I had not yet managed to cool down the controller from the heat of my hands after the market received a remarkable game Horizon: Zero Dawn, and hard-working developers from the Studio Guerilla Games has already prepared for us a big DLC called The Frozen Wilds. I happily began to explore it, as I really wanted to return to the bright fantastic world and once again get to see their favorite characters. The developers have promised us more than 15 hours of exciting gameplay and a huge amount of new content. Let’s see – whether their promises are true?
Game: Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds
Platform: PlayStation 4
Genre: Action/RPG
Release date: November 7, 2017
Developer: Guerilla Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Today it became fashionable to not release continue the games, and full-scale additions to them, issued as a standalone game. Their length is relatively small, but the amount of content it pulls in the full game. Let us recall the recent Dishonored: Death of the Outsider or Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Here are two vivid examples of how the concept of DLC in the end, born of an independent game, worthy of our attention. The developers at Guerilla Games has decided not to reinvent the wheel, so I just released a major addition. Time to develop, they had not so much (the original game was released in March), but even during these months they’ve really done a truly great job and gave the fans a Horizon: Zero Dawn another reason to return to your favorite virtual universe.
It all starts at the moment when the player performs the final mission of the original game. You have the opportunity to talk to one of the traders, which suggests that somewhere in the North there is a secret mountain pass, overcoming which you can get to the earth tribe Banuk. Warlike people, living in extreme conditions of eternal winter. Most in this story the main character Eloi interested about it previously unseen cars. The case remained for small: to find a pass and find yourself in the snowy wilderness. It should be noted that the player becomes available to a region comparable in size to a quarter of the world of the original game, which we must admit, very much.
In the frozen wasteland that is a lot of story and side quests that you can perform at least the appearance, but you can just walk past them, leaving the task for later. Of course, you will meet again with familiar characters from the original game, including a mysterious man by the name of silence. From the very beginning Eloy warns her not to meddle in the Northern lands, but the protagonist, as you might imagine, driven by a thirst for adventure, so nothing can shake her in an attempt to achieve the desired. The curiosity of Eloi and warms up even a local legend about a “demon” living in the bowels of Thunder mountain. Well, how can you not be interested and check out who’s hiding in there, really?
Fight with new monsters, one of which (it’s a Scorcher) looks like a huge fire-breathing wolf, and the other (Frostclaw) is like a giant bear, felt very fresh, thanks to their new abilities. You will meet other mechanized creatures to defeat that will be Oh how difficult. But to spoil these moments, I would not like. Apart from several interesting new locations to the player to explore will also be available a new boiler (I think you remember the boilers from the original game). In addition, you will also be able to participate in different activities like hunting and testing. However, these missions are not particularly interesting when you compare them to plot assignments and sidquests.
In General, the passage of the storyline of the additions you may take 5-6 hours, and additional missions and other tasks – even 10-15 hours. All this, of course, is optional. And if you are interested to get new weapons, earn new skills and hunt down animals in the hunting grounds – can be confined to the main story. I can’t tell that the developers took the path of least resistance in just trying to earn more money. Not at all. DLC really thoroughly worked out and immediately feel that it has been invested a huge amount of funds and human resources. Nice when the fans of the original game don’t forget even after six months, bringing joy to behold such gifts.
Visually, the game is still great. Nature on screen breathes, blades of grass swaying in the wind, the fauna is rich not only mechanized monsters, but also a variety of animals, and landscapes of snow-covered lands sincerely admire the art work. Perhaps, in The Frozen Wilds I saw the best snow ever seen me in a video game. Eloy has trouble keeping up through the snow, leaving behind realistic tracks, the snow sticks to her clothes, and falling from the sky snowflakes quickly return nature to a pristine state. An abundance of stunning special effects makes the picture a feast for the eyes. And improved facial animation makes the characters even more alive, although it would seem, what could be better?
The new skill tree, called The Traveler and the main character allows even better control of the machine, turning them into his henchmen, it is more efficient to collect valuable materials and much more. But I have to admit that these skills there is absolutely no need. I would be much nicer to see a skill that allows you to expand the volume of inventory, which is always clogged different stuff. The rest of the game mechanics remained virtually unchanged: navigation, control, battle system, all of this will be familiar to those who have already managed to get the original game. And if you haven’t done so, I recommend to start passing right now. Because in order to play the DLC, you’ll need at least 30th level.
Pros:
- Many hours of enjoyable continuation of the story of the original game.
- Traditionally, great graphics and wonderful art work.
- Facial character animation has become more realistic.
- A wonderful opportunity to meet again with favorite characters.
- A spacious new area of the world available for research.
- Several new types of mechanical creatures.
Cons:
- The developers have made the gameplay anything new.
- Additional skill tree frankly disappointing.
- In fact before us is just a big content pack.
The original game Zero Dawn Horizon at the time got me 9 points out of 10, but The Frozen Wild is clearly inferior to her in brightness, though, of course, is a very high-quality Supplement that the developers have put a lot of effort. New locations and mechanical monsters, lots of sidquests, new characters, weapons, armor, and other nice bonuses – that’s what will surely rejoice fans of the game Guerilla Games. I was quite surprised by the work of artists and animators, in particular – much prettier facial expressions of characters. But still this is a just a DLC, which practically changes nothing in the gameplay to entertain players a few hours of new adventures of the main character. Therefore, to put The Frozen Wilds more than 8 points out of 10 I just can’t.
Supplement review The Frozen Wilds for the game Zero Dawn Horizon
Sergey Grey