Horizon Zero Dawn Reviews: 12 Critical Reactions You Need To Know

3. The Combat Is Awesome

"Fighting the machines in Horizon Zero Dawn — especially the larger ones — is a thrilling, exhausting experience, one that improves over time as Aloy buys and crafts more tools, opening up more options to take the beasts down." - Polygon

"The variety of approaches means fighting never gets dull, as when you get bored of one tactic there’s an alternate one just waiting for you to master." - Gamesradar

Horizon has always been a game that would live and die on the strength of its combat, and thankfully it's by far the game's most widely-praised feature.

Though some criticism was leveled at slow melee combat and a few finicky, awkward mechanics, the moment-to-moment fighting is said to be kinetic, strategic and dynamic, requiring the player to pull from a variety of skill pools in order to survive enemies later in the game in particular.

Some concluded that even when the world and story become more familiar and less interesting, the combat remains stunningly fluid and can maintain interest all by itself.