Horizon Zero Dawn Celebrates Its Second Anniversary By Topping 10 Million Sales

TheGamer

By Daniel Alvarez

Published Feb 28, 2019

On its two year anniversary, Sony shared sales numbers: Horizon Zero Dawn has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

Horizon Zero Dawn was released in 2017 to acclaim. It has an 89 on Metacritic, putting it in the top 20 highest rated titles of 2017. During its first anniversary, Sony announced that the game sold over 7.6 million units. Now, on its two year anniversary, Sony has once again shared sales numbers: Horizon Zero Dawn has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

In addition to sharing this impressive sales report, Hermen Hulst, Managing Director at Guerrilla Games, talked about some fun facts regarding the development of the game. For example, prototyping began in 2010 when Guerrilla Games was finishing up Killzone 3. Aloy, the protagonist, has her facial model based off of Dutch actress Hannah Hoekstra. According to the blog, the idea for this came from game Director Jochen Willemsen watching a movie with Hoekstra as the star. Fans of the machines might appreciate this one: each machine type contains mixed animal sounds. The common Watcher, for example, actually contains some Chihuahua barks.

Horizon Zero Dawn takes place in the future, where machines roam about and kill any humans that cross them. People have formed tribal communities during this time. Aloy is raised by an outcast named Rost. Years later, Aloy is given the chance to become a Nora Brave and allowed into the community by winning a competition. From there, the story really gets going. Aloy eventually puts herself on a path to learn about the secrets of the machines, and what really happened to the world.

Zero Dawn puts a large emphasis on adventure, and action. You'll be traveling the large map, and fighting machines. Often, you can sneak up on a machine and deliver a fatal blow. The game was nominated for Game of the Year at the Game Awards, but lost to another adventure title: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Still, Zero Dawn is a notable title for numerous reasons. While some may find the beginning of the game a little slow, it picks up to the point where you want to complete mission after mission to see where Aloy's journey takes her.

For a fantastic challenge, it's recommend to play the game on hard difficulty. It's the right amount of challenge without feeling impossible. If you have not played Horizon Zero Dawn, it is certainly worth checking out. Those who have enjoyed Breath of the Wild, God of War, or Uncharted, should appreciate the gameplay design. Its campaign is also a quality length, with plenty of side missions to complete. You can purchase the game's Complete Edition at GameStop for $19.99, which contains the Frozen Wilds DLC expansion.