This in only the 4th game I have ever played very far into it on my PS4. I am a late adopter of technology because I don't like paying $60 for a game (although I will likely break this rule for Cyber Punk 2077.)
I picked up Horizon Zero Dawn for around $15 or so because it is several years old and after playing it all the way through I have my final things to say about this game.
Pro: Graphics are incredible
The graphics in this game are just jaw-dropping. Everything is so fluid and crisp, and the environmental effects such as rain, snow, night, and day make a very real difference on how combat takes place.
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it can prove very difficult to find your enemy in a downpour
The enemies are nicely animated and the surroundings are ominous and varied. The scorched earth landscape is wonderfully and realistically represented in every scene that you encounter. This might be one of the most beautiful games ever made and I haven't noticed any framerate drops because of it either.
Con: A lot of the map is a bit pointless
The map is absolutely massive and thank goodness that fast-travel is a part of gameplay or I think most people would have given up quite early on. Believe it or not, the original map was going to be many times the size of this one, but it was scaled back in beta.
Each one of those green and white icons on that map indicated a different "quest" area of sorts and don't get me wrong, i like a big game. The problem i have with it is that the overall story doesn't even go to a lot of these areas and they are just there for the sake of being there. I don't know if this was making space for DLC that never happened or what, but a lot of the time you are just walking walking walking for a loooooong time.
Pro: Incredible storyline
What good are great graphics and controls if the story is dumb? This was a real problem (among many others) with Final Fantasy 15 and a wide array of other games out there.
The story in HZD is captivating right from the very start where you live in among a tribe of very primitive people who don't really have much idea as to why there are machines everywhere. It seems a bit dumb until the story is gradually revealed to you over time. Also, a lot of the story is completely up to you if you want to learn it or not as there are various "voice logs" that you find as you progress though the game.
In virtually every game that I have played in my adult life I would have completely bypassed all of this extra information but in HZD i found myself actually becoming engrossed in the story because it is truly impressive. Whoever did the overall story for this game deserves and award.... they may have gotten one.
PS: I have been intentionally vague about the story because you really should experience it for yourself!
Con: Combat and scenarios are quite repetitive
While you do go on a wide array of quests (many of them optional) the overall methods that are used in combat don't really change throughout the game. You get all of the weapons fairly early on and your use of these items don't really change a great deal as the game progresses. There are a few not-so-subtle tactics that work on literally every enemy you encounter and while it is still fun, it get a bit... dare I say.... boring.
With machines you use a certain type of arrow that knocks off their armor and then hit them with the normal arrows, with human enemies you go straight for the normal arrows (these are not the correct terms), if you have time you set up some traps and lure your enemies into said traps. That's pretty much all there is to it.
Perhaps i am being too picky here because I don't know how they could have made it better. The elemental effects (fire, cold, electric) could play a part, but when i fiddled around with those aspects there was no noticeable difference in how effective the tactics were, so i figured i would just keep it simple.
Overall consensus
I mentioned 2 pros and 2 cons, but honestly, this is one of the most perfect kind of open world games I have ever played. There are tons of optional side quests but you are not required to do any of them. Despite the repetitive combat, the overall story and the fact that you do have the option of going for stealth kills if you want keep the gameplay varied enough to hold your interest.
The story is the big winner here and when new "chapters" of the overall story are revealed it is something that has you genuinely on the edge of your seat (in my case I had to literally be on the edge of my seat sometimes because the controller battery was dying.)
This game is on the way out and therefore is regularly for sale for very little money. It is possible to play it casually and at a slow pace although since it does use ALL of the buttons, you might need to refresh your memory after putting it down for a few days and this is easy to do since you can fast travel back to noob-land anytime you feel like it.