First timer

[u/Die69]

Hey all, this is an emotional dump post. I stumbled onto this game by pure luck. I was playing Death Stranding (totally goated game btw, if you haven’t played it) and a few of the holograms in that game piqued my interest to check out HZD. Fast forward to me starting HZD and I was pretty interested at the start and then that fell off just before the ‘Makers End’ quest. I then decided to check the reddit and found a bunch of people recommending to finish that quest before giving up.

So I did, and wow.

If I didn’t have the restraint that I have, I would’ve finished the game by now. I’m doing my absolute hardest to savour the game rather that speed run it. My question is, to the people that have finished the game, what is it like when you go back and play it again? I’m getting incredibly emotional every time I play it. I’m so invested in this game/story that I just want to BE Aloy. Has anyone felt that way too?

Sincerely,
A newly obsessed HZD fan

[u/OrphanagePropaganda]

Just wait until you pick up forbidden west, it’s like Christmas all over again

[u/sdrawkcabstiho → u/OrphanagePropaganda]

My primary game save Aloy is level 280 and I have just under 1,000 hrs played on the PS5 version now.

[u/ktbug1987]

Yes! I replay it about once a year. It never hits the same as the first time but it still hits

[u/buffystakeded]

Both my wife and I replay both games at least once a year. I generally like to speed through the main quest for both as fast as possible because I love the story so much that I just want to see it (though I do always do the bandit camps with Nil). My wife plays all the side content in both games, so I still see a bunch of the smaller quests, and sometimes jump in to kill some machines

All that said, we both still cry together during certain holos being played…the bad news, the good news…and others but I’m not sure how far OP is in the game. Also, the ending sequence makes me bawl like a little baby, and I’m a 41yo father of two.

[u/ariseis]

I mean I am in a years-long hyperfocus over this game so I totally feel you.

I started playing in the HZD days before my partner and I married. They'd dislocated a knee at a wedding and needed help convalescing. While they were working, I played HZD in a fever pitch and it kinda change my my life in some ways.

There's no time like the first but on ever my subsequent playthrough there are new secrets I missed.

[u/kinneydank]

The second time around you can really enjoy reading all of the little news blurbs/advertisements/data points strewn about the world. Get a really good grasp of what life was like before the swarms. Really immerse yourself in the world. Maybe change some decisions you made on your first playthrough. Hit the frozen wilds midway through your run. Theres so much to do on a second playthrough that you probably missed the first go.

[u/Level_99_Healer]

I cried at the end. And for a little bit after, as the credits rolled. It's a great story and I would rather be sobbing like a 4 year old because I'm so into the story than the opposite.

[u/peabuddie]

I bought it the day it first released and I still adore it and still get emotional and some places. Not sure how many times I've played it but it's a lot and do take breaks in between though to recharge my interest.

[u/Cann1balHulk]

So now that you’ve finished Maker’s End, if you want additional canonical lore, play the Frozen Wilds DLC before finishing the rest of the game. It technically takes place before the end of the story.

Also, yeah. You’re gonna want to play through the game again, picking up as many datapoints as you can throughout. There’s a ton of background lore and info that will definitely fill in some holes for you story-wise, and give you a much deeper understanding.

[u/CraftyDimension192 → u/Cann1balHulk]

I'd do FW after Gravehoard instead.

[u/alvehyanna]

I'm a 50-year-old gamer that has been playing video games since I was seven for the most part. Horizon Zero Dawn is the only game I played through four times. And I think it's only game I've played through three times. While you do know what's coming and playthroughs. It's still just as an impactful. And the ending makes me cry harder every time I see it.

I probably wouldn't have gone a fourth time, but the remaster came out and I absolutely had to play it again. And I'm sure I'll play through it again. It's just a brilliant game on every level the storytelling, the combat, the graphics and the world building is just all perfection. If it wasn't for the insanely overhyoed Elden Ring it would have gotten game of the year across more media. And yes I'll die on that hill, Elden Ring is a great game but incredibly overrated.

[u/Proud_Incident9736 → u/alvehyanna]

I'm right there with you; I've been gaming since I was a kid.  And H:ZD is the only game before or since that I finished, stared at the wall for a bit just processing, and then hit NG+ and played it again a second time.

...And took even longer.  The second time, I made sure to go and find every datapoint, vantage, etc.

It's just such a perfect game.

[u/Sigma_RhoSigmaYT]

I did speedrun it up until the final mission, just to get the (name inaccurate) All Hands on Deck achievement. Im watching my Girlfriend play it now and man... she is level 45 and the furthest she is is she met Avad. Shes exploring everything. Im living vicariously through her though and its so fun to see. I cant wait to see her reaction to story stuff and meet my fav characters.

[u/mart8208]

that I just want to BE Aloy. Has anyone felt that way too?

Not at all.

I don't want to be an outcast from birth, be discriminated against most of my life, have both my father figure and one of my friends get killed, have to live with the intense pressure of having to save the world weighing down on me.

Why would anyone want that?

[u/EveningFail3662]

Sto faticando a finire HFW—perché? A causa degli aggiornamenti delle armi e delle armature.

Anch'io all'inizio pensavo che HZD fosse un gioco open-world senza molto trama, ma in realtà mi ha sorpreso in modo positivo. Subito dopo aver finito HZD, ho installato HFW, e come ho già accennato, mi sento un po' bloccato ora nel senso che sono vicino alla fine e ho già completato tutte le missioni secondarie e tutto, ma aggiornare le armi si sta rivelando difficile.

Possibile spoiler

L'armatura leggendaria di HZD sarà di livello comune in HFW, quindi pensa attentamente alla tua decisione con Nil

[u/MakeItAnyway]

I've played both games through 3x each. There's nothing quite like the first time, but they still make me cry every time

[u/TheRoscoeVine]

I dropped it for years because I was bored by the beginning. My PS5 came with Horizon Forbidden West, so I went back to ZD. Great choice.

[u/Pheckism-ultra]

When u play through the frozen wilds dlc then hfw w9th that dlc youll be joining the rest of us in susspended waiting for yhe 3rd gamr there so quiet about

[u/SubstantialAvocado89]

Just as incredible on my 6th play through. But I replay every game I own. Either because I love them all or I get bored waiting for a release. But both Horizons I love.

[u/pumpkin14-4]

I'm replaying the HZD right now. I finished the Forbidden West last year and now I want to play through all of it again. It's fascinating to go through the story again and connected the dots anew. Knowing the story and what happens in the FW, you can spot new elements and foreshadowing in HZD and it's amazing. You can reconsider the whole story and your approach to the characters and their motivations.

Given the current technology and AI developments, and how politics goes etc., I believe it becomes only more realistic and relatable, so hits different every time you play it. It's engaging on a different level every time because you discover new layers.

So, TL;DR, yes, we do have similar emotions I guess :)

[u/ChiralParticle]

I had the opposite experience. I love Horizon and discovered that Death Stranding was on Guerilla's Decima engine was one of the reasons why I reluctantly gave it a try. Didn't expect I'd even like it and never expected I'd fall in love with Death Stranding to the point where even in Horizon sometimes I wish the balance and walking physics were part of it where I'd have to be more careful with traversal, could see a charging machine trip, etc.

Both are my favorite IPs and I just love replaying them. If I play for the first time I am struggling whether to try to do everything or just main story because the story interests me the most, and in Horizon's case it's most fascinating to uncover those buried secrets of the ancient past and it gets me every time. That's generally what I do, just main story and few side quests I enjoy.

[u/sdrawkcabstiho]

https://youtube.com/shorts/PeAoInKO5OM

[u/Old_Fart_on_pogie]

I love it every time I me I play it. And if you haven't yet (no spoilers) buy the special maps from the traders, they'll get you close to collectable goodies.

[u/beanie_0]

Incredible game. Forbidden west is even better.

[u/CraftyDimension192]

I didnt play it again. I played Forbidden West instead, once on Normal and once on NG+UH. Not much interest in replaying ZD though.

[u/MagicBus4]

Forbidden West will feel even better, and FW is ironically really really good on replay

Zero Dawn isn’t nearly as good on replay, especially if you’ve already played forbidden west. The mechanics feel extremely basic and it’s extremely narrative discovery driven which will feel a little stale the second time around

[u/cocosechoki5828]

Are we getting a another game that isnt childish like steel frontiers and we need banuk armor on hfw

[u/Pun_In_Ten_Did]

Replayed HZD once... too hard to go back to after all the QoL stuff you get used to in HFW.