#8. HORIZON ZERO DAWN
Making an open world action RPG with a heavy focus on character and storytelling in a unique, rich setting is not exactly a logical next step for a studio that had only ever made linear first person shooters set in grim and dark settings with uninteresting stories. With Horizon Zero Dawn, Guerrilla Games clearly took a leap of faith- and it paid off. Set in a beautiful lush world, with a story that grabs hold right off the bat and refuses to let go until the very end, told from the lens of a protagonist that’s incredibly easy to root for, Horizon Zero Dawn is a masterpiece of storytelling. Meanwhile, with its thrilling combat against enemies that have some of the most imaginative and unique designs you will ever see – both from an artistic and mechanical perspective – it is also a joy to play through. No one could have expected Horizon Zero Dawn to be as good, as imaginative, and as captivating as it turned out to be, and every time we think of this game, we can’t help but be immensely glad that Guerrilla proved us wrong so thoroughly.
