Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds

Very solid expansion, even feeling more polished in certain areas than the main game.

The icy setting is gorgeous to look at, as are the new enemies present.

The banuk are a very interesting tribe to interact with, and understand their unique culture in contrast with the rest of the game. The main quests do a good job at exploring this side.

Side quests are way more fleshed out storywise, even if the activities you end up doing are quite predictable.

The open world is quite solid, but because of the increased level of combat it can be satisfyingly challenging.

Overal its an extremely solid DLC, that even increases the enjoyment of the main story because of the small added details that complement the narrative.

Horizon Zero Dawn was excellent. Peak open world excellence. It's only fitting that it should be expanded upon. The Frozen Wilds is an add-on to the base game that nails that 'this DLC is just right' feeling. Though, honestly, it would be hard to make an add-on for Horizon Zero Dawn that felt too large. The Frozen Wilds adds an extra bit of land to explore on the north side of the map, which, given the title, is based in an arctic biome. You've heard murmurings of new machines in the north, and you simply must satisfy your own curiosity. If you enjoyed what light interaction the base game gave you with the Banook tribe, you'll love this DLC.

The actual size of the DLC feels pretty good. You get a beautiful snow covered landscape with new mountains to climb, one major hub town, and smaller encampments all over. It never feels lonely, though. The Banook are stationed all over the map, and finding friendly NPC's is a regular occurrence. However, the machines you'll find are more dangerous than ever. Due to a system error in a nearby cauldron, machines are being manufactured and shipped out with more juice than ever, giving you incredibly difficult encounters all across the new map. Basically, it's more of the same. But if you already enjoyed what you were given, you'll not balk at this.

The main quest line of this DLC itself is remarkably short. Only a few missions pass until you've suddenly reached the end. But like the base game, the new DLC area does also contain side content to keep you busy. It's not a large amount of content, but it's certainly enough to give you a few more hours out of the game. It generates some memorable moments, as well. Helping a scrapper out of a dam, aiding young hunters with their kills, and avenging disgraced tribesmen by taking down ancient machines are just among the various tasks you'll engage in. And it's all just as satisfying as the base game.

Obviously, expecting anything as vast as Horizon Zero Dawn itself would be foolish. but The Frozen Wilds adds just enough of an extra course to the game to satisfy. A few new machines, a splash of new collectibles, and a new play area is really all you can ask for when it comes to reasonably prices content add-ons. If you even moderately enjoyed Horizon Zero Dawn, I can wholeheartedly recommend The Frozen Wilds.

Horizon Zero Dawn was perhaps the most anticipated game of 2017 and it got many people excited after it was first shown at the 2016 E3 conference. When it released in early 2017, it got near universal acclaim with almost every reviewer and site praising the game for its open World and concept. I played it not longer after it came out and while it was a decent game, it really wasn't among my favorite, but was still a solid enough open World game with some cool elements. Then during the 2017 E3 they showed a trailer for the first DLC and it sparked some curiosity. Horizon sort of ended on a cliffhanger and the DLC could potentially explore some of the unanswered questions.

For the most part, this DLC doesn't really add anything new, it just feels like the same as the main game. It does add 2 new enemies, you have robot bears and flaming tigers who both are tough and do add challenge, but I wouldn't say they are great additions. The quests in this are pretty bland like the core game, mainly go to this area, kill some enemies, talk to some people, rinse and repeat. The DLC does add a few new hunting challenges and collectibles. I really feel like this DLC doesn't add much new, there are the main story quests and some have you going inside abandoned facilities and doing puzzles and platforming like in te core game, which were probably the most boring missions. The final mission in this is a bit underwhelming, you just fight a flaming robot bear and its over, at least the core game had a final mission that felt conclusive. This isn't a bad DLC, if you like the core game this gives you more or less the same kind of missions, the story is pretty similar and does add a few new things but still is kind of a mess and I found it uninteresting. But quite honestly, this could have been included in the core game and nothing would be different, it just isn't different enough or doesn't offer anything really new. The missions aren't that memorable and it really doesn't add a whole lot to the story.