Horizon Zero Dawn: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

1. Sci-Fi & Fantasy Contrast Is The Most Unique Thing You've Seen In Years

It can't be understated how unique and welcoming it feels to see a developer play with thematic conventions so liberally. This isn't like For Honor, where Ubisoft thought it'd simply be cool to mash together knights, vikings and samurais into one timeline. Instead, you can tell every part of how Horizon plays its hand is considered.

Guerrilla want you to know a certain amount by a certain time, and leave the rest up to you.

As such, the big hook across the trailers has been "What happened that allowed robots to take over?" and to solve this - again, without spoilers - you'll need to delve into the world itself, just as much as the main story. You'll hear people talk of the machine race and you'll find 'vantage points' where you can look out onto buildings or structures as though it was the modern day.

Fun tip: Putting the names attached to these clips into Google Maps will also help in grasping the bigger picture.

Most impressive though, are the 'Cauldrons'; intricate cave networks where it appears the machines are coming from. Inside here you'll find answers - or, allusions to answers, anyway - as the game's aesthetic completely shifts, almost feeling like Assassin's Creed as your out-of-place tribeswoman is suddenly exploring a facility straight out of Ridley Scott's wildest imagination.

Pair the two and make it so you can shift between them without any loading screens, and it gives Horizon an identity like nothing else.