In a sea of sequels, it's rejuvenating to welcome the fresh face of Horizon Zero Dawn to the video games stage. To help you better understand this post-post-apocalyptic adventure, here are some elements from movies and games that it most reminds me of. If you like these, Horizon Zero Dawn could be a perfect match.
Both Aloy and the rebooted version of Lara Croft wield bows
The '90s was the era that birthed one of the defining virtual characters of a generation: Lara Croft. Her ability to down a T-Rex with a pair of pistols instantly won our hearts in a gaming climate barely touched by oestrogen, and Aloy is cut from the same cloth.
Horizon Zero Dawn’s leading lady is a warrior who battles her inner demons as much as her foes. Strength here doesn’t only mean brute force, but emotional fortitude as Aloy scours her past for answers upon the curve of society's cold shoulder. While Tomb Raider's heroine combats suspicion and distrust in the series' reboot, Aloy too sits on the fringes, sharpening her survival skills on the whetstone of the open world. If you love Lara for her tenacity, you'll admire Aloy's determination. Plus, she may not wield pistols, but Aloy can down a Sawtooth with a bow and arrow, which if anything is more impressive.
A screenshot from Horizon Zero Dawn
Ubisoft has become expert at parachuting players into exotic environments where they can carve a path across the Himalayas, take a detour into a coniferous mining region, head through a leafy forest, and end standing in farmland.
Likewise, Aloy can run on foot from a scorching desert to a grassy green valley, to a snow covered mountain without stopping for a single load bar. But since that sounds rather tiring, Far Cry Primal players who relished the ability to tame a passing Sabretooth tiger will be pleased to know that Aloy can bully bovine machines known as Striders into carrying her across the wilderness.
In short, you could say that Far Cry’s open world maps aren’t a far cry from those of Horizon Zero Dawn.
Concept art shows Aloy spotting a Tallneck in the distance.
Remember that scene in Jurassic Park where Grant, his eyebrows making a rapid ascent over his Aviators and into his hairline, steers Ellie’s head to the left to gaze in wordless wonder at the majesty of a passing brontosaurus? If that gets you every time, you’ll be living that moment time and again in Horizon Zero Dawn.
The opening minutes of the game sets you on a path next to a colossal herd of Tallnecks, whose heads languidly skim the skies on necks as lofty as redwoods. From then on, each machine you encounter evokes an element of Jurassic Park’s inhabitants, from the spindly skittishness of the Watchers to the crocodilian Snapmaw.
Ruins of an old, futuristic society litter Horizon Zero Dawn's world.
Planet of the Apes is a science fiction tale about a post-apocalyptic Earth where apes have evolved and gained control over a world destroyed by humans. Horizon Zero Dawn is an open world adventure about a post-apocalyptic Earth where machines have evolved and walk over a world destroyed by humans.
While it took until the end of the movie for Charlton Heston’s misanthropic astronaut to discover the ruins of the Statue of Liberty (and therefore the truth about his planet), Horizon Zero Dawn’s inhabitants have learned their history from ancestors, passed down piecemeal by matriarchs around campfires. Just as cinema audiences wondered how Earth fell under the control of primates, so players can ponder how machines roam the world.
If you enjoyed stalking Lagombi for their pelts in Monster Hunter, survival and crafting is an equally important pillar of Aloy’s world. The first line of defense between you and the mechanical beasts are the arrows crafted by hunting robotic creatures and harvesting them for parts and batteries.
In both games, preparation for a big battle is as important as the fight itself. Players who pride themselves on their ability to spot a fire herb from afar will be right at home on the plains of Horizon Zero Dawn, foraging for Salvebrush.
With her flame-red hair and accomplished archery skills, you’d be forgiven for feeling a sense of familiarity with Aloy – especially if you watch Game of Thrones. In fact, Horizon Zero Dawn’s game director has specifically cited the show's fiercely proud Free Folk archer Ygritte as a touchstone for our post-apocalyptic heroine. “One of the directions we were very interested in was a character like Sarah Connor in Terminator, Ripley in Alien or, more recently, Ygritte from Game of Thrones,” he told Official PlayStation Magazine. “Very strong female characters. That’s where we started.”
Both are skilled in combat with a bow, and both are considered outcasts: Ygritte by those South of the Wall, and Aloy by those of the tribe. Still, their most striking similarity lies skin deep: physically, Ygritte and Aloy could be sisters.
Both Horizon Zero Dawn and the Harry Potter series tell the stories of orphans.
Harry Potter and Horizon Zero Dawn have more in common than you’d think. JK Rowling’s novels centre on the question of Harry’s parents, their sacrifice, and his resulting orphan status. The orphan trope is well-used in fiction, but part of the popularity of the Harry Potter books stem from readers rooting for the underdog, the child who’s bullied by those around him, as he works to understand his legacy in the face of an evil that remains largely unseen until halfway through the story.
Aloy is also an orphan, shunned and bullied for having no mother, who at the beginning of the story is more concerned with finding answers to the question of who she is than facing off against a greater threat. Of course, for both characters the key to their identity lies with the central villain of their story and those who enjoyed uncovering that with Harry should be equally intrigued by Aloy.
Horizon and The Lion King both open with baptisms of a kind.
Horizon Zero Dawn opens with Aloy being carried as a baby to the edge of a cliff by her mentor and father-figure Rost. There stands a shaman, whose thumb daubs the child’s forehead with a line of colored chalk paint. As the sun rises over the Horizon, Rost holds the child above his head, screaming her name into the abyss.
All that’s missing here is the chorus of “A Circle of Life”. People love The Lion King because it’s a coming-of-age story and Horizon Zero Dawn follows the same arc. It even includes the same beats, from Aloy’s baptism to defying Rost’s wishes and entering the shadowy place she must never go to as a girl, to young adulthood and her grappling with the responsibilities that come with that.
Alysia is a video host at IGN and thinks someone needs to mod a Captain Picard skin for Aloy to make climbing the Starship Enterprise head of a Tallneck even more epic. Follow her on Twitter.
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