Some more thoughts after 20ish hours. (Gaming)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Friday, March 03, 2017, 13:47 (2831 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY
edited by CruelLEGACEY, Friday, March 03, 2017, 13:53

The TL;DR version, I'm still completely hooked by the gameplay, thoroughly absorbed by the world, and impressed by the way this game constantly makes me say "wow", then immediately raises the bar again.

Now that I've sunk more time into the game, there are a few things I'm starting to notice and appreciate.

• Restraint.

The Dev team seems to have fantastic instincts when it comes to knowing how much of something is "enough". So far, I have yet to come across a single task that felt overly repetitive. Nothing drags on too long for its own good. This comes across in obvious ways, but subtle little ways, too. For example (I'll be as vague as possible to avoid spoilers); I was exploring a specific area, and I reached a point where I needed to activate a thing in the middle of the room. I'm looking around, and I see 3 small towers around the edge of the room. I climb one of them, and sure enough, there's a button I can press. My immediate thought is "so I need to climb these three towers and press all 3 buttons"... because that's how videogames work, right? But when I pressed the first button, I turned and saw that it had activated all 3 towers. This seems like a tiny thing on its own, but the game is filled with examples of this sensibility. Resource gathering is another example. Lots of games feature hunting and skinning wildlife to gather materials. There's usually a little animation to go along with it. The first time you do it, it's gross. The 10th time, it's already taking longer than you wish it would. The 100th time... you get my point. So Horizon just skips that. You kill an animal, press a button and there's a split-second animation of crouching down to pick something off the ground. That's it.
I can't stress enough how refreshing it is to play a game that is so big, yet so respectful of the player's time. The developers realize that repetitive busy work and other time-vacuums are no substitute for actual CONTENT, and are best avoided.

*Stops. Takes sip of coffee. Turns and gives a long, pointed look in Bungie's direction. Continues.*

These little details are so important because the game really is HUGE. With so much to do, any repetitive tasks taking longer than they need to would suck all drive and momentum from the game. Horizon dodges this issue beautifully.

• Double down

After rambling about how much restraint the developers have shown, I do need to point out that they also seem to know exactly when to take things further. Specifically when it comes to cool, "epic" moments. In a game full of things that make me say "wow", it's amazing how often these moments hit back-to-back. It feels "emergent" at the time, but I run into these moments in pairs so often that I'm starting to think it must be intentional. Sometimes these moments are subtle, like coming across a new area that looks so gorgeous that I just need to stop and stare at the scenery for a moment, and then the weather changes and it looks even better. But a lot of these moments are combat-oriented.

* Enemy-type spoilers incoming *

At one point, I come across a small lake with an island in the middle of it. I swam through the water, and just as I reached the shore I heard something to me left. I turned and saw, coming around the edge of the shoreline, a giant robot alligator. It was by far the largest enemy I had come across at that point (easily 30 feet long), and it was coming straight for me. I instantly launch into a knock-down, drag-out battle with this monster. I hit it with everything I have while trying to get a feel for its attacks and weaknesses. Finally, I destroy it. I salvage the materials, and run happily inland, feeling like a genuine badass after my victory. I was feeling so happy and carefree that I almost yelled when I rounded a corner just a few seconds later and found myself face to face with THREE OF THE FREAKING THINGS that I had just fought.

I had another experience last night that was just jaw-dropping. I was exploring a new area of the map, and I came across a large, long-horned bull creature. I'd seen similar robots before, but this one was a bit larger. I managed to sneak up on one, and was pleased to discover I could tame and ride it! This thing was so much bigger and cooler looking than the other mounts I had ridden, I couldn't wait to see what it could do. I launch into a gallop, feeling like the world's biggest badass on my badass mount. I ride around the corner of a cliff edge, straight into the gigantic T-Rex monster from the E3 demo. It's massive... gotta be 50-60 feet long. And I'm heading straight for it. My mount has decent speed, but it isn't the most maneuverable thing. I don't want to stop and s-l-o-w-l-y turn around, so I decide I'm going to try and run past the T-Rex, then circle back and go the other way. It sees me as I approach, and the whole world explodes. There's rocket fire all around me, and just when I think I might actually make it through, a laser shot cuts straight through me and destroys me and my mount in a single hit. It was AWESOME.