The upcoming "Horizon: Zero Dawn" for the PlayStation 4 promises to shake up the entire RPG gaming experience with the developer's replacement of the usual tutorial system of introducing the game's mechanics in favor of a more natural and intuitive approach - by studying how the enemy AI works.
The "post post-apocalyptic" game puts players in the shoes of Aloy, a hunter and member of one of the last surviving tribes of people in the world, which is now overrun with robotic creatures resembling dinosaurs. The game, while being in an open world that players are free to explore, will feature RPG elements in the gameplay.
"We don't tutorialize the game, we don't go and tell you how to hunt these robos or how they interact. You really have to go out there and explore these things by trial and error." Guerilla Games art director Jan-Bart van Beek explained to VideoGamer.com. van Beek explains that the different weapons and ammunition types in "Horizon: Zero Dawn" have different kinds of interplay with each other, and it's up to the player to discover what kind of weapon and ammunition works best with a particular type of enemy. The "non-tutorialized" approach extends to the enemy AI, with the game encouraging players to study interactions between enemy AIs to find out the interconnections between them.
"Horizon: Zero Dawn" will also have a mix of the old and the new in terms of character development, providing a combination of elements that veteran players can recognize along with some that new players can quickly become accustomed to. van Beek explains that while the game will have a skill tree that will allow the player to gain access to better equipment and character power-ups, it will also have a secondary method of upgrading by way of defeating bigger and stronger enemies, and harvesting items from them such as armor plating or better weaponry.
Finally, van Beek reveals that there will no information coming from Guerilla Games regarding the game's back story, leaving it instead for the players to find out for themselves. "By exploring the world, going to the ruins and learning as much as possible about our game, everything will reveal itself," van Beek concludes.
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