As Sony's first blockbuster, the first generation of Dawn on the Horizon was released in February 2065438+2007. The game is set on the earth in one thousand years. After a global disaster, human beings are no longer the dominant species in the world, and the earth is full of huge machinery like animals. Exquisite and unique artistic style, exciting hunting experience and mysterious eschatological worldview have won more than 20 million copies of the game and become one of the best-selling works in the PS4 era. Five years later, in February, Despair on the Western Horizon appeared in many expectations. In the sequel, Alloy, the protagonist, will go deep into the dangerous situation in the west to fight against terrible machinery and visit strange tribes. He needs to solve the mystery of doomsday threat and restore the order and balance of the world. Carefully polished sequels will bring more surprises to players.
In addition to pleasing pictures, cool mechanical beasts with different shapes have always been a major feature of the Horizon series, which has been favored by many players and has been upgraded to an epic level in new works. There are more than 40 kinds of mechanical beasts in West of Desperate Horizon, nearly double the number of previous works. In previous works, two mechanical behemoths, Lei Ya and Storm Bird, were impressive. In this work, many large mechanical beasts based on rattlesnakes, plesiosaurs, rhinos and mammoths have been added. They have a strong desire to attack, high damage and high attack frequency, which will cause harm to the site. There are many varieties of the same mechanical beast, which cannot be treated in the same way. In many missions, mechanical beasts appear in various combinations to test the hunting level of players. If the battle on the main line is not exciting enough, Western Horizon also provides a special arena, which is different from the wild hunting ground in the previous work. It is quite challenging to start directly after entering, and it will also bring rich rewards and a higher sense of accomplishment to players.
Synchronized with the mechanical beast, it is the fighting system of the protagonist Alloy. West of Desperate Horizon follows the fighting mode and equipment color grading system of the previous work, and has been greatly expanded on this basis. The rapidly equipped roulette wheel is upgraded from four to six, which is convenient for players to control. The character skills in this work are divided into six growth routes: warrior, catcher, hunter, survivor, infiltrator and pilot. Different growth routes provide completely different attribute growth and skill style for the role, and meet the needs of melee, remote, survival and concealment.
The biggest change in the combat part is the addition of "Surge of Courage", which will bring great gain effect to Aloy when it is turned on, allowing players to have a powerful explosion in the battle or save the day in an instant. Each skill tree has two unique skills * * * 12 for players to choose from. After you have accumulated enough courage in the battle, you can release your skills. The UI of the equipment system has also been fully optimized, and the clothing and skill tree are also well integrated. Different clothes and equipment will bring gain effects to different skills.
The appearance of good guns and bombs, new equipment and new skills has brought a more refreshing fighting experience to the game. Like a smoke bomb, it can temporarily deceive the enemy; Slingshot and sticky grenades can temporarily delay the action of mechanical animals; Spear is a good melee weapon, which not only has a variety of combination skills, but also can increase damage; The nail gun can fire explosive nails. When the bow is full, the nail gun can penetrate the armor of the mechanical beast and directly hit the key. Players can even pick up the weapon that was shot down from the machine and "deal with a man as he deals with you". All weapons can be upgraded through the workbench. Players must show their wisdom and creativity and use effective strategic choices to defeat the extremely threatening enemies on the ground, at sea and in the air.
The threat of western restricted areas is not only machines, but also strange red blight, which may kill all life in the near future. Only Alloy, the protagonist, can save the world, but if she wants to succeed, she must search for the remains of the old world with her companions and find the needed technology. In order to overcome many obstacles on the road, Alloy learned and used many new tools. Through the focus scanning function, you can mark the position where you can climb; Hook and claw launcher allows you to climb faster and get out of trouble quickly; Shield wings can allow you to land safely from a height, or you can raid the enemy from above; With a scuba, you can explore the underwater world, bypass amphibious machines, or accelerate through strong currents; If you want to speed up the movement on land, you can cover all kinds of mechanical instructions and become a mount or a combat assistant; The player's most popular flying mount, Wings of the Sun, also officially appeared, flying with the dragon, opening the high-altitude horizon and taking in a panoramic view of the magnificent mountains and rivers. These new equipment and mounts need to be unlocked gradually as the story progresses, which greatly increases the fun of players' free exploration.
It is worth mentioning that during the whole research and development process of "Despair on the West Horizon", the production team constantly adjusted on the basis of listening to the feedback from players, adding a lot of exploratory and interactive content to the game, making the whole game world more real and vivid. These include work tasks, exploration and decryption, and the newly added board game chess is even more eye-catching. The management of props criticized by players in the previous work has also been improved in Desperate Western Horizon. Now props can be directly classified according to the types, rarity and quantity of items, making it much more convenient to find and sell things. The new work has also been humanized into the warehouse system. In the process of exploration, it will never be like the previous works, where the backpack is full and you can't continue to pick up things, and the excess materials are directly sent back to the warehouse.
In order to meet the needs of more players, Despair on the Western Horizon will be released simultaneously on the PS5 and PS4 platforms on February 18, but there is no doubt that the brand-new next-generation console PS5 can better experience the game with better picture quality and details. Whether it's the intricate roots of trees, or the spores constantly ejected by plants infected with strange diseases, whether it's the fog shrouded in the primitive jungle, the transpiration heat wave in the desert, or the subtle expressions of characters, it's vivid. Relying on PS5' s powerful high-speed solid-state drive, the game's loading time on PS5 has also become very fast, without waiting for the annoying loading interface, and even when traveling quickly, it can feel a nearly seamless game experience, which is an additional immersive experience brought by the new console.
It is worth mentioning that the PS5 version can choose the image quality mode (4K30fps) and performance mode (2K60fps) according to the needs of players. In performance mode, the game performance is extremely silky, even under the double pressure of mechanical beast armor and full-screen explosion, the game will not appear the slightest frame drop. In the high-quality mode, both the environmental performance and the details of the mechanical beast are richer and more detailed, and each frame can be used as a screen saver.
"Desperate Western Horizon" applies the adaptive trigger and tactile feedback of the DualSense wireless handle quite well. Not only is the trigger resistance of each weapon different-the shooter's bow has a large resistance in a long distance, but it has a small resistance in a short distance, and the handle will make a sound that simulates pulling the bow string. Tactile feedback is not only reflected in archery, when the player opens the shield wings in the air, the handle will simulate the vibration feeling under the wind, and the handle will also have corresponding sound effects at the moment of opening and closing the wings. When players dive into the haystack, get injured, roll, get close to the fire, or even just jump and land in the same place, DualSense will have vibration feedback of different sizes, making players feel more immersive.
On February 14, the media rating of Despair West of the Horizon was officially announced. At present, the rating website Metacritic has collected 100 media ratings, and none of them are negative. Among them, 15 media even gave full marks. Most people think that Despair West of the Horizon can be regarded as a comprehensive evolution of its previous work, and its performance in the picture and system is impeccable. IGN, a well-known game media, gave "Despair in the Western Horizon" a high score of 9 points, thinking that the game has a fascinating combat experience, excellent biological and character design, and a gorgeous open world, which perfectly shows the functions of PS5. GamingBlot gives full marks. The reviewer thinks that this game is one of the most unique and unforgettable games he has played recently with its fascinating story, gorgeous open world and thrilling fighting. Twinfinite also gave full marks, thinking that this work gives people a special feeling, and this exclusive work should enjoy a good reputation on PS5.
Above the desperate situation, innovate again. February 18, join hands with Alloy, brave the desperate situation in the west, witness the beauty and grandeur of this unknown world, start your own mechanical hunting, and solve the mystery with your partners to save the world. Are you ready?