Obviously, Horizon's combat system is the core of the game that makes the whole thing work. However, there's a bunch of little things that Horizon does that keeps the game from devolving into what's basically referred to as Ubisoft: The Game nowadays. There's nothing really inherently bad about any of those mechanics really. For example, revealing points of interest and/or collectibles is great vs the alternative of using a guide. Anyone remember those hidden packages in GTA3? Anyways onto how Horizon makes it all work...
-Combat
The "little" thing with regards to combat stems for its design focus that many action RPGs fail at. The combat was designed to fight huge beasts first and foremost so much so combat against humans is poor. The combat in Dragon's Dogma was designed from the same standpoint. However, epic fights against huge beasts ring hollow in just about every other RPG. Witcher 3 is a perfect example of the combat system being designed opposite of what the core game should excel at; Geralt is a MONSTER slayer yet the combat system was designed around humanoid fighting so the actual monster fights are so flat.
-The World
The open world is definitely required for the core gameplay; hunting and fighting robot dinosaurs. Thus the game doesn't feel like it's just open world because that's the current fad and the game just wouldn't work as a linear game. Secondly, the open world isn't TOO BIG and there's always something interesting around the next corner. It never feels like it takes too long to get anywhere. Plus, the open world isn't just a filler in-between actual content, the world is very much the content (the hunting of robot dinos). The world is about as dense as you could make it filled with interesting places to explore and new & different fights around just about every corner as well.
-Inventory Management
You're not constantly getting inundated with new weapons that do slightly more damage or gear that's slightly better. In fact, new weapons don't do extra damage, they add new ammo types to give you more combat options. The game keeps you out of the inventory as much as possible.
-Collectibles / Points of Interest / Quests
When you get into a new area, you aren't overwhelmed with loads of question marks and exclamation points everywhere. There's probably about 10 points of interests in each area with a combination of Tallnecks to vantage points to metal flowers. The one thing that I was absolutely ecstatic about when I picked up my first metal flower was that the popup said 1/30 instead of 1/100+. Every collectible is pretty limited in amount. When you get into a new town, there's only 1 or 2 exclamation point quest givers. Even the biggest city had, I believe, 4 quest givers. You never feel like you ever have this massive checklist of quests and collectibles.
-Health & Save Systems
The health system is like Rise of the Tomb Raider on Survivor difficulty (no health regen) where you have to find medicinal herbs to fill your medicine pouch. Every hit you take drains your resources. You use campfires to save at. There is a decent amount of fear that you will lose progress because if you die, you return back to the last campfire you saved at similar to a Souls game. It's nowhere near a Souls game as quests have pretty generous checkpoints. However, when exploring the world, there are consequences for dying on your way to your destination giving each fight that extra bit of tension.
-No More FARMING
You can buy rare drops from enemies for a good chunk of money instead of having to farm them to get a specific rare drop needed for a specific weapon.
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Horizon Zero Dawn is a game that fully utilizes its open world to expand on its core gameplay while most games' open worlds only dilute the core gameplay; Mirror's Edge Catalyst collectibles make you constantly STOP to get them, which is at complete odds with the "flow" of the game's platforming. Horizon's world is NEEDED for the core gameplay to actually work instead of just acting as padding between actual content.
-Combat
The "little" thing with regards to combat stems for its design focus that many action RPGs fail at. The combat was designed to fight huge beasts first and foremost so much so combat against humans is poor. The combat in Dragon's Dogma was designed from the same standpoint. However, epic fights against huge beasts ring hollow in just about every other RPG. Witcher 3 is a perfect example of the combat system being designed opposite of what the core game should excel at; Geralt is a MONSTER slayer yet the combat system was designed around humanoid fighting so the actual monster fights are so flat.
-The World
The open world is definitely required for the core gameplay; hunting and fighting robot dinosaurs. Thus the game doesn't feel like it's just open world because that's the current fad and the game just wouldn't work as a linear game. Secondly, the open world isn't TOO BIG and there's always something interesting around the next corner. It never feels like it takes too long to get anywhere. Plus, the open world isn't just a filler in-between actual content, the world is very much the content (the hunting of robot dinos). The world is about as dense as you could make it filled with interesting places to explore and new & different fights around just about every corner as well.
-Inventory Management
You're not constantly getting inundated with new weapons that do slightly more damage or gear that's slightly better. In fact, new weapons don't do extra damage, they add new ammo types to give you more combat options. The game keeps you out of the inventory as much as possible.
-Collectibles / Points of Interest / Quests
When you get into a new area, you aren't overwhelmed with loads of question marks and exclamation points everywhere. There's probably about 10 points of interests in each area with a combination of Tallnecks to vantage points to metal flowers. The one thing that I was absolutely ecstatic about when I picked up my first metal flower was that the popup said 1/30 instead of 1/100+. Every collectible is pretty limited in amount. When you get into a new town, there's only 1 or 2 exclamation point quest givers. Even the biggest city had, I believe, 4 quest givers. You never feel like you ever have this massive checklist of quests and collectibles.
-Health & Save Systems
The health system is like Rise of the Tomb Raider on Survivor difficulty (no health regen) where you have to find medicinal herbs to fill your medicine pouch. Every hit you take drains your resources. You use campfires to save at. There is a decent amount of fear that you will lose progress because if you die, you return back to the last campfire you saved at similar to a Souls game. It's nowhere near a Souls game as quests have pretty generous checkpoints. However, when exploring the world, there are consequences for dying on your way to your destination giving each fight that extra bit of tension.
-No More FARMING
You can buy rare drops from enemies for a good chunk of money instead of having to farm them to get a specific rare drop needed for a specific weapon.
---
Horizon Zero Dawn is a game that fully utilizes its open world to expand on its core gameplay while most games' open worlds only dilute the core gameplay; Mirror's Edge Catalyst collectibles make you constantly STOP to get them, which is at complete odds with the "flow" of the game's platforming. Horizon's world is NEEDED for the core gameplay to actually work instead of just acting as padding between actual content.
