I want to like Horizon Zero Dawn (HZD), but I can’t. I tried. I’m wondering why it took me so long to give it up.

A greedy CEO of a mega-corporation builds powerful robots. The Robots become self-sustained and decide to do away with humanity. Humans realize their mistake too late and nuke the planet (I’m not sure about that last part yet, but I’m taking a wild guess). Apocalypse happens. A hero emerges some 100 years later. Bla bla, humans are now nature friendly, bla bla bad guys dig up an old technology and start all over again, bla bla, what’s the lesson to be learned, kids? It’s a formula that works, so why change anything?

Yet another case of a beautiful open world with very little to do in it. Walls you can climb are highlighted (what I’d like to know is who placed climbing cables in glowing yellow on the outside of a skyscraper after the apocalypse?) The space between metal beams can be big enough for a bus to get through, yet an invisible wall blocks your path. The navigation system keeps nagging you like an overbearing parent, so you can’t even entertain the thought of getting lost.

My favorite annoyance: there’s exactly one kind of bush across the different biomes of this vast open world you can hide in. You can find it in deserts, jungles, and frozen mountaintops. No other thing in this game will hide you, not even a thick bunker wall.

I stopped playing this game twice before: once after a boss I couldn’t beat (there were none of them bushes to hide in), the other due to poor framerate that made a fight with a translucent enemy impossible. I should learn to trust my instincts. No matter how many people admire a game, if it doesn’t work for me, it doesn’t work for me.