• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Horizon Forbidden West Review Embargo Details

What Will Be The Average Critic Score For Horizon: Forbidden West

  • >95

    Votes: 35 5.2%
  • 93-95

    Votes: 128 19.2%
  • 90-92

    Votes: 261 39.1%
  • 86-89

    Votes: 174 26.0%
  • 80-85

    Votes: 42 6.3%
  • <80

    Votes: 28 4.2%

  • Total voters
    668

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly


This unfortunately, was my issue with Ghost Of Tsushima as well.

The nature of person that I am, I can't not Min Max and 100% the map as much as possible. These Sony exclusives seem to be doing it more and more now and I find myself thinking they are a bit of a slog. I did ultimately enjoy Ghost Of Tsushima but I only completed it last week after about 60 hours playtime and I just feel burnt out on doing it again so soon after.

I agree with this tweet on what are they really doing to excel them from an Assassins creed? but do they actually have to?

Maybe they are just not for me. Or I can only stomach like one every year or two.

Bring back amazing 15 - 20 hour games please!
 
Nah you're the troll.


See its not hard to call people a troll...
What’s your planner looking like today? Wake up and troll HFW threads yes? We read your reply on the review thread it isn’t for you, maybe keep out of these threads then instead of showing you’re a clear Xbox fanboy?
 
Last edited:

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions


He loved it, said it was a generation defining experience.

I tend to mostly agree with his reviews, though his TLOU 2 one was fucking terrible, if I can ignore that one then we're mostly on the same page.
 
Last edited:

Elog

Member
I am not sure why people are upset. Any game with a Metacritic score of 80+ is a good game. Whether it is your cup of tea or not is another story. The game I put most hours into over the last generation was Warhammer 2 with a Metacritic score of 87.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
What’s your planner looking like today? Wake up and troll HFW threads yes? We read your reply on the review thread it isn’t for you, maybe keep out of these threads then instead of showing you’re a clear Xbox fanboy?
Hey im just replying to somone here. Are you saying I should not reply to people?

Also what post of mine in the review thread are you talking about.

If you are going to talk about somones post at least quote it.
 
Last edited:

saintjules

Member
I'll be listening to myself ultimately when it comes to whether this game is good or not, but it's good to hear other people's perspectives on this game or any other for that matter.

I didn't expect this game to do anything groundbreaking or pushing the envelope innovative wise. Just improve what they couldn't achieve from the first game and increase the fidelity, load times, etc. I am a little tired of the open world stuff, but I guess that's more so because they're usually empty and/or contain bloated, repetitive sidequests. I hope the quests in HZD feel like one offs and not retrieving item x and bringing it back to y NPC.

Games like the OG Hellblade and Returnal did certain things I haven't experienced as a gamer in all my years of gaming. I hope to experience that more so as the generation continues on. I'm sure there will be more games to do things that others haven't.
 
Last edited:

Solarstrike

Member

"...feels stuck in an open-world formula that others have already improved upon. It lacks spontaneity"..

🤥

Ultimate Warrior Wrestling GIF by WWE
 

Smoke6

Member
Nah you're the troll.


See its not hard to call people a troll...
It was for me! I genuinely thought you were interested in the game. You never cared about it.

But anyways I can’t wait til this weekend sheesh it’s gonna be a long week
 

Smoke6

Member
Hey im just replying to somone here. Are you saying I should not reply to people?

Also what post of mine in the review thread are you talking about.

If you are going to talk about somones post at least quote it.
I did and you know exactly what you posted lmao
 

Arachnid

Member
Can I ask what is the revolutionary open world formula everyone is looking for?
Anything that doesn't overly rely on me chasing points, similar side-quests, repeating dungeons with tiny differences, capturing enemy outposts, and antenna points that reveal the map I guess. That was Horizon 1 to a T. At the very least, mix in good writing to make all that somewhat interesting as motivation. The first game had abysmal writing throughout. I really hope this one doesn't follow that same formula.
 
Anything that doesn't overly rely on me chasing points, similar side-quests, repeating dungeons with tiny differences, capturing enemy outposts, and antenna points that reveal the map I guess. That was Horizon 1 to a T. At the very least, mix in good writing to make all that somewhat interesting as motivation. The first game had abysmal writing throughout. I really hope this one doesn't follow that same formula.
i mean couldn’t you get subjective and accuse any open world game of having some of that? Points that reveal the map, not huge differences in dungeons, lots of similar side quests, chasing waypoints? Just seems like people want an entirely different formula in general for open worlds.
 

Arachnid

Member
i mean couldn’t you get subjective and accuse any open world game of having some of that? Points that reveal the map, not huge differences in dungeons, lots of similar side quests, chasing waypoints? Just seems like people want an entirely different formula in general for open worlds.
Following that to a T like Horizon though? It's just too formulaic. People liked BOTW because you weren't chasing points. Your discoveries where purely because you saw something cool in the distance or decided to scale a random peak that caught your eye. RDR2? The world felt alive, with surprise wildlife and random side quests spawning out of the blue on the way to a quest (also, fantastic story that kept you interested; don't get me wrong, I still have my problems with this game). Witcher 3? Chasing points and similar quest structure for sure, but the story, characters, and writing were so good they're kept you playing to the point of carrying the whole damn game. Bethesda games? Carried by mods and fan imagination (for me).

There has to be an element of true exploration and unpredictability to open world games to keep them truly engaging. HZD never had that, and reviews make it sound like the second doesn't either.

Don't get me wrong. No fanboyism. Bloodborne was my game of the gen. I truly wanted to like the first game (I forced myself to the end trying to get it to click), and I want the second to win me over. I've been following Aloy's voice actress since I was a teen. I can truly call myself a fan (she had a 10/10 comedy web series at the time I adored), so you know there isn't any bias when I say this (I also don't believe in loyalty to ANY corporation or system; they don't give a shit about you): HZD was mediocre. World design, story, writing, combat, quest design, aesthetic, characters, all of it. Nothing was stand out. Some of it was straight up sub par. I'll never understand how it found an audience that praises it, but I guess that's just how perspective and opinions work. It's barely better than an AC game, and there are even AC games I've enjoyed more than HZD.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Never change, Resetera

 

Hestar69

Member
Never change, Resetera

How can people be that STUPID. That whole website needs to be shutdown.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned

Fuck these people, seriously. The whole “culture appropriation only goes one way” angle is pathetic, grow the fuck up.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Fuck these people, seriously. The whole “culture appropriation only goes one way” angle is pathetic, grow the fuck up.
That's the thing I never understood about culture appropriation, isn't that a sign that you accept the other and even like it since you want to copy what they are doing?
I mean if I had to change my personality i'd copy from someone I admire, not hate.
It's a lose lose situation because either you integrate and like another culture and it is considered culture apropriation and it is racist or you don't and it is racist...
Couldn't just not fucking care about eachother ?
the-office-win-win.gif

Anyway I'll stop derailling the thread back on topic, Horizon looks awesome and is scoring great apart from the classic fanboys/trolls reviewers but that's always the case.
 

Shubh_C63

Member
Can I ask what is the revolutionary open world formula everyone is looking for?
For me, it's part NPC. They don't have to just sit there waiting for player to interact with them. I would say Zelda didn't reinvent open world but atleast it had a sense of discovery.

But I will contradict my NPC part and say GTAV was one of the most boring AAA open world game I had played.
 

ape2man

Member

Nothing can be enjoyed by these people, fucking hell.... fucking sour cunts all of them.
 
I hate that. Trophies should be some kind of a challenge. We went from ridiculously hard and time-consuming trophies from early days of PS3 to being awarded a platinum for finishing the game on easy.
I shouldn't need to complete a game multiple times just to get a Platinum trophy like the old Uncharted games on the PS3. Makes no sense.
 
Fuck these people, seriously. The whole “culture appropriation only goes one way” angle is pathetic, grow the fuck up.
I saw more than one black person in that thread say they don’t see a problem with it, and they were ignored. Guarantee 99.9 percent of the posters there complaining about it are white. Now they’re complaining about Aloy being a “white savior”. The fucking irony.
 

Vick

Gold Member
HZD was mediocre. World design, story, writing, combat, quest design, aesthetic, characters, all of it. Nothing was stand out. Some of it was straight up sub par.
Jd8BMDo.gif


I mean.. i know, personal opinions and all, but these takes are so fucking wild to me.

World design and aesthetic can be subjective, fair, but story? It's one of the very best sci-fi stories i've ever experienced in all media.. it even made John fucking Carpenter all wet. Also combat? I still boot the game after 5 years just because of how insanely snappy and precise and engaging and satisfying the combat is.. maybe it's because i play with no reticle on Ultra Hard, but still, i really don't understand how any navigate, skilled player could possibly ever label the bow combat in HZD mediocre.

I'm perfectly fine with opinions, even "strange" ones like this, but the way the post was made with all that premise about fanboyism and all, presented as if this is the unfiltered, ultimate truth.. eh.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Nothing can be enjoyed by these people, fucking hell.... fucking sour cunts all of them.

Nah, as per usual its actually that they are the real racists and cultural imperialists. They just latch onto the faddish socio-political talking points most of which emanate from the US and US-centric media and take that view to be the only perspective that is real or legitimate.
 
I saw more than one black person in that thread say they don’t see a problem with it, and they were ignored. Guarantee 99.9 percent of the posters there complaining about it are white. Now they’re complaining about Aloy being a “white savior”. The fucking irony.
Yep. Most people who freak out about this type of shit are white as hell
 

Yoboman

Member
Following that to a T like Horizon though? It's just too formulaic. People liked BOTW because you weren't chasing points. Your discoveries where purely because you saw something cool in the distance or decided to scale a random peak that caught your eye. RDR2? The world felt alive, with surprise wildlife and random side quests spawning out of the blue on the way to a quest (also, fantastic story that kept you interested; don't get me wrong, I still have my problems with this game). Witcher 3? Chasing points and similar quest structure for sure, but the story, characters, and writing were so good they're kept you playing to the point of carrying the whole damn game. Bethesda games? Carried by mods and fan imagination (for me).

There has to be an element of true exploration and unpredictability to open world games to keep them truly engaging. HZD never had that, and reviews make it sound like the second doesn't either.

Don't get me wrong. No fanboyism. Bloodborne was my game of the gen. I truly wanted to like the first game (I forced myself to the end trying to get it to click), and I want the second to win me over. I've been following Aloy's voice actress since I was a teen. I can truly call myself a fan (she had a 10/10 comedy web series at the time I adored), so you know there isn't any bias when I say this (I also don't believe in loyalty to ANY corporation or system; they don't give a shit about you): HZD was mediocre. World design, story, writing, combat, quest design, aesthetic, characters, all of it. Nothing was stand out. Some of it was straight up sub par. I'll never understand how it found an audience that praises it, but I guess that's just how perspective and opinions work. It's barely better than an AC game, and there are even AC games I've enjoyed more than HZD.
I dunno about all that. I'm finally playing through Zero Dawn the first time and have definitely been just organically discovering things all over the map. New quests, hidden dungeons, new creatures to take down

You can definitely play it as a checkpoint to checkpoint game, but you can do that in BOTW as well.
 
Following that to a T like Horizon though? It's just too formulaic. People liked BOTW because you weren't chasing points. Your discoveries where purely because you saw something cool in the distance or decided to scale a random peak that caught your eye. RDR2? The world felt alive, with surprise wildlife and random side quests spawning out of the blue on the way to a quest (also, fantastic story that kept you interested; don't get me wrong, I still have my problems with this game). Witcher 3? Chasing points and similar quest structure for sure, but the story, characters, and writing were so good they're kept you playing to the point of carrying the whole damn game. Bethesda games? Carried by mods and fan imagination (for me).

There has to be an element of true exploration and unpredictability to open world games to keep them truly engaging. HZD never had that, and reviews make it sound like the second doesn't either.

Don't get me wrong. No fanboyism. Bloodborne was my game of the gen. I truly wanted to like the first game (I forced myself to the end trying to get it to click), and I want the second to win me over. I've been following Aloy's voice actress since I was a teen. I can truly call myself a fan (she had a 10/10 comedy web series at the time I adored), so you know there isn't any bias when I say this (I also don't believe in loyalty to ANY corporation or system; they don't give a shit about you): HZD was mediocre. World design, story, writing, combat, quest design, aesthetic, characters, all of it. Nothing was stand out. Some of it was straight up sub par. I'll never understand how it found an audience that praises it, but I guess that's just how perspective and opinions work. It's barely better than an AC game, and there are even AC games I've enjoyed more than HZD.
I’m not a fanboy in the slightest I just thought horizon was great - the first one. The combat was satisfying, the story was good, the graphics were great, it was fun - I loved BOTW as well, it was better than horizon - but honestly feel horizon was my fave open world game of last gen behind BOTW. Liked it better than god of war. Perhaps RDR2 is right with it as well. I also liked halo infinite a lot too tho so what do I know. I just like games to be fun really
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
My rule of thumb is simple.

Can I blur my eyes, view the TV from far away, watch with periphery vision and confuse the sequel with the first game?

I couldn't do it with Perfect Dark (Goldeneye)

I can do it with Forbidden West (Zero Dawn)

This results in a NO SALE from me. I still think Guerilla is a talented studio and I expect a much better game from Horizon III. Plus, now we can start the marketing roll out to their multiplayer only game.

Will be interesting to see how this one fares in terms of sales.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
My rule of thumb is simple.

Can I blur my eyes, view the TV from far away, watch with periphery vision and confuse the sequel with the first game?

I couldn't do it with Perfect Dark (Goldeneye)

I can do it with Forbidden West (Zero Dawn)

This results in a NO SALE from me. I still think Guerilla is a talented studio and I expect a much better game from Horizon III. Plus, now we can start the marketing roll out to their multiplayer only game.

Will be interesting to see how this one fares in terms of sales.
Then no game will ever feel like a step up to you.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Then no game will ever feel like a step up to you.

Correction: "Few sequels will ever feel like a step up to you."

Also, as I said, I'm much more optimistic about Horizon III, which will certainly signify a bigger departure for the series considering both the criticisms of Forbidden West and the shedding of PS4 hardware.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Correction: "Few sequels will ever feel like a step up to you."

Also, as I said, I'm much more optimistic about Horizon III, which will certainly signify a bigger departure for the series considering both the criticisms of Forbidden West and the shedding of PS4 hardware.
No I stand by what I said, I mean except if a sequel of a more than 10/15 years old game come out you will never see the difference.And it will stay that way no matter the plaform you'll play on.By your logic Halo infinite doesn't look better than the first halo (or the forza series depending on your tastes).Because from the 360/ps3/wii era we've had games that could pass as photorealistic once blurried (that part is important).
Maybe you are hopefull for Horizon 3 but if there isn't a massive change in gameplay or main character, by your logic it will look just like Zero dawn too.
 
Top Bottom