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Aloy can even reprogram robots herself, although this is apparently a skill learnt a little way into the game, and we note that the demo characters are both already at level 14. As the would-be demon proves a little too much for her, Aloy is set off to find a wildebeest-like robot which she reprograms to become her mount – which she can ride around on and still fire her bow from. Soon enough the demon is brought down, in part also thanks to grapples that fix into the ground and prevent it from jumping.
Aloy jumps and rolls around the landscape with an agility and fluidity that is significantly different from the clunky combat of something like The Witcher 3. There’s a minor stealth element too, where you can duck down and hide in long grass, or creep up on robots from behind for an instant kill. As such, the female lead and use of a bow also brings to mind the modern Tomb Raider games.
When it comes to this world, we've apparently not seen anything yet, either. Guerrilla has revealed that there will be ancient cities to explore and vast old remains of previous civilisations, complete with long dead human inhabitants. We've only encountered small settlements so far, but in her quest to find the answers of her heritage, Aloy will explore enormous areas that once belonged to her original non-robot hunting ancestors. The studio is remaining tight lipped on details but says some of these will be tied into the narrative, others will just be uncovered through exploration.
Adding further depth to its open world, Horizon doesn't just have a main narrative to explore. Side quests of all sorts fill that enormous map just screaming 'waste hours in me.' And Guerrilla knows it. “You might notice some of the blue diamonds [marking missions]. Each one of those is a side quest," explains the lead quest designer. "You can talk to people and figure out what their problem is, give them some help if they need it. We have a hierarchy of quests."
"We have the main story and then below that we have Tribe quests which are kind of national level. So think of each of these tribes having big picture problems that affect everyone. Then below that there are the more personal stories. Those are some of the things that we’ll see in a place like Mother’s Crown where someone has something that’s very important to them - it’s very urgent but it doesn’t affect the entire world.”
Aloy is part of the Nora Tribe, which is but one tribe of several in the game. They're not incredibly advanced, technologically, but Aloy has a special device which allows her to track the robots in any given area, to see their patrol lines, and to scan them for any goodies they might possess. Other tribes will occupy larger settlements, which can be visited – though not all of the other humans in the game will be friendly towards Aloy. Also available for investigation, sometimes with story relevance and sometimes just for fun, will be the ruins of our Earth as we know it today – Horizon is set 1,000 years after an unspecified cataclysmic event, called simply "the fall", turned everything to ****, and nature has very much reclaimed the planet, albeit alongside these strange machines. Expect to see familiar wildlife sharing grazing areas with the robots. "Robots have become part of the ecology," we're told.
Aloy's pretty handy when it comes to a scrap, but she's certainly not invincible. Robot attacks, even from the more docile variants, cause a lot of damage, so the player must keep Aloy moving in combat situations. One great way to do this is to convert a machine to serve as a mount. I do this with a Broadhead, rather like a bull, as seen in the E3 2016 gameplay trailer, but you can also switch the more aggressive Watchers to your side, and they'll fight beside you. Riding the Broadhead around a luscious, verdant environment really had me thinking back to The Witcher 3, and all the wonderful depth that game offered last year.
Aloy also has multiple melee abilities, including a power attack where she slams down a blade onto her enemy with extreme force. In addition to these, Aloy has throwable bombs, one of which is a fire bomb that spreads a blaze upon enemies and an ice bomb that slows down enemies for a period of time. She's also very nimble, able to dive, roll, and slide in some circumstances to avoid attack. The game also makes use of several audio cues, including intensifying music, to help let you know when trouble is nearby.
In the demo I saw, Aloy was already outfitted with some powerful abilities. As with other RPGs, you unlock these as you progress, and you can decide how to fill out your skill tree. This was only referenced, but not discussed at any length in the demo. However, a cool feature is that the skill tree menu will show you Aloy performing her abilities before you decide to assign one.
Outside of her weapon arsenal, Aloy has a scanning ability that lets her look over a scene and see where enemies are and what loot they will drop. This also provides information about what level the enemy is and what kind of attacks they are most susceptible to. This is pivotal information to have when determining which enemies to take on and which you might want to run away from. As for the loot, Machines drop Shards when you kill them, which can be spent when you return to town to buy weapons and clothing, among other things. Additionally, Zero Dawn has a crafting system, though Guerrilla is not yet sharing any specifics on the nature or extent of this.
During a hands-on session that followed the demo, I got to try out some of Aloy's ranged and melee abilities in a sequence where I was challenged to complete a number of objectives. These included things like taking down a set number of watchers and overriding bigger creatures and then riding them to attack a group of other Machines. It was intense and challenging, in part because the enemies are quite intelligent, never staying in one place for too long and attacking from all sides. It's thrilling to be in a battle with these unique-looking beasts. And the numerous ways in which you can defeat them brings about an element of strategy that I was not expecting. |
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06-13-2016, 10:35 PM
