Guerrilla Games Wins Writers Guild Award For Outstanding Writing

GG : “Honored to have won outstanding achievement in videogame writing.

[ArchangelMike]

Congrats guys. You well deserved it. I loved how the story of the 'old world' was told, and I was just as interested in the characters in the back story, who were trying desperately to stay alive and out run the war. I wonder how a prequel game set during that apocalypse would play. I'd definitely buy it though :))

[robtion]

Yep it was a clever story in many ways. I really liked the justification for something as absurd as robot dinosaurs running around. They actually came up with a reasonable and kind of touching reason for it. Really cool.

[UCForce]

And this is where GG fixed their flaw. It’s story telling and they done it right in Horizon Zero Dawn.

[S2Killinit]

It was really a good story and one with a really profound message.

[PowerOfTheCloud]

@rob

This! Even though i was excited for the game from day one, i was worrying about how the f they would justify the existence of robot animals taking over the world.

[sampsonon]

@UCForce: "And this is where GG fixed their flaw"

flaw? i really enjoyed Shadow Fall's story even though Horizon has a better one. i would hardly call it a flaw though.

[madforaday]

@UCforce

Killzone 2 SP was another great SP story as well. I still think it is one of their best games they ever made! GG was never a top notch story teller, but it was never their flaw either.

[Razzer]

Absolutely deserved it. Great job!

[UCForce]

Well done, GG !

[MasterCornholio]

"Layden mentioned that at SCE Worldwide Studios there is a lot of “devotion and love” for storytelling, and narrative, what people call “single player games.” Sony has most of its eggs in that basket because — according to Layden’s opinion — “that’s the thing they do well.” "

So true.

Congratulations GG.

Single Player games are not complicated. They just need passionate developers behind them.

[UCForce]

I hope Sony will continue to do that. I always love Single Player games.

[madforaday]

Gaming is a very simple concept but for some reason, this generation and last generation, developers are trying to sell us on different things. All we want are games, MP or SP, to have a lot of content in it with great game play features and mechanics. We don't even NEED a great story, but a great story is a cherry on top that will add to everything else the game offers.

If Horizon Zero Dawn had an average video game story, the game would still sell great solely because of the combat and game play. If the game had a great story but with average combat and game play, the game won't even be looked at let alone being played with.

[opinionated]

Couldn’t get into Horizon but I like the developer. They seem like a cool group and I can see the reasoning behind what they did. I might give another go someday with fresh eyes, backlog mountain.

[LOGICWINS]

I bought Horizon, sold it, then bought it again when the Complete Edition came out. I like it a LOT more the second time around.

To fully enjoy the game you need to experiment with the weapons/inventory system.

[madforaday]

I was getting bored half way into the game (the story kept on pushing me to wanting to know everything). I also, never touched my weapons and had the same ones throughout my adventure. I started playing around with new weapons and bought some new ones. I farmed for better gear, that helped me out so much in that department. I was only skin deep with the combat.

[UCForce]

I see. Well, GG did developed this game since they shipped Killzone 3. Like what ? Almost 6 years. Besides, The game have created a new community.

[Eonjay]

What got me was the battle system. I did enjoy the story too but God the gameplay was awesome.

[S2Killinit]

You beat me to it. Really cool/fun gameplay. It had been a long time since i thoroughly enjoyed the fighting gameplay of a game to this extent

[pody]

It's sooo good! Talk about nailing it perfectly. (no pun)

[sampsonon]

i don't understand why people would give you a thumbs down for your comment. the first few hrs of the game are a little slow, even though i loved all of it, so i can see how some may not like it as much if they don't get to the core part of the story.
my advise would be to get to about the 15 hr mark for the story to start getting more interesting and play the game on a setting that makes it difficult when fighting because I've noticed while watching others playing it that if you play it where it's easy it can become less challenging. you need to challenge yourself and in turn the ride will simply be amazing.

[opinionated]

People downvote everything I say lol. They hate my guts here, it’s not what I said, it’s personal to them.

Yeah, that’s what I ran into. It was just really slow and I have way too many games to force myself through something. I will give it another try one day, for sure.

[sampsonon]

@opinionated: yeah, just play the main quest and do like said and it will get you up to the point where the story really gets moving. some incredible moments in this game that you will never experience in any other game.

[DialgaMarine]

Well deserved. Horizon’s story was phenomenal.

[pody]

5 people are absolutely idiots, or never played the game.

[DialgaMarine]

Some amazing people just choose to ignore greatness for the sake of some imaginary allegiance.

[FrostedFire]

Seriously? Horizon Zero dawn? Don't get me wrong the game was fine, and the story had surprising depth and good plot twists but the writing in the game was pretty bad , I.E almost all of the dialogue.

[Asuka]

But it was a great game tho, and the story was some of the best GG have ever produced. Telling a good narrative was always a problem for GG. Aside from a few questionable decisions on their multiplayer, the KZ games were always held back but its weak narrative. So in that respect it is well deserved as the studio has grown a lot over the years and the hard work shows there's no denying.

That aside after playing Nier Automata and getting to Ending [E], no other game in my recent memory can compare to how well the narrative was told. The story was something truly special and I can pretty much guarantee that I will never again experience anything like reaching Ending [E] for the first time... but this is just me personally how i feel.

[FrostedFire]

Yeah I know, I'm a big PlayStation fan and I've played all the killzones. The story had a lot of potential but they almost never delivered on it. That being said, you don't get an award for doing better than your previous work. I'm not hating on the game. I know a lot of people loved it and went as far as to call it a "master piece" which it is not. But I simply did not like it as much, especially the writing in the game, it was terrible.

[pody]

@Repjaws
You do not dictate if it's a masterpiece or not, the overall opinion does, and that opinion clearly says it is!

[ArchangelMike]

Dude, if The Writers Guild, are recognising and giving GG an award for the writing and story telling in Horizon Zero Dawn, then I think it's fair to say that it is well deserved. Hey, I'm just going on the assumption that the guys 'n gals at the Writer Guild have a little bit more experience that your fine self, when it comes to recognising good writing and story telling. Just saying.

No offence or anything....

[FrostedFire]

I love how people always side with awards when it's given to something they like but then totally against it when their favourite thing is snubbed. The writing in horizon zero dawn was absolute garbage. The only side quest I remember is the red maw one everything else is just repeating the last line of the previous dialogue. If it's getting an award fine, anyone can get an award these days, heck tomb raider got one for best narrative over the witcher 3 which made me almost gag on whatever I was eating at the time. Persona 5 has a great concept, a great story, great relatable characters but the dialogue is trash most of the times and I would be equally surprised if it won something for it's writing. Also that's such an unproductive position to take, "they know more than you therefore your opinion is invalid" it always baffles my mind whenever I see that on forums when discussing something highly subjective and less complicated like a writing in a game. Sure if it was nuclear science I would back off because I have no idea how I would debate that. So in the future, if you actually want to disprove someone, ask them what they don't like and talk about those points instead of going. Hurrrpp you're not on the commitee therefore they know more about it than you.

[Nyxus]

@ Repjaws: Okay, Horizon's writing is 'absolute garbage' and Persona 5's dialogue is 'trash'. I agree with Mike, if it was so bad it wouldn't be winning this award.

[Razzer]

I disagree. The writing was really good. The story was great. I don't see how it was "pretty bad".

[FrostedFire]

@Razzer

See that's a more mature way of replying to something you disagree with.

If you read my original comment I said that the story was actually surprisingly good with good twists and depth. But the writing surrounding that story was shit. The only interesting parts of the story were when they......SPOILERS............ ....?....?.??............ revealed what each component of the zero dawn did.
The side quests were dull. They tried going the witcher route where you scanned everything and followed a trail, basically a glorified trialling mission. Now you might say "well the witcher 3's side quests were great, yes, yes they were because it had story, it had consequences and it felt like a part of the world rather than just a check list, even though it had almost all the elements of horizon's side quest structure.

[Razzer]

I agree the side quests were not as compelling as Witcher 3, but very few are. The main story line in HZD was was intriguing and well thought out. It had interesting characters and a great plot. I’m not saying it was the best ever. I just don’t see how anyone can call it bad.

[ArchangelMike]

Hold up for a second, lets be mature as you have suggested and talk about subjectivity, since you've raised that issue in your reply. Don't you find it interesting that you are not questioning your own subjective position in light of the majority consensus? When there is a consensus - appointed committee or lay, it doesn't matter - the point is when there is a consensus of opinion held, it is no longer a fringe opinion, but can rightly be considered mainstream. In such a case it would be the outliers who would hold a subjective opinion and dissent from the mainstream consensus.

In lay man's terms - the consensus of opinion is that Horizon Zero Dawn is a great game with good writing and good story telling. Regardless of yours or my personal opinion, the majority view is that it's a great game with great story and writing. You can disagree with the quality of the writing in the game all you want, but you still have to accept the fact that you hold the minority view on that opinion; and since it is a minority view, and not the general consensus, it can rightly be questioned as being the incorrect view.

In simpler terms, popular opinion always wins the day.

[FrostedFire]

Lol, I love how you go on for a while about something I never said. I called the writing bad, to which your reply was "they're a comittee of writers and therefore your opinion is invalid" that's not what you said exactly, I'm clarifying that so you don't misunderstand me. However you did imply that. You're right, it can be questioned as being an incorrect view, however it does not equate it as such. I don't have a problem with it getting an award, it just surprised me, maybe my standards for writing involve the character asking questions that aren't the last sentence of another characters dialogue. I just find it irritating whenever people use their their credentials or someone else's credentials to dismiss an opinion. Sure that strengthens their position in the eye of the audience but it doesn't necessarily make their opinion right. Like my example above, Tomb Radier won best narrative over the witcher 3 and that surprised me because the writing in that game was atrocious and the plot very predictable. Now I want to make this clear again, that the game was fine, it kept me entertained. The varied beasts of zero dawn were pretty interesting to observe and beat, although the scanner giving all their weaknesses away with a quick scan hindered most of the fun in that department. But overall for me the game is somewhere between mediocre and good.

@Razzer

I said that the writing is bad, I never claimed that the game was bad.
Writing being bad =/ game being bad.

[Razzer]

Yes, I know. The writing was hardly bad. We won’t agree on this ever so....

[madforaday]

People like you, make it sound that video games have a high change to have great stories. There are tons of great videos games but most of them don't have a story at all or the story is just there. There are VERY FEW video games in general that have a great story. There are some cringe moments when you are talking to an NPC, especially one who isn't that important but you are nitpicking though.

You said it doesn't deliver, but yet, the game does in so many different ways, people want more story because of the first game. The lore was amazing as well. Just listening to one of data points or whatever, where someone is working at the place and he can't go home for Thanksgiving or Christmas let alone tell his family what he is doing.

Don't get me wrong, not everyone is going to like something but if you are complaining about a game that is winning awards and getting praised because of the story you have to think about ALL THE other games, with a "story". I am trying to think of games where the story was the reason to keep moving forward while the combat being fantastic.

[Pennywise138]

Almost done with Horizon and I think it's such an interesting concept for a story and well executed. I e heard some people say the story is weak but I'm thinking they are playing a different game.

[madforaday]

When people say the story is awful in Horizon Zero Dawn, I wonder what games they are playing. Don't get me wrong, not everyone will like a certain game but when people hate on something particular when the industry is seriously lacking in that category, you have to question that person. Two of the best games that came out recently, Mario Odyssey and Zelda BOTW, and in the beginning I had a hard time moving forward since there was no push because the lack of story. I was around 20 minutes in, and I have the main mission kill Ganon, I am like wait, what? Of course, there are memories and etc. but there is a lack of story there. Once again, both of those games are GOTY. When a developer makes a game with a great story AND combat it will/should get praise. We even say Far Cry 3 is a great story. In reality, it is a great story for a Far Cry game and it had a cool villain that we remembered (even though I am sure people don't remember the main Villain because I don't).

[NotanotherReboot]

Is this satire?

[mkis007]

They recognized a great story. You can have an opinion, but most people dont share it. The people who write for a living like it...maybe you need to rethink what makes a good story. It was great and this just backs it up. Glad they won.

[UCForce]

Still cynical about Horizon Zero Dawn. That’s low coming from you.

[MasterCornholio]

Are you mad?

[Legatus]

https://www.amazon.com/Equa...

Now now, there is no need to suffer, ease your pain.

[doos_vd_kak]

There is Still not an exclusive on xbox released this gen that comes close to Horizon zero dawn.

[Nyxus]

No, is your account? I would hope so because that would explain a lot.

[pody]

lol noob

[TheOttomatic91]

It's not allowed to win it had too much cultural appropriation 😡 /s

[chris235]

for someone who had never read a story before or watched a movie before it was a really fresh narrative and exciting story. i bet.

[pody]

Hollywood movies have such great writing and amazing stories to tell! /s

[madforaday]

That Skyscraper movie with Dwayne Johnson looks to be a GREAT story! I wonder what it will be about!?

[Xenophon_York]

The story is what set this game apart from all other titles this past year.

Story is king.

Happy they got recognized by major peers from the larger industrial picture.

[madforaday]

Story is NOT king! At least not in this industry. If Horizon Zero Dawn had bad combat but a great story (which it does), this game would barely get looked at since actually playing it wasn't fun. If this game had an average story like most video games, but amazing combat (which it does), it would still be played by a lot people still. That is the weird part when it comes to this industry. A game like Heavy Rain, heavenly (get it) relies on a great story. I think a lot of people were surprised at how well Heavy Rain did. That is an exception to the rule which every rule has.

[Xenophon_York]

Regardless how simple, before a game is made, a story must be told.

Story is king.

[madforaday]

Can you name a game that had a chance to be GOTY from the countless of sites that give them away that only had a great story and nothing else? I can names countless of games that had a bad/no story but great game play.

[Mr Marvel]

My GOTY last year and so far my Game of the Generation.
This is saying a lot considering the PS4 is in my top 3 consoles of all time.
The PS4's library is incredible right now and 2018 could possibly become their best year yet.

[pody]

I couldn't agree more. It's up there with The Last of Us for me and TLoU is one of the greatest games of all time!

[PsBoxGamer]

They did really good with it.They where smart to change or upgrade the writing department. They really did a good job!

[madforaday]

Do people forget how good Killzone 2 was, story wise? They showed the similarities of what is going on in today's world when the game came out in 2009 with the war. I just think it was a FPS at it's heart and that is what people saw first.

[Relientk77]

Horizon Zero Dawn's story is fantastic. Well deserved win for Guerilla Games.

[sampsonon]

yup, and with the GDC awards next month it will sin a slew of of awards. reason? no bullshitt fanboys voting but actual developers that base their votes on quality because they understand what it took to pull off such an amazing game.

[sampsonon]

my best advice to people f they really want to challenge themselves is to "turn of the crosshair" and turn up the difficulty.
i did that about half way through,ULTRA HARD, and started hunting small animals to increase my skills with the bow.
i never looked back https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[pody]

Does anybody know if Naughty Dog received a similar award for The Last of Us?

[madforaday]

https://www.polygon.com/201...

[pody]

Thanks! Also well-deserved.