8 Haunting Video Game Stories Most Players Missed

8. Sgt. Guliyev's Propaganda Logs - Horizon Zero Dawn

Horizon Zero Dawn doesn't get nearly enough credit for how brilliantly its audio datapoints help build out the world, and the very best of the bunch can be found within The Grave-Hoard ruin.

Two of these logs will contain messages from a certain Sgt. Guliyev to his wife, and while his first message expresses faith in Project Zero Dawn, the second proves more despairing as he begins to lose hope.

However, elsewhere in the ruin you can find some alternative versions of these messages which have been "edited and approved" before being sent to Sgt. Guliyev's wife.

These edited versions severely alter the tone by removing Guliyev's doubts, seemingly in order to paint a more positive message back home.

It's effectively propaganda, and if that's not bad enough you can also find a reply from Guliyev's wife where she expresses skepticism over the validity of his messages, though this message ends up being rejected for transmission.

As a small window into how the lives of everyday folk were being manipulated by the military, it's totally terrifying - and terrifyingly believable.