What is the difference between Horizon Zero Dawn‘s Standard and Complete editions?
As an avid gamer and content creator focused on the latest and greatest interactive experiences, I receive this question a lot from fans eager to embark on Aloy‘s journey. The key difference comes down to one thing – the Complete Edition includes the acclaimed Frozen Wilds expansion DLC, substantially enhancing the experience.
Frozen Wilds – A chilly and deadly new frontier
Frozen Wilds introduces an entirely new snowy mountain region for players to explore, filled with icy cliffs, treacherous storms, and mysterious ruins. This additional territory rivals the size of many standalone games and contains hours of new story content.
Facing the extreme cold brings environmental challenges requiring clever use of campfires and outfits that boost warmth. Navigation becomes more vertical in nature with climbing gear needed to scale frozen waterfalls. This makes traversing the landscape feel fresh and rewarding.
Over 20 new side quests are seamlessly woven in, including standouts like helping a wounded Fireclaw bear or investigating disturbances at a Banuk werak. These adventures let you connect with the native Banuk tribe and learn more about this harsh environment.
In addition to presenting a perilous new frontier filled with unknown threats, Frozen Wilds provides an expansion to Horizon‘s compelling sci-fi tale. Through ancient records, you piece together what happened in these parts that prove critical in understanding the fall of humanity. I found this layered storytelling hugely satisfying as a lore aficionado.
On top of the new locales and quests, Frozen Wilds introduces an awesome lineup of new weapons, outfits, skills and especially deadly machines.
Weapons: Expertly crafted Banuk bows and striker bows offer alternative playstyles, like the precision Powershot bow. Outfits include the badass-looking Banuk Ice Hunter heavy armor. My favorite skill addition is the triple notch upgrade letting you shoot three arrows at once!
Machines: On the robot dinosaur front, we get several new varieties like the wolf-like Scorchers equipped with deadly frost cannons. Then towering Fireclaws serve as some of the toughest adversaries. One of my most heart-pounding showdowns involved squaring off against two Fireclaws amidst a raging blizzard!
Adding the Frozen Wilds expansion really allows you to lose yourself for hours on end in Horizon‘s world thanks to this wealth of new adventures. I‘d estimate it tacks on a good 10-15 hours on top of the sizable base game.
PC enhancements – Pushing limits
While PlayStation owners can enjoy Frozen Wilds as well with the Complete Edition, PC gamers get the definitive version of Horizon Zero Dawn courtesy of impressive graphical upgrades and technical improvements.
Playing on an Nvidia RTX 3080 at 4K resolution with maxed out settings, this is easily one of the visually stunning open world games I‘ve experienced. The DECIMA engine powering Horizon employs advanced rendering techniques like hybrid temporal/spatial anti-aliasing for incredibly crisp image quality.
ray tracing support further elevates materials and lighting to new levels of realism with accurate reflections, shadows and global illumination. This makes the machines, like watching light bounce off a Strider‘s metallic chassis as it trots by, feel astonishingly lifelike.
Beyond the graphics, enhancements like uncapped frame rates translate to buttery smooth combat whether battling a band of bandits or strafing around a towering Thunderjaw. Support for ultra-wide monitors and adjustable field of view let you tweak and customize the experience as well.
These upgrades alongside high resolution texture packs and improved visuals enable Horizon Zero Dawn‘s Complete Edition for PC to shine like never before. After over 200 hours, I‘m still floored by how incredible this game looks maxed out.
Horizon Forbidden West editions – What‘s next
With the launch of PlayStation 5 sequel Horizon Forbidden West this year on February 18th, 2022, Guerrilla Games is continuing the franchise. This presents an exciting future with a new chapter in Aloy‘s saga against a seeming unstoppable threat.
Forbidden West introduces more lush regions to explore modeled after California, Utah and Pacific Northwest landscapes filled with forests, deserts and ruins of a fallen civilization. New tribes like the martial Tenakth bring additional cultural depth as well.
As expected, there are plenty of new elaborate robotic creatures to take on like the creeping, venomous Slaughterspine or Sunwing with massive solar panels. Aloy has new skills and gear options too, like a grappling hook, to takedown machines.
Sony is offering different editions at varying price points:
| Edition | Includes |
|---|---|
| Standard | Base Game |
| Digital Deluxe | Base Game + Nora Legacy armor, weapon and in-game items |
| Collector‘s | Digital Deluxe contents + Steelbook case, art book, statue |
| Regalla | Collector‘s contents + Focus and Sunwing machine Strike pieces |
I opted for the swanky Regalla Edition myself to get all the physical goodies since I‘ll be picking up Horizon Forbidden West day one!
Glowing reception – Critical and commercial success
Examining professional reviews and user reception demonstrates the glowing response Horizon Zero Dawn received across both PlayStation 4 and PC platforms.
Leading gaming publications heaped heavy praise on Horizon for its marvelous open world, strategic combat and emotional story. Here‘s a sample of professional review scores:
| Website | Score |
|---|---|
| IGN | 9.0/10 |
| GameSpot | 9/10 |
| Game Informer | 9.25/10 |
| Polygon | No Score Given "An Amazing Game" |
Critics universally lauded Horizon‘s fluid amalgam of roleplaying progression via skill trees, stealthy bow-based combat emphasizing tactical takedowns and the joy of robot dinosaur hunting. This expert merging of genres coalesced into an Editors Choice award-winner.
Beyond critical acclaim, fan reception was equally exuberant with a 9.1 User score on Metacritic for PS4 and 9.0 on PC. Horizon also received numerous Game of Year awards in 2017 like from Giant Bomb, Gamespot and the Game Awards.
Commercially as well, Horizon was a major sales success becoming the best selling new franchise on the PlayStation platform with over 10 million units sold worldwide. This cemented its status as a killer new Sony IP.
Frozen Wild‘s reception followed suit with Destructoid calling it "the perfect representation of how to do DLC properly." Reviewers praised how this expansion built meaningfully on top of the base game with GameRevolution scoring it an 9/10.
My take – An unforgettable thrill ride
As someone who has poured countless hours into exploring every last corner of Horizon‘s rich post-apocalyptic world, I can say without reservation this series delivers one of most sensational gaming experiences possible.
The first time a lumbering Tallneck came into view, scanning the valley with a blue beam of light while herds of Striders grazed calmly below, I was awestruck. Encounters like this truly make Horizon‘s environments feel alive. The sensation of unraveling hidden secrets in the overgrown Metal World ruins scattered about ignites that irresistible explorer itch in me.
However, what drew me in originally was the sheer thrill derived from showdowns on the mechanical beast front – my heart still races battling Thunderjaws and Stormbirds! The unparalleled satisfaction from downing towering dinosaurs like living gods with perfectly placed Tearblast shots and ropecaster binds keeps the action intoxicatingly intense.
So whether you‘re interested in losing yourself across the rolling plains of the Carja Sundom, uncovering GAIA‘s secrets or feeling the rush of a brazen hunter stealing Thunderjaw eggs amidst lightning strikes, Horizon Zero Dawn‘s Complete Edition won‘t disappoint. And with the Frozen Wilds expansion, there‘s even more excitement awaiting.
See you beyond the horizon!
