Is Horizon Zero Dawn the Best Open-World Action Game We've Seen in Recent Years?

Is Horizon Zero Dawn really better than all of the recent, blockbuster, open-world action games that have come out in recent years?

[thorstein]

Yes.

Up next: Is snow cold?

[Cmv38]

No, snow is mildly temperate.

/sarcastic.

[darthv72]

It really is quite interesting seeing players (below) bicker over what is or is not the better game. Why not all just accept that you can agree to disagree. Some like HZD, others the Witcher 3 and even those who like GTA. There is no right or wrong answer because it is all personal opinion.

[Why o why]

Yep. . Some people prefer lamb chops, others steak. . . There is no wrong preference. .

[Elimin8]

@ Why o why....

Lamb chops is better. Just saying. :)

[thorstein]

@darth...

Truly bizarre. Who the hell mentioned Witcher 3? And why wouldn't I love that as well?

WTF, hateboys, get off the hatewagon and enjoy some games.

[Grap]

While the game is good, definitely not better than The witcher 3, GG done very good job in their first open world.
I can see GG take a lot of notes from CDProjekt which is good thing.

[G20WLY]

They did more than that, mate, they took some staff too. :^)

[bluefox755]

The action in Horizon is objectively better. I guess it depends what you're looking for in a game if you're to determine which is better for you.

[Genuine-User]

"Is Horizon Zero Dawn the Best Open-World Action Game We've Seen in Recent Years?"

No. Horizon is THE best open world action RPG of all time.

[ForeverTheGoat]

Ummm no lol

[meka2611]

Yea no way is that true. Horizon is a great game but still has problems like any other game.

[morganfell]

"...still has problems like any other game."

Really? I have seen some games recently get all 10s. If they didn't get a 10 the the offending site was DDOSed. I guess those games are PERFECT and have absolutely no issues, right? Hence the 10...

Just goes to show you the worthlessness of game opini...errr...I mean reviewers.

[meka2611]

Umm no what I'm saying is no game is perfect I don't agree with any review that says a game is perfect.

[morganfell]

Since by your own admittance no game is perfect, you must realize that still does not prevent a game from being the best in its genre. It does not have to be perfect to be the best in its field. It is why your initial remark did not make sense. You are stating that the reason it wasn't the best was because it had problems like any other game. How does having issues as do all games stop a title from coming out ahead? See?

How does having issues prevent a game from being better than all other games in its field that by your own admission also have issues? Had you stated it wasn't the best because it had MORE issues than other games then that would have been a qualifier for your remark. But in its current form it does not pass muster.

[UnSelf]

Best open world game? I'm as addicted to hzd as the next man but GTA 5 has that title bar none

[Bathyj]

I can honestly say I havent been this excited about a game in years, and to have such high hype levels and have them not just met but exceeded, does not happen that ofter in a generation. Probably the Last of Us was the last time.

Gameplay is the real star here. The combat is incredible. The controls are so tight and fluid. The tactical nature is something Ive never seen in an open world game and a game could be based on that alone, even without the RPG and exploring stuff.

But you cant ignore the graphics. 2 weeks in, Im still running around and stopping to look at every new thing I see. 500 screen shots and over an hour of video in photomode. Some are really gorgeous and very art. This games graphics are staggering.

And the apparent weak point before release, the story, has actually turned out really well. I was avoiding story missions a lot to stretch the game out, but once I got to a certain spot, I was really hooked and wanted to know what happens next. The pacing is really good and the world is so intriguing. And I really like Aloy, and lot of the randoms are pretty interesting too. Im normally not into all that stuff that much, its just a means to an end for me, but this game has been better than most.

I have a few niggles with the game, but they are all really petty. The negatives in this game against the positives are like a drop of water in a swimming pool. They are there, but they just get dissolved and overwhelmed by the rest of the water.

[johndoe11211]

I thought I was the only one that found the story to be excellent. I see a lot of people saying the story was ok but I really enjoyed it. I was really shocked when I found out what really happened.

[BigTrain]

I totally agree. Easily my game of the year so far and I don't expect it to be bumped from that spot. The debate between it and Zelda is endless and ultimately based on personal opinion but my opinion is if Zelda gets a 10 this should be right there with it. Games like Horizon keep me playing video games and Im definitely a senior in this hobby. Long live it!!

[UCForce]

That's right.

[pcz]

In an alternate universe where breath of the wild doesn't exist, maybbe

[DashArrivals]

Honestly. When I first started this game I thought it was a really great game. NOW, I'm like 45 hours in and it is the best open world game I've ever played in my life and I'm 35. I'm playing on Hard and I'm just having so much fun doing every single thing in this game. I just don't want it to end.

[ravens52]

Very hard isn't much harder I'm sure. I had a blast playing on very hard. I'll be beating it again soon enough

[DashArrivals]

Yeah. Once I start a game, I really try not to change the difficulty. I wish I had started on very hard... hell, maybe I should just change it to very hard... because 'hard' is kind of too easy.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I'm also playing on a hard and I could definitely say this game is easily my top 5 favorite open world RPGs I've ever played.

Right now it's up there with Skyrim and Fallout 3.

I love traveling to all the different regions in the game in seeing the different Landscapes and fighting the different robots I love the versatility of the character of being able to fight in stealth up close or being able to use a range of arrows as well as setting up a whole bunch of traps.

Traveling from point A to point B in this game is probably the best experience I've ever had traveline between locations and any open world game.

I actually enjoy the system they have set up for the crafting because you're never handed anything for free , you actually always need to have wood for your arrows, you need to kill animals to make your potions all the time and you always need the robot parts to continuously build your ammunition and material you need to continue in the game so every Arrow fight you get into you will was ammo and you will lose health so you always need to replenish on your travels by hunting and Gathering material.

They have a very nice system setup for this.

[KaoSouL]

It's OK... the gameplay was solid, the story not so much. Side quests were mostly boring and Aloy's delivery is pretty dull. There is also a lot of weird pauses during dialog sequence that make the game look like it was released before being fully polished.

I died 3 times on hard that I can remeber, twice from falling because the "path" wasn't apperant, and once from fighting the ThunderJaw in Cauldron ZETA before I was equipped to do so. After I beat it I immediately sold it back to Amazon, no real replay value to it IMO.

[ASBO-5]

Sure dude, its your story tell it however you want

[Darkfist_Flames]

" twice from falling because the "path" wasn't apperant" LOL

[girevik]

His skillz are too good! Only died once bro! ;)

[trooper_]

You didn't play it, did you?

[Dragonscale]

Someone is salty.

[Ceaser9857361]

IMO Troll elsewhere next time..

[Bathyj]

So you fall over a lot. Sounds legit.

[UCForce]

Oh really ?

[DrierofLeaves]

Breath of the Wild?

[Wallstreet37]

You got switch? If so pm me and I'll add u. I got BOTW and I think Horizon is an all around more fun and better open world game. If you want to know why just read my post in this thread.

[The 10th Rider]

Zelda isn't really an action game, though. The biggest thing they have in common is the open world, but even those are vastly different. Both are great games and can exist on their own.

[Bjorn-c-blocker]

I think breath of the wild is a whole different beast. It is more like an adventure game with puzzles and action.
Let Horizon be the best at what it does and let Zelda be what it is and stop the Jim sterling fuelled crap. PS f jim sterling for trying to make console wars.

[BEASELY]

The butt-hurt surrounding Zelda is astounding. I felt like the first person that brought it up in this thread would have their head torn off.

Sad.

[TechnoGoat]

Yes.

[XStation4pio_Pro]

so far, yes.

[Darkfist_Flames]

compare to most recent empty open world games, and many new ips, this one managed to deliver, by simply having a fantastic gameplay and filling the map with both content and lore.

[psplova]

Best I've played in years, for sure (possibly the best ever, I'm 37). It marks my first platinum trophy, if that tells you anything.. Just couldn't get enough. I play a lot of open world games, they're my fav.. Most recently, before I started HZD, I was playing Yakuza 0 and Dying Light, both of which are awesome, but HZD stands apart even still..

[Der_Kommandant]

Yes!, along with The Witcher 3

[Liqu1d]

The Witcher 3 was better imo, but Horizon is definitely one of the best.

[mastiffchild]

Yeah, this obsession with what is "best" when its a matter of opinion puzzles me. In terms of its reception, technically, what it adds to genre, how well it refreshes tiring but necessary tropes, story, side quest and enemy variety and challenge then its certainly up there with the very, very best in its genre.

Its definitely at a disadvantage compared to both Witcher and Zelda purely because a lot of us gamers are already invested in Geralt and Links stories and worlds. It would be hard for me, and I love the game, to say HZD was empirically better than W3 or BotW or GTA(though thats kind of a different thing all round with that online)but Im happy enough to rank it up alongside them and add that next time out it could surpass them.

Without the baggage, good or bad, of previous entries a new IP just cant ultimately be.judged like this, not for me. I also dont think. Id want to proclaim either of the others "best" though, either. Just because I might prefer Hyrule as a setting shouldnt mean I have a reason to proclaim the newest Zelda the best open world action adventure/rpg, anyway. Just lucky that we are getting some amazing games across all platforms. Nier looks up there tome as well.

[Gatsu]

Yes.

[Hardiman]

Yes

[azizlksa]

Thats a bit too much. The game is fantastic but its not up there on par with witcher 3 or BOTW in terms of story, characters, world, ost, etc...

[UCForce]

That's because HZD is a new IP and it did well.

[Blu3_Berry]

I think it is. The one before that would probably be The Witcher 3 even though I have not played it myself, but going based off everyone's opinion on it I'm sure its a safe choice. Alot of Ubisoft's open-world games are good, but not amazing. Hope they will fix that with the upcoming Assassin's Creed but I'm not expecting them to.

The main problem with open-world games is that the developers tend to fill them will lots of useless over-padding collectibles and terrible fetch quests as side-missions. Horizon and Witcher 3 seem to have avoid that for the most part.

[jznrpg]

This and Witcher 3, both great games . You could argue one is better than the other but I enjoy both for what they are. If I had to pick one I'd probably go HZD because the world is unique, but both are great

[Corpser]

Is there another open world blockbuster action game released recently that's been called by many the best game of all time? Hmm

[Segata]

No Botw is.

[opinionated]

I'm only a few hours in but I liked witcher 3 more so far.

[bloop]

I have to say the game does take a while to get going. My first few hours in I thought it was really good, but when I got loose on the whole map and started discovering more about the world and it's lore through main missions it completely hooked me. I'm about 50% through so far so I can't say if it's better than the Witcher 3 yet. For me, it'll be very hard to top TW3 as I loved that game, but what I've played of HZD has been amazing so far and could be my favourite open world rpg if the rest of the game is as good as what I've played so far.

[opinionated]

Yeah I heard it takes awhile to get going. I thought the beginning of horizon was very slow. Too slow for my taste but I'm aware that it apparently gets better when it opens up. I'm just saying that so far I enjoyed witcher 3 more. I couldn't put that game down. The only reason I put horizon on the back burner is because I'm infatuated with nioh right now.

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

TW3 open world is much better imo.

[UCForce]

But HZD Combat is better to be honest. I remember people compare BloodBorne combat and Witcher 3 combat. And the result was quite clear that BloodBorne has much better.

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

when fighting machines yes I agree the combat is better but when fighting humans it's boring and repetitive. I love both games and both games do things well and not so well but as far as the world is concerned I still say TW3 is better.

[higgins78]

A Breath of the Wild say's HELLO.

[TKCMuzzer]

Yep, it says hello at average of 20 fps ;)

[The 10th Rider]

I don't think you know what the word 'average' means. Might wanna go look that up.

[higgins78]

Not an average of 30fps with small dips into 20fps as many performance tests have shown? I understand that would make the trolling a lot more difficult for you. Also, Bloodbourne, remember?

[MRMagoo123]

yup it says "HELLO" because of how far down it is , it has to yell to be heard by horizon zero dawn.

[higgins78]

A 97 according to Metacritic 'far don't? You must hail from Australia...

[DarXyde]

Horizon is great. If asked at point blank, I couldn't find much to gripe about, if anything.

That said, I still think The Witcher III and Breath of the Wild are better. It's not about performance; Horizon really beats both games in terms of performance. Put simply, I just enjoy the lore and gameplay more than Horizon. Given the climate of this site, I expect most would beg to differ and I'm cool with that. Totally not an authority on what makes a game better than another, but yeah, even though I can name complaints around The Witcher III and Breath of the Wild, I just enjoy them more for their fun factor.

[Trez1234]

I hear you. I personally personally think Nier automata is better than all of them but those are top quality games and very different in a way that I think it comes down to personal taste and what you prefer in your games.

[DarXyde]

Nier is rad. I've been putting in time here and there. I haven't made any progress whatsoever though because I put it on very hard and every time I get somewhere, I get hit and then I lose all of my progress. I'm pretty obstinate.

Totally agree though, they're all great games. Three months in and this year has been incredible.

[FanMan]

I personally think that horizon has the best gameplay out of all three. Very few games have more exhilarating fights.

[DarXyde]

Thunderjaws make for a pretty great battle.

They go down pretty easily after you get it down to a science.

[Wallstreet37]

Best open world RPG period IMO. Things it does better than most or all rpgs...

Dense, alive and full world with enemies around every corner. If I wanted to play a walking simulator I would buy one. If I wanted to fight same enemies over and over I have almost every other open world game for that.

Sidequests actually are fun and not just bs fetch quests.

Story actually has you intrigued and not full of just tons of boring dialogue like the Witcher.

Combat isn't just some ballerina nonsense that doesn't feel like your accomplishing anything, this combat is oh so goodddd.

Weapons are original and have strategy solo or when combined.

Music is great

Fun all around. Instead of feeling like a repetitive open world that's just big, full of nothing meaningful, it feels like a focused linear game with the freedom.

My favorite game so far this year and I've played Witcher 3, Zelda, etc

[SkippyPaccino]

It's definitely addicting! The only time I stopped playing it was to try out Zelda (which is also very good, but is on the backburner till I'm tiered of Horizon)

I'm probably a good 20 plus hours into Horizon and I'm just starting to see the strings and it hasn't turned me off (usually when I can see the strings I tend to lose interest) There's something about this game that I can't put my fingers on it. It plays by the same rules as other popular open World franchises, but does it in a flawless way. You can see they could've pushed the envelope more, but instead focused on certain things and perfected them. I applaud this, because we know if there's a second one they'll have room to grow.

[Maxor]

As a master race PC gamer with a 1080 GTX, I'm not easily impressed. But this PS4 Pro version of this game blew my mind. The graphics are fantastic and I love how the game strike the perfect balance of action and RPG in way that even The Witcher 3 failed to achieve. I'm just disappointed in the 30 FPS and how the game allow casuals to cheese achievements by switching the difficulty to easy with impunity.

[Kingdomcome247]

I'm playing on hard, but with there not being a trophy for beating the game on hard, there have been a couple of times where I've briefly considered dropping the difficulty a notch, but I'm enjoying the challenge too much to do it. Even if it means that I miss out on a few trophies.

[Maxor]

I usually play all open world games on max difficulty simply because they are by nature, extremely easy to face roll to the point of boredom. I started Horizon out at very difficulty and was extremely happy to find that the game is perfectly tuned for this difficulty. Hopefully, the devs will change their stance and provide their hardcore fanbase with the corresponding trophies.

[ShadowKnight]

Witcher 3 had a dozen of memorable characters. But Horizon is good though

[TKCMuzzer]

There is to much in Witcher 3, it turned me off. I don't have endless hours of time and Horizon gets the balance right. Plus Horizon is more action as well, so kept it entertaining. To much plodding and conversion just drags games down for me.

[TheOptimist]

Developers really can't please everyone truly. Complaint for too much content registered.

[JayPi3]

Yes, Along with with BOTW and Witcher 3 which imo are better in everything outside of performance. That said I know anything other than "Yes" will probably get downvoted here.

[TKCMuzzer]

No it won't. Horizon offers a better inbetween with great action sequences and just about the right exploring whilst delivering in a top notch technical standard. In fact, Horizon to me is a great action game in an open world with RPG elements thrown in to enchance the experiience, which for people like myself is a great combination, saving me from getting bored, which is what Witcher 3 did, there was just to much in that game that was to much for my available game time.

[JayPi3]

That's fair, I respect your opinion and I can really see your point, Witcher 3 did get overwhelming, and while I liked it a bit more, Horizon does seem better paced in the sense that it never gets too exhausting. I think in that Regard it's better than Witcher 3.

[Stronk]

Even though I enjoy TW3 and BotW more, Horizon is definitely up there.

[TeamIcoFan]

Don't say that too loud, the Zelda fanboys might ddos your site. :X

[showtimefolks]

These articles make no sense not like gamers can come to an agreement

[InTheLab]

When I scale up a mountain and turn around and look at where I came from, it's amazing. The closes game with a map like horizon is far cry and even that game doesn't come close in terms of detail and locations.

[ravens52]

Indeed

[StormLegend]

Yes

[YEP414]

Hell naw!! It's not even be sold near GTA or MAFIA out of 70 million PS4 you fan boys don't buy games

[corroios]

New Ip with dinobots in a open world. Hell yeah.

[dmonee]

Not unlike the witcher 3, I found Horizon a little while to get going. Once it does though, the game is addictive and great. Some of the side missions are a chore, but I got hooked on grabbing all of the collectibles. Especially the power cores for the secret something. Anyone still wondering, it's not GTA, and it's not trying to be a clone of that either. GTA is a totally different style., I didn't find it as deep as the witcher 3. But, I would say, it's on par if not better then, Far Cry: Primal... which I found it to be similar to.

[Vizigoth04]

So when I rebooted the game to get a better grip of the game it skipped the introduction with Aloy as a baby. If there was a way to skip to when she is an adult then most of the slow portion is behind you in my opinion.

[Aenea]

In my opinion: yes!

[sampson3121]

yes

[strangerthings1995]

-The main story is on the same level of batshit crazinesss as Black Ops 3 and that is not a compliment by any stretch of the imagination
-The characters' lip sync is possibly the worst I've ever seen since next gen consoles released
-The side quests have absolutely no soul to them
-About as close to no character customization as it gets other than a few goofy outfits
-Fast Travel loading times are horrendous even on my PRO
-When you manage to override a machine to mount, the transportation process is really clunky and not very satisfying
-WHY THE HELL CAN'T WE FLY A F-IN STORMBIRD GUERILLA GAMES?

Now when you stack this game up against a true classic like GTA V, it looks quite shitty:
In GTA V:
-You actually have a real plot that goes somewhere
-You have endless customization to any 3(4 including online) characters including haircuts,apparel,facial features,weapons.In Horizon you get a few outfits to choose from and that's it ,nothing else to customize..NO VARIETY
-You can customize vehicles to your liking and keep them forever.This includes planes,helicopters and boats as well as cars.Whereas in Horizon you just get a clunky machine and that's literally it..NO VARIETY
-Transportation is actually smooth and satisfying.Or you wait like 15 seconds for a taxi ride to the other side of the map opposed to waiting 90 seconds to go half the distance in Horizon.GTA V has just as much detail to load in.

I understand this is Guerilla Games' first shot at an open world game and it was quite impressive for a first try.But I can't help but wonder why this game is so highly regarded as if it's one of the all-time greats.A word I used a lot was "variety" and this game really lacks it when it comes to actual gameplay. The environments have wonderful variety and look really impressive at least.

[ShadowWolf712]

The heck are you on about, the story was nothing like Black Ops 3. It was also great.

Side quests have plenty of soul too.

[guyman]

You actually have a real plot that goes somewhere

Horizon has a plot too, and it goes somewhere.

-You have endless customization to any 3(4 including online) characters including haircuts,apparel,facial features,weapons.In Horizon you get a few outfits to choose from and that's it ,nothing else to customize..NO VARIETY

What? Horizon isnt a fully fledged rpg but it DEFINITELY has stronger rpg elements than GTA V. Horizon's gameplay is also light years better than GTA V and has a more enjoyable Open world as a result.

You can customize vehicles to your liking and keep them forever.This includes planes,helicopters and boats as well as cars.Whereas in Horizon you just get a clunky machine and that's literally it..NO VARIETY

Try again later, Horizon is not GTA V and is not vehicle orientated, GTA V is vehicle orientated, horizon is not. This is not even a valid point. Nice try though.

"Transportation is actually smooth and satisfying.Or you wait like 15 seconds for a taxi ride to the other side of the map opposed to waiting 90 seconds to go half the distance in Horizon.GTA V has just as much detail to load in"

Now this is a load of Bullshit. Here's where the credibility of your argument fell off the rails. There arent 90 second load times, not even close.

. A word I used a lot was "variety" and this game really lacks it when it comes to actual gameplay. The environments have wonderful variety and look really impressive at least.

good lord.. this game has a TON of variety in gameplay, more options than most you'll play.. have you even played this game? you have a wide arsenal of weapons that provide a variety of combat scenarios. It's clear you dont know what you're talking about

[dmonee]

I get it. All of it. The game is not perfect by any stretch. However! What you are stating here are things that you want to see in the game that it currently does not have. I think back to the original Assassins creed and Shadows of Mordor. Both of those games had a solid foundation but left you wanting more, as does Horizon. Assassins creed 2, to me, was what I wanted the original to me. The new Shadows of War coming out already seems like it is going to be what people wanted Shadows of mordor to be. It wouldn't surprise me if we are flying on top of beasts in the next installment of horizon!

[GNCFLYER]

Yes it is. This is my word and is beyond comtestation.

[Kingdomcome247]

I'm absolutely enthralled with Horizon: Zero Dawn. I haven't touched another game since I picked it up on the 27'th. I have about 70 hours into the game, and I just now truly got into Carja territory, outside of Daytower, and I'm on the quest titled, City of the Sun, where I'm supposed to go to Meridian. I still have 7 machines that I haven't encountered, and I just fought a Thunderhawk, and a Trampler. This game continues it's steady ascent up my all-time favorite games list, and is really starting to give The Witcher 3 a run for it's money, as my favorite open world game of this generation. There's very little within the game thus far that I can find fault with. The game's execution is brilliant, and nearly flawless from top to bottom. I want to discover everything that the game has to offer, and don't want to rush, but right now I'm just trying to finish it before Mass Effect drops next week.

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

I can give you two flaws off the top of my head. Enemy A.I. Is a joke when using stealth. I kill bots from the bushes right in front of other bots and they still don't see me. The human battles are boring and repetitive, with little to know tactics required unlike fighting machines.

[uth11]

I don't know about that, but it's the best one I've played this year

[lorenzen43]

Man this website hates nintendo...Breath of the Wild is obviously better this is the standard click bait.

But Witcher 3 is better than both.

[ILostMyMind]

Maybe you hate Sony.

[R00bot]

Reviews for Breath of the Wild put it at a much higher average score. Agreeing with the consensus isn't hating a company. Horizon is a great game although I'd place Zelda over it anyday.

[ILostMyMind]

@R00bot
Of course you will, look at your avatar.

Those reviews are full of hype and nostalgia. But also does not matter, it's just his opinion, your and mine on different games on different platforms. Our personal evaluations on games we will not play are zero. Magazines with this type of publication only want clicks. As for consensus ... what consensus?

[demonddel]

Quit playing playstation fans you guys is trolling

[Deathdeliverer]

I say this.
Witcher 3 had a ton of stuff to do and personally that was part of the problem. It's MMOs with less side quest and general stuff to do than the witcher. You WILL get burnt out before you beat the game unless you put beating the game as a priority. Combat in the witcher gets stale as hell and your excitement comes from the occasional severed body part. You get everything you will be able to do in combat at the start of the game. As big as the skill tree seems it simply makes the stuff you have been doing hit harder with zero added effect. Several meaningful characters and good voice acting.

BotW is excellent and a part of my love comes from playing it on the switch. Enemy variety is poor to say the least. Some are harder than others to beat but it's generally because the enemy is better equally equipped, not because it's doing anything different. The game also would have benefited tremendously from having traditional dungeons in addition to everything it already has. That honestly ends BotW gripes. They monster variety is outshone by the ways you can dispatch them. Get a enemy to shoot/hit a cuckoo. Roll logs off hills, rocks off mountains, pick up a metal slab and drop it on a enemy. Hell, discard a sword and pick it up with magnetism. Then swing it from a distance and kill enemies. It's not even a fraction of what you can do but this is simply what I've found. I've blown a arrow back at a enemy. The side quest, while many, are pretty cool.

Horizon is just like Zelda. Enemy variety is bigger than Zelda but still kinda small. The joy is the hunt. How will you use this variety of skills and weapons, each with its pros and cons, to take out a beast more formidable than the last. When one was hell, how do you approach two? So far the ThunderJaw is like fighting a damn Gundam as it's armed to the teeth. Lasers, missles, guns, and a damn radar. I've killed it exactly zero times in two attempts and I've barely made it away. I'm playing on Very Hard and it is beyond worth it. Side quest are a mix between really cool and meh with a great slant towards cool. One side quest had me searching for a guy and when I found him, something else found me. I've yet to see this enemy in the wild and I've got a bit more than half the map cleared. Is it a exclusive enemy? Maybe not, but so far it's cool that it isn't common. The graphics add greatly to immersion, the combat is a blast, the voice acting is great, and the skill tree abilities are impactful. They really change up how you can approach the next battle. At the same time I wish the skill tree was bigger and it's maybe 2 things that I think should have been basic skills Ally starts with.
In closing all 3 are excellent games but Horizon is first. (Which is weird to say) BotW is second ( Pulling the Master Sword out will always be the coolest moment in video games, no matter the Zelda game) and The Witcher is 3rd. ( I'd also put RDR ahead of the Witcher) And GTA is a lot of fun, and is laugh out loud funny at times, but it has the depth of the kiddie pool. Let's be honest.

[Razzer]

I loved The Witcher 3. It was awesome. It was a great story and a great world.

Horizon Zero Dawn is better than The Witcher 3, imo.

[UCForce]

For me, it is.

[Clown_Syndr0me]

The game is brilliant. But it isn't as good as The Witcher 3 for me. I just love all the side quests and interesting stories that I get lost in for hours on end.

[Firebird360]

In my opinion botw is currently the best open world action game.

[Sevir]

you gotta love the insecure, they have to mention something else... how did BOTW or Witcher 3 get dragged in...

It's 2017 who the hell is talking about a game that released in 2015? And how on earth are People comparing this to another Zelda game?

Unrelated..

HDZ is a beast and honestly is this year's Star...

[R00bot]

BoTW and the Witcher 3 got dragged in because they are also contenders for best open world action game in recent years.
Given both have higher average review scores I'd say that it's fair to compare them to Horizon.

[covcha]

Yes.

[captainexplosion]

I'm playing both and I like Horizon much more. I'm not an open world RPG kind of guy, but damn Zelda is boring and ugly. I'm not very far in though.

[higgins78]

Reading some of the comments here, particularly those 'and I've played A Breath of the Wild', why do I not believe that they have - played Zelda? Simply put, because they haven't. It's glaringly obvious.

[C-H-E-F]

YES, up next does it rain on Earth.

[1908-PB]

i cant yes or no becuase it's all based on opinion, and mine is no it's not the best open world action game in recent years the witcher 3 takes that seat. and i know on this site there are many sony fans here who are going to say horizon is the best just becuase it's on their favorite platform but come on guys i'm a PS4 owner as well but dont be bias and just speak the truth, another thing i was reading some of the comments and i saw a few people saying horizon is better becuase the combat is more simple and i had to laugh becuase it's looks like any game that makes a console gamer scratch their heads is bad and i really do find people like that to be funny not in a good way that is.

[ALostVagabond]

I would say Nier:Automata tops HZD in terms of action, though in terms of worlds...I can't say much for HZD since I have yet to play that. In Nier:Automata the world is flawed by it's use of invisible walls at certain places that seem as though you could walk through. Besides those flaws, from a souls player perspective. The world is great in interconnecting, similar to that of Dark Souls 1's Firelink Shrine. As long as you avoid paying attention to invisible walls and think more about the art design and how the world connects; Nier:Automata 's world is not bad at all and in my opinion it's art direction makes sense.

[sampson3121]

like the way they put (ACTION) game in the title. It is the best open world game period.

[KillBill]

Oh wow... yet another webpage that is click bait material. Wanting you to click 7 pages just to read 1 page worth of material.

[dmonee]

It doesn't matter if Horizon has "this" or it doesn't have "that". Some people, me included are enjoying this game a lot, despite its flaws. All the flaws I have read about and have experienced are legit. Even with that said, the game is still incredibly enjoyable. I look forward to seeing how Guerilla games improves on this solid foundation of a game with either an expansion and/or straight up sequel in a couple of years