small head piece that scans machines to determine their susceptibilities, identify their location, their level, and the nature of loot they will drop. One machine, the Stalker, can enable cloaking technology to avert the gaze of Aloy's Focus scan. Machines attack with defensive and offensive measures, and will in either case react to a perceived threat by charging at it with brute force or projectiles. Exhibiting the behaviour of wild animals, some machines are inclined to move in herds and others, with the ability to fly, do so in flocks. Unless hacked with the Override Tool, machines will not exert aggressive force against each other. Aloy engages in battle with the cult known as the Eclipse. She can dodge, sprint, slide, or roll to evade her enemies' advances. Hiding in foliage to ambush nearby enemies can ensure immediate takedowns. Swimming may reach enemies stealthily or places otherwise unreachable on foot. She is able to hack a selection of machines with the Override Tool, some of which can be turned into makeshift mounts. Explorable ruins called Cauldrons exist to unlock additional machines to override. There are three categories in the skill tree: "Prowler" concerns stealth, "Brave" improves combat, and "Forager" increases healing and gathering capabilities. To level up, Aloy attains experience points from individual kills and completing quests. Upgrades in each category result in more adept use of the skills learned, with "Prowler" leading to silent takedowns, "Brave" to aiming a bow in slow motion, and "Forager" to an enlarged medicine pouch. The Frozen Wilds added "Traveller", which unlocks the ability to jump off a mount to attack enemies. The game features an open world environment with a day-night cycle and dynamic weather system which can be seamlessly explored.

The map is composed of forest, jungle, desert, and snowy mountain regions. Mountainous terrain is traversed with the employment of parkour, and aided by the use of zip-lines installed throughout the world. Corruption Zones constitute areas that heighten difficulty and are populated by corrupted machines that behave with more aggression. To uncover more of the map, one must scale large giraffe-like machines known as Tallnecks. Twenty-five robotic creature designs are present in the game. Save points and fast travel can be accessed by interacting with campfires, once discovered. The quest structure unfolds to accommodate the exploration of tribes, while the main story covers the entire world. Side quests involve Aloy completing tasks, like gathering materials, coming to the aid of individuals in danger of being killed, solving mysteries, assuming control of bandit camps, eliminating criminals and more difficult machines, accomplishing various challenges at any of the five Hunting Grounds, and obtaining an ancient armour that makes Aloy almost impervious to damage. A dialogue wheel is used to communicate with non-player characters. Collectibles include vantages that offer visual information of the Old World, metal flowers that contain poetry, and old relics, such as ancient mugs and tribal artefacts.

## Development

Horizon Zero Dawn was conceived in 2010. Development began in 2011, after the release of Killzone 3. Guerrilla Games announced that they were creating a new intellectual property, with 40 concept ideas created for the game. Among them was Horizon Zero Dawn, one to which the director Mathijs de Jonge called the "most risky." The original concept has been described as "a pretty fresh mix of ingredients; the BBC nature documentary kind of feel, and then the sci-fi elements with the robots." Likewise, Guerilla sought a new main character, different from the male protagonists of the Killzone series. When the concept was chosen, a team of 10-20 people started building prototypes for the game, with many of the prototypes' elements being included in the game. Roughly 20 unique stories were written, all exploring various concepts and character ideas. The story was written by John Gonzalez, the head writer of Fallout: New Vegas. Since the beginning of development, the various elements of the story remained intact. Aloy was in the original pitch, and regarded as one of the game's three 'pillars,' the others being "gorgeous nature" and the machines.

Early on, the game's combat bore a resemblance to the Killzone series. In fact, the M82 rifle was present in early builds of the game, being fired at robot dinosaurs. In the words of Hermen Hulst, this started to feel weird "very quickly," and the direction was changed in terms of combat.

Guerrilla Games invested more of its staff into the development of Horizon Zero Dawn following the completion and release of Killzone: Shadow Fall. More staff were hired, as the studio's experience mostly lay in FPS games.

The game delves into the juxtaposition of the beauty and dangers of its world. More precisely, it considers the scenario of humanity's fall from grace and regression into hunter-gatherers, where the species is no longer "at the top of the life list." Emphasis was given to a quest system; various acquirable items are spread throughout the world, used for crafting resources and replenishing health. Horizon Zero Dawn is also completely devoid of tutorials, an implementation purposed for fostering trial and error solutions to the game's various obstacles.

Horizon Zero Dawn was created with the engine used in Killzone: Shadow Fall; Guerrilla Games, however, felt that the purposing the engine for Horizon Zero Dawn was a technical challenge, with regard to loading and distances times. The team also sought a simplistic user interface, avoiding overly-complex menus for features such as crafting. With Horizon Zero Dawn being Guerrilla Game's first venture into the role-playing genre, the developer sought assistance with design, art, and other technical fields to discover how elements of said genre work.
Conceptual art of hunters and machines, as well as the name of the game code surfaced on September 14, 2014. Horizon Zero Dawn was officially unveiled during the press conference Sony at E3 2015, with a worldwide release, exclusively for PlayStation 4, being expected in 2016. The game's release was then pushed back to 2017. Guerilla used the extra time for playtesting.

Guerilla is open to books and comics based on the game being released.