I’m sure they’re fine. They sound fun. They look fun. But there’s also this weird vibe where they are maybe the most “Here is a shrine we built to spending a lot of money.” There’s this sense that Horizon games kind of “fake” being important. They fall in to a specific archetype of open world game but never really set any standards or really evolve the genre or have much lasting impact beyond the standard six month release window.
Like, I’m
still seeing people sharing Breath of the Wild videos of crazy things they pull off in that game. They never stopped. That game came out in 2017 and regardless of how close or far away the sequel was, people have always been buzzing about Breath of the Wild. Same might be true for Elden Ring. That game’s over a year old and people are still doing weird things with it. It still has a presence. I mean, heck, people are still doing wild things in GTA5, and that game is like a decade old!
Neither of the two Horizon games have that kind of presence. They came out, the mainstream said “yea that’s good” and then moved on. Nobody in my purview is like “yeah guys I really love Horizon Zero Dawn so let’s start a weird gimmick run where I try something new.” Which is fine. Games don’t always have to shake the pillars of heaven. You can just be a regular old “ good game” and that’s okay. But Aloy gets treated like this big important ambassador of a titanic Sony game franchise. I remember when Fortnite started doing game crossovers, we got Master Chief, Kratos, Lara Croft, Ryu and Chun-li, and then the next big character was… Aloy.
Who, at the time, only had one game to her name. And Fortnite was putting her in the “Gaming Legends” series next to people with decades of success behind them. And now, y'know, there’s a Genshin Impact crossover, there’s all this merch, and she’s on the cover of Vanity Fair… and it’s like, really? For Horizon? The robot dinosaur game? Like I said, I’m sure they’re good games. I’m not doubting that. But they’re not industry defining. They’re not really risk taking. But they’re being treated that way, when I have a hard time seeing Horizon being this timeless, eternal franchise with much staying power past, say, a third game.
It’d be like if Fortnite added, I dunno, Cole from inFamous as a “gaming legend.” Like, in 2023, you’re like “Who? Why?” Horizon’s popularity feels forced to some degree just because they throw a lot of money at it, but if it wasn’t for that, it wouldn’t get nearly as much hype or merchandise. And it’s weird to realize that. I have no immediate desire to play either of them.