Horizon Zero Dawn happens so far later on that the Earth is practically unrecognizable. Now and again both modern and ancient, it's a land plagued by automated creatures — strong, chrome things looking like everything from ponies to dinosaurs — where people protect themselves with lances and quits. The behind the times people and monsters conflict fascinatingly, bringing up various issues about how the world got into this state, why machines have to a great extent supplanted untamed life, and what befell the human advancement that preceded. These secrets kept me pushing on through the game for many hours.