Horizon Zero Dawn

A femme looking person wearing shiny armour facing the dawn sky punching her fist in the air.
I want to be objective about one of the best games of 2017, but clearly I can’t. My feelings about Horizon Zero Dawn will never be contained into a neat QGJ entry, but I want the world to know that I played it, and that it was incredible.

I’m not alone in this opinion, obviously, because there was just so much in it to love. Aloy is amazing, I am absolutely in love with her and am struggling with that age-old problem of ‘do I want to be Aloy, or do I want to be with her’? I think the answer is both? It’s hard to say. But Aloy aside, Horizon Zero Dawn makes it into QRM’s database because of its wide range of queer NPCs, and it’s incredibly refreshing to play an open world game that mentions a whole bunch of interpersonal relationships and to not have them be automatically heterosexual. There are a few more prominent queer NPCs too that you get to go on missions with, and sure, some of them are murderers, but… nobody’s perfect?

You should play this if…

You have access to a PS4 and can obtain a copy of HZD. This game is incredible. Many of the characters whose diary entries or letters you read are technically deceased, so that’s not ideal, but in the game’s defense there are a lot of people who are deceased and exist only through their written communications, so for me personally it didn’t feel like a problem.

Note: That screenshot was taken by me in photo mode, because photo mode is the best. It's my current phone wallpaper, because Aloy gives me strength. Just a fun fact for you all.