It’s a bit more open world but yes most likely.
of those three that you list I would say this plays most like the Tomb Raider rebooted series in game structure, or perhaps a far cry. The combat isn’t necessarily the same however to any of those. It really plays differently compared to which weapons you favor.
22 hours in and while fun, I expected much more from Gonzales. The writing and quest design are so bland. No interesting characters to speak of. It looks beautiful, but somehow the world lack atmosphere / sense of place. I enjoy the combat though. And yeah, dat graphics.
I agree about the lack of interesting characters.
There’s the one bad guy terrorist who is kind of cool, other than that the most interesting characters all died way before the game took place.
I can get it for $40 on Amazon. Tempted to get it.
FWIW, I had the same experience as @Paul_cze. I was really engaged at first, but quickly hit a wall of boredom. After leaving the first area, the characters were dull and quests boring. I’d wait until it’s cheaper.
So, I should just get Witcher 3, then?
I personally think Witcher 3 holds the story and gameplay better than Horizon. There’s also A LOT to do in the game. Horizon simply isn’t as multifaceted as Witcher 3.
The combat is way better in Horizon than in the Witcher. I found Witcher 3 harder to finish frankly but I know I’m sort of in the minority on my opinion of that game.
Yeah, the story and dialogue in Witcher 3 might be better, but the gameplay and combat of Horizon beats it by a lot in my opinion.
Both Witcher and HZD are great games, but Witcher 3 is easily one of the best games ever made.
If you need to pick one between the two, play Witcher 3.
But I’d recommend playing them both.
FWIW, I bounced hard on Witcher 3, because while the plot was interesting, I found the game play just wasn’t fun for me.
For HZD, I loved the core game play, and found the plot interesting.
Obviously, your mileage may vary.
Not gonna surprise anyone with this statement, but yeah I consider Witcher 3 much better. At least the 60fps PC version. Enjoy combat about the same in both games (though obviously TW3 is melee based, Horizon is mostly ranged), but in TW3 a random NPC has more personality in their pinky than Horizon’s main characters have in their whole interactions. Not to mention quest design and sense of place. The previous game John Gonzales worked on - Fallout New Vegas - was also much stronger in those aspects.
But I don’t want to seem like a hater - I am still having fun and intend to finish it, I am curious if the story will go somewhere interesting. There is a good sidequest here from time to time. But Horizon was one of the main reasons I bought PS4 Pro, paid 60 bucks for it…and so far it feels like a “solid 7/10”.
Dunno why people compare those two games besides the open world aspect. They are both great games, people should play both.
Because some people just want to witcher3 the world burn.
Mark specifically asked which one to buy.
And if you can’t compare two open world games with preset protagonists, sidequests, loot, dialogue and detective vision, then you couldn’t compare anything.
I could name a dozen more things that make them very different games form each other. So what does that make them? The core of these games(their main game play loops) are just plain different. The Witcher is an RPG at its core and Horizon is an action adventure. Id assume that’s clear to see to most people…
That is strongly derivative of various other games, including The Witcher 3. I’d assume that’s clear to see to most people. :)
Mostly to their credit, Guerilla Games knew how to borrow from others. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
-Tom
I see quite some similarities in gameplay loops. Biggest one is the tracking with Witcher/Focus sense, that Horizon somehow managed to make even more prominent…and due to blander/less varied quests, more boring. Then there is the loot and inventory management, cinematic dialogue, exploration…
I agree with the base point that this is action adventure game while Witcher is an action RPG, mostly due to ton of choices and consequences that are missing here, but still, there are similarities.
And the Witcher probably got the tracking mechanics from Batman. They’re just different mechanically and HZD is different from Zelda, which is in turn nothing like The Witcher even though they all share some similar things.
You can ride things in all three games, but the means of getting the mounts and how they function are quite different.
They are all great examples of awesome games with huge worlds to adventure in, but aside from that I’d say comparing them side to side is a pointless endeavor.