Horizon Zero Dawn: Initial Impressions

I purchased Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition on January 8th, and almost immediately upon playing it, I regretted my purchase.
Aloy, the protagonist, is ugly. She's ugly as a child, and she's ugly as a teen, adult, or however old she is. I appreciate that she is a female protagonist, but I have no feelings towards her whatsoever. With Tomb Raider, I felt an instant connection to Lara Croft because she was strong, and yet vulnerable. Aloy, even as a child, does not evoke my pity. Even when she is bullied, she doesn't cry, and instead acts like a barbarian in a child's body with very little emotion.

Horizon is designed like many other AAA games these days. There is a hand-holding tutorial although they do try to disguise it. It is very linear, and there is very little interactivity with the environment early on. Perhaps I've been spoiled by Breath of the Wild, but I prefer the latter's approach to game-design. The game gives you a lot of credit and allows you to wander off, get lost, and explore. Horizon feels like a game designed in the vein of Uncharted, Tomb Raider, and The Last of Us, without Uncharted's cinematic setpieces, Tomb Raider's great protagonist, or The Last of Us's immersive storytelling. It also has the same camera-angles as those games.

Horizon goes for a realistic graphical engine spiced with a fantastic flourish with its robotic animals in a post-apocalyptic world, but the effect does not appeal to me. It's weird, but I surprisingly prefer Breath of the Wild's hand-drawn, artistic style. I don't care how many polygons and pixels Horizon pushes; it is simply not as aesthetically pleasing as Breath of the Wild.

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