Nothing from what I can tell. Everything in this game seems to have been done many times before. And it all seems pretty watered down or subpar.

Let me put it in perspective for you my friend. "You see that mountain over there? You can actually go there." Except this time.... "HOLY SHIT! I can [b][i][u]actually[/u][/i][/b] go to any mountain or other object I see!" Combat is very satisfying, a great blend of strategically placing traps, taking down certain enemies first, taking stronger enemies out of the fight to finish off weaker ones to return to fighting the stronger ones once they're dead, and of course, being a general badass with your bow. Machine combat is where the game shines the most, with each one having its own behaviors and movement and attack style. But it goes beyond that too, the machines have this ecology about them making each seem significant in their own special way. For example, scout class machines watch over terraformer machines, scavenger machines swoop in where other machines are killed and begin to scrap the resources, heavy combat machines feel like actual boss fights and serve to protect other machines as well, etc. etc... Human combat is rather standard, and sometimes a bit boring yet never the less feels important to the story of the game. The world is just....beyond description. I've caught myself going to those distant mountains or valleys just to see the view from those locations and take it all in. No other game in a long time has distracted me from all else just so I could see the world from different angles like that. Plus every place I go to for such reasons often has me battling machines or sneaking passed them along the way so it always feels like an adventure. AAA storyline, hands down, complete with wide-open sequel ending. It kept me guessing the whole way. Seriously though, not to bring it up again, but this game really did just blow me away with just how free-roam it really is. If you can think it, you can probably do it. It's a great thing. Also the dynamic weather system is phenomenal! If it's windy or there's a dust storm Aloy is actually affected by it and you'll see her covering her eyes and commenting about dust blowing in her eyes or water getting in her boots. It just adds to the magic of the world

It is a mix of several genres, but done extremely well. It is Ubisoft the game not made by Ubisoft, its the Witcher, its Monster Hunter all rolled into one. And all done in a good way making a good playable game. The fact that even though its 30 FPS it is stable and runs smoothly.

Honestly? It stands out because it's a brand new IP that runs well and doesn't have any major flaws. In an age where nearly all AAA games are remakes, sequels, and tie-ins, getting a completely new IP with enough positives to be a solid 8/10 gets an instant 10/10.

I made a review about what makes it stand out. The big beautiful open world. The different ways you can fight, use stealth or be agressive. The archery combat. The mounted combat. The abundance of activities and quests. The unique story quest. The main character that is a total badass. The fluid animations. The fleshed out dialogue with most npcs that explain about them if you want to learn more. Letting us skip it if it gets boring. The feeling lile you want to play it when you are at work. Etc.

It looked kinda neat from the bits of trailers that I watched, but I was never hyped. The character design e.g. white people with dreadlocks, just put me off of the game and gave me flashbacks of that terrible Bionic Commando reboot. I basically expected a pretty game with terrible design choices that would make it suck overall, but the reviews and word of mouth say otherwise so I decided to look into it more. I just bought it and am in the process of downloading now. Really hoping I can get past that shitty character design.

I haven't played yet, but I'll just give an opinion based off what I've seen. It looks like an 8/10 game.

It is incredibly overhyped. The story is decent at best, bust most of the characters (including the MC) are all incredibly stale. The selling point of the game, the machines, are well designed and all, but they manage to ruin the game by introducing them all way too fast. At around mid-game you have seen everything. A really mediocre experience imo, also it has no replayability whatsoever. [b][i]NEVER[/i][/b] get this game unless it is on sale. Trust me, you will regret it for sure.

What makes it stand out? -U can only jump or climb over things marked yellow or a certain white on cliffs. When the cutscenes show her climbing a shear cliff wall like a monkey, yet I can't jump out a hole via a stone block shorter than aloy with perfect 90 degree ledges, it really kills the immersion for me. Felt very limited by the environment. -Stealth mechanic can be exploited to a hilarious degree especially with human enemies. -Inventory management is a chore. U fill up fast even after upgrading inventory size. Do I need this or that? Sells item that says purpose is selling to vendors. One hour later, oh crap I needed that. Well better continue with my hoarding ways. -Villages/settlements felt dead and robotic to me. You walk up and can greet people, they all say the same thing. These same areas in witcher 3 were teeming with life. It's not a bad game, just not the 10/10 its receiving.

It's sooooo over rated. Its honestly nothing special. It definitely looks pretty, but the combat isn't great. The bow might as well be a rifle, there's no arc to it unless you're button mashing, but if you hold the trigger for a fraction of a second any arrow flys straighter than a bullet. The animation is embarrassingly bad, faces don't match up with words, expressions make no sense, grass and water don't react to the player at all. Weapons are mostly boring. You got your arrow, element arrows, and an airblast arrow, bombs, a rope, and trip wire traps. Voice acting is terrible I played it about 30 hours or so doing all the side missions, the story is entertaining enough, although most characters had me rolling my eyes at the terrible lines it was a neat little story. Its an ok game, but like I said, ridiculously over rated. You're not missing much

It really is the sum of its parts. The combat is a great blend of planning and adapting. You can't just breeze through fights like a jacked up war machine but you can't expect things to go according to plan either. The world itself is beautiful and not just visually. The lore is well thought out and the various tribes all have personality. The environment feels alive with both the animals roaming the field and the machine going about their routines. It's all fantasy, but it feels believable. Crafting your bag slots and equipping mods is pretty standard fare, but I actually really like the ammo system. Resources are abundant enough that you should always have an ample supply but you still need to manage your resources wisely. Running out of arrows mid battle can be a huge deal if you aren't paying attention, but when you're on top of it, knowing when to disengage for a breather, the whole experience feels very tactical. Speaking of which, the weapon variety is a lot of fun. Is it perfect? There is still room for improvement. Personally I'd like to see more done with overriding. It'd be great to use glinthawks to scan the area as arial drones, have a stalker companion or make watchers ping the other machines that the area is clear. More climbable surfaces would be nice too. Still, overall those are wishful additions not existing flaws. All these things would mean nothing though if it weren't for the REAL (and very simple) reason the game shines: [b]It's hella fun![/b]

Besides being one of the most beautiful games ever made, the machine fighting mechanics are superb. There's a dozen different ways to take down each machine based on your equipment and play style. The combat flows fantastically and just feels right all over and the story has me gripped in a way I haven't been since the PSO/PS2 days (week one of destiny not withstanding, we all know how that turned out). I think one of the biggest selling points for me is, yes it's as big as skyrim, but I've done every single sidequest and errand and not once did I get bored of them, unlike skyrim/fallout/far cry/assassins creed where you get bored of the constant fetch/kill quests after a couple of hours. Besides the machine combat and story there's nothing new or exceptional for an open world game in HZD, and those have both been done well before in other genres, but HZD does all of it [i]so damn well[/i] I literally can't put it down.

Graphics, fluidity of movement and combat, the many different methods you can use to destroy very powerful enemies, beautiful sandbox, and story. One of the characters tells you early on in the game to "respect what you hunt". If you crank up the difficulty to Hard or Very Hard, you can't just run and gun. Even the antelope machines can gangbang you if you're not careful. This embodies the greatness of the game. Gotta use the environment, stealth, and a variety of different methods and weapons to your advantage to take down really impressive enemies.