Horizon Zero Dawn reviews are up, being faulted for being open world

[Cross-posted from Facebook]

I see some of the reviews are knocking Horizon Zero Dawn for doing what other open world games do. (Having the player's character be willing to do all kinds of chores for random people.)

First, I clearly haven't played the game. But I think this is one of these issues that game reviewers have that game players don't have. Because game players play games when they want to play games and in a way that is fun for them. Game reviewers have to play games constantly, whether they want to or not. I think that gives them a different outlook.

For example, I'm playing Far Cry 4 now. After I started playing I saw reviews that pinged it for basically having too much to do. Too much busywork. I think that's ridiculous! Am I doing every single thing Far Cry 4 offers? Of course not, I'm playing for my enjoyment, so the stuff that isn't interesting to me, I skip.

A game reviewer would, presumably. try to do everything so s/he could review the entire game, and if I had to clear every icon on the map, I'd find fault with it, too.

The good news is that, aside for US Gamer, in spite of the "open world tropes" Horizon Zero Dawn is getting pretty good reviews. As a fan of open world games who looks forward to seeing what kind of "towers" I need to unlock in HZD (I believe in this case, it's the "tall neck" robo-dinosaurs), I'm really looking forward to the game. Next week!