More Horizon! Whoop!

 Alexander best be weeping right now.

The Sony of today is a very different beast to the one that lumbered up to the Industry back in the days of the Nintendo 64, and indeed a very different beast to most other console manufactures in history. I say that not just because of their success in the face of all the competition of today, but because of their aura of exclusivity they've successfully managed to establish for themselves and their rule through the supremacy of the software on offer even when their hardware falls just that hair's breadth behind. They've proven that at the end of the day games make a platform, a lesson that has rubbed off poorly on pretenders like EA (who ended up having to sell their games on Steam after they realised no one wanted to use their god awful launcher) and Ubisoft (same deal). And though it's not entirely accurate if we start cutting precisely into dates and what launched when, in my mind the very first serious move in this direction of funding solid exclusive games starts with the title 'Horizon: Zero Dawn'.

In many ways Horizon sounds like the sort of game that would be summoned up for a tech demo; given enough of a life to justify the eye-popping visuals on screen, and then dumped into the forgotten pile despite how interesting it might have looked. Because I mean just think about it; a post human world ruled by robotic dinosaurs that you have to fight with a futuristic mechanised recurve bow and can ride!? That's some next level crazy stuff that feels like it was invented just to survive a pitch meeting rather than to make it all the way to retail and survive a ribbing from the public. And yet whoever came up with this idea was serious enough about it to get it realised into an actual game that, whilst looking very much like a tech demo, is an honest-to-goodness complete game! I know that sounds weird- gushing over the fact that Horizon Zero Dawn is actually playable- but it's just not how I've been programmed to expect new games to work. 

Typically you start off with an interesting sounding idea that gets delineated down into "what we can do", until the idea itself begins withering away and your left with a sanitised product. I have no doubt that Horizon went through that exact same process, but amazingly on the otherend I believe it must have kept it's wild soul. And it was more for the better the game remained as much of a spectacle as it did, because Zero Dawn ended up reinforcing the values that would go on to define Sony, or at least their game studio branch, for the better part of the next decade. Cinematic-level storytelling, top tier fidelity, fun gameplay loops and never going for the easy path. Although that last one is perhaps a little bit of lip-service because nearly all of Sony's first party extravaganza games have been third person action adventures. (Why not make a blockbuster rhythm action sidescroller Sony? What are ya- scared?) The only negative in my eyes regarding Horizon, beside the terrible human AI that always accompanies games in which humans are a 'side enemy', would be the fact that Sony really didn't do a good job keeping the spirit of this game alive when the developers had no more content to put out.

When Horizon was coming out you would see it advertised everywhere, Sony was singing it from the rooftops, but then it launched and Sony immediately moved onto promoting the next thing. Zero Dawn had a life in the hands of those that bought it, but you wouldn't know it if you weren't a playstation player. (Especially not since you'd have to wait until the new decade to play it on PC. Geez, Sony, we get your 5 year old games now? How gracious of you...) They did the same 'promote then dump' for Horizon's big story DLC, and if I wasn't sure that Sony was just incompetent with how to market back then I'd assume they were actively trying to sabotage the game's success. What's the harm of keeping the ad campaign's going just a little bit past launch for those who didn't rock up day 1? Or are week one sales literally all that Sony cares about? (I say that facetiously in knowledge of the 'Days Gone' exec's assertions to that very truth.)

I can only assume that all my complaints will get completely laid to rest in the wake of the brand new Horizon entry; Forbidden West, which recently got an extensive gameplay demo during a Playstation Now event that I defiantly knew was coming and didn't rock up to as it was ending. (How the hell do people keep up with all these events? Do I need to get on some sort of mailing list or something?) So how does the new title shape up to the picturesque original now that we're on the verge of a new console generation and are pushing the old consoles part their limits? Unreal. Simply unbelievable what the team have managed to bring to life here. I'm being honest when I say that from a purely graphical level, I'm not sure I expected graphics to get this stupidly realistic. LOOK AT THE WATER! I know, I'm sounding like a madman again but you don't understand, digital water is impossible to get right. Not just to make it move realistically but even to be stationary. (Which makes sense, water is by nature never still.) That's simply because our minds can instantly point out the fakeness from something we see so often- but this game has waves. Waves! Water physics that dynamically react to environmental input too. No one needed to do that (and I'll bet it's largely absent for the inexplicable last gen versions of the game) but they did it anyway. Because they could. Another reason why I'll always consider Horizon 'the little Tech Demo series could'.

Of course, this game isn't all about graphical fidelity, (I mean that's a lot of it though) there's actual gameplay here to. The demo acts as a handy tour through what you can expect out of the game and, providing the final product plays as this footage shows which we know is absolutely not a given, then we'll probably have another game-changer entering the Sony Game Studios Pantheon. One thing I've noticed, and I'm unsure how genuine this is, is that there's a lot of crossover between story and dynamic gameplay moments. For example, early on we see Aloy being chased by several robotic enemies whom she seems to react to even as she's escaping despite the fact that the player could feasibly stop and kill them. Is this going to be a scripted moment where you literally can't beat them and have to run, or is the game going to be littered with these little moments going above and beyond where the game, and specifically the voice acting, reacts to your actions? (I'm leaning towards the latter as The Last of Us Part 2 and the Spiderman games already established that design philosophy heavily.) There's also a moment later where the player tames a creature in gameplay and then rides it into a cutscene in which it is shown.

Then there's the bossfight to end the demo, because of course Sony and Guerrilla games wanted to end with the showstopper that would make my computer weep to even think about rendering. After losing points to some serviceable but ultimately mediocre cutscene cinematography which is, at this point, unworthy of the game around it; Horizon demonstrates how it looks and flows it's best in action: a stark contrast to the state of games when I was teenager, that's for sure... The fight against the tusked elephant beast is simply epic, like something out of a sci-fi retelling of Lord of the Rings. (Although these beasts are nowhere near as large as the Mûmakil, in fairness.) I adore the way that parts of the robot are stripped off in the ruckus, the way that Aloy fires a sticky arrow that genuinely appears to gum up the thing's mechanics dynamically and I even love the way the thing attacks. Shooting the ground in front of you with a sustained beam and then raking across the land at you- it's just that little bit individualistic and atypical, using lasers to simulate the actions of tasks scrapping the ground. And if this is just what they want to tease in the first gameplay showcase, I shudder to think what the full game might hold.

I speak so adoringly of Horizon despite the fact, as veterans might have picked up on my terminology faux pas' here and there, never having actually played the original. That's right, never owned a PS3 or 4 and thus didn't have the opportunity to enjoy this game to the fullest. (I've still played it, just briefly and not as much as I wished to) I celebrate anyway because, as the saying goes, a rising tide raises all ships; and a game willing to up-the-bar like this is going to touch the rest of the industry. It might not prostate itself all over the new technological horizons like some of the next-gen exclusives do, but it regardless teases a level of developing excellence in most areas that can be translated to all projects, big and small. Next gen blockbusters or small time indie projects. It's games like this that remind us how the details matter in making something truly, grossly, incandescent, and several years down the line I hope to finally get a chance to see what all the fuss is about first hand rather than just standing longingly at the gate.