Horizon

Horizon is an action based role-playing/open world sandbox video game developed by Zenith and published by OnyxWare as an exclusive for the PlayStation 4. The game was teased at E3 2014 on June 7 of that same year by Sony Computer Entertainment and officially unveiled several days later in a surprise conference between Zenith and OnyxWare. Horizon was released worldwide on September 1, 2015.

Gameplay
Horizon's gameplay is an amalgamation of various but popular video game genres and formats such as third-person shooters, stealth, and RPGs.

Character customization
As the player begins the game, they will have the option of customizing their own character or choosing a default appearance. Opting to customize the character will give the player almost unlimited range in how they want to design him or her. Many different ranges of customization options are made available to the player, such as hair style, hair color, eye color, skin complexion, height, age, voice, and a lot more. Once the player has finished completing the appearance portion of the customization process, they will be able to modify the character's personality and traits. Different personalities can affect how the player progresses through the game and can even grant you benefits based on the traits you choose. For example, if your character has a more bold personality, they will gain a significant boost in vitality.

In the final stage of customization, the player can tweak the character's background and history with other NPCs. What you pick will have an effect on the story.

Difficulty
Also at the beginning of the game, the player is asked to choose a difficulty setting. There are seven in total:
 * Tenderfoot: The easiest possible difficulty. Players acquire significant amounts of bonuses and other rewards, enemies are nothing compared to your abilities, and weapons deal massive damage.
 * Novice: Slightly more harder than the Tenderfoot setting, players still have many benefits they can acquire, enemies are more intelligent but still don't stand a chance against you, and weapon damage is decreased, but still noticeably powerful.
 * Squab: A more tougher challenge for those who are newcomers. Player benefits are decreased, but are very numerous, enemy tactics are implemented as well as increased intelligence, weapon damage is decreased even more, but still has enough kick, and more intimidating features are introduced (ex: teammate health).
 * Operative: Considered the normal difficulty setting, Operative has the same traits of Squab, but even more intimidating features are introduced (ex: enemy combat is vastly randomized).
 * Hunter: Significantly more challenging than Operative, Hunter gives the player every trait from the previous difficulty settings, but decreases the benefits, ammo availability, health, vitality, etc.
 * Champ: Second to the hardest difficulty, Champ decreases benefits, vitality, health, etc. quite significantly. Combat is fast-paced, and there is little to no margin for error.
 * Warrior: The hardest possible difficulty, Warrior makes combat a hellish fight for the last few specs of health you have remaining; supplies and other collectibles become rare if not entirely unavailable, and various features that would otherwise assist you are completely taken away.

Playing styles
The marketing for the game focused heavily on how diverse player experiences would be. Horizon offers many opportunities for players to go about traversing an area, completing an objective, or taking down an enemy. For example, ventilation systems and shadows provide for a stealth approach, but plenty of cover compliments the run and gun mindset. Keep in mind that many play styles can overlap each other; a player can use a ventilation duct to get by a more challenging enemy and completely decimate an entire squad in the next area. Certain playstyles have been officially labeled as:
 * Wraith: Silent but deadly. This is the stealth approach.
 * Rambo: Going in guns blazing. This is the run and gun/shooter approach.
 * Scuffle: Up close and personal. This is the beat 'em up approach.
 * Hoodoo: Accidents can happen. This is a stealth approach that can overlap with strategy.
 * Commander: Efficient leadership can benefit in combat. This is a shooter approach that can overlap with real-time tactics (proficient use of teammate abilities and cooperation).

Exploration
A significant chunk of the game involves exploration and discovery. After the player completes the main prologue, they are given the ability to explore the entire galaxy as they please. Certain planets can be landed on, while others can only be observed. This feature is made useful by an interface which is pulled up when the player wishes to choose a destination. The main ship is then shown flying to the destination, where the player can fully travel.

With this unique feature, players can engage in hidden side missions or quests to find valuables. Any planet they land on is home to a wide variety of activities and missions. However, there are some dangers present with this. Sometimes, the player will run into rogue enemy ships while traveling, and will be presented the option to intercept the enemy or retreat. Either option is calculated based on their chances of success. For example, if the player were to choose to fight the enemy, there would be a display on the right showing their chances of victory. The same applies to the retreat option, only instead, the display would show the player's chances of escape. If it is low (25%), then the player has a very slim chance of escaping without a hitch. If the player opts to escape despite the low chances, their ship will suffer heavy casualties and lose precious resources. The same goes for when they opt to fight the enemy.

Combat
The combat engine for the game was given careful attention and focus to create an intense, but satisfying combat mechanic for players. The engine, dubbed "Chrysalis", introduces several groundbreaking features that makes battles and other instances of combat open-ended experiences. As for the format, Horizon's combat predicates itself on a third-person shooter perspective while having various methods that compliment other play styles. For example, stealth-minded players can approach traditional combat as a hindrance and can instead opt to use silent tactics to subvert opponents.

Combat in Horizon is also considered incredibly visceral, as the player can interact with the environment in a variety of ways. Boxes can be picked up and thrown, lights can be destroyed to create shadows, weak walls and glass can be shattered, and more.

Enemy A.I.
The artificial intelligence for enemies in the game has been a focal point of critical praise. Each enemy has a different "mindset" as described by the developers, and each enemy has their own tactics. This makes for a challenge to players, who must approach each situation with caution and strategy. This can be demonstrated through armored opponents, who are more bold in their fighting. These type of enemies will try to flank the player and use their armor to push players and teammates back into the open, where other enemies can focus their fire. Armored opponents also cannot be taken down easily; players must exploit an armor weakness or stun the enemy before carrying out an attack.

Setting
The game takes place in the year 2402, the wake of the 25th century. The setting is primarily based on Earth, but the story encompasses the entire Milky Way Galaxy through exploration. The main backstory for the game is that Earth suffered a wide range of catastrophic tectonic shfits at the end of the 21st century, which lead to all of the planet's continents drifting together to form a supercontinent which is later called Magnus. In the aftermath, humanity adapted to their new hemispheres and axis of the planet, which tilted following the tectonic shifts. By 2268, humanity managed to fully rebuild and establish political ground, which lead to Magnus being divided into different regions and the incorporation of a universal currency called kether.

Rifts
In the game, the widely accepted method of space travel is by the use of interstellar gateways known as "rifts". These massive devices operate by manipulating dark matter and refocusing it into a powerful energy bolt, which is attracted to the pylon on any normal spacefaring vehicle. This pylon, once struck by the dark matter bolt, transfers the immense amount of dark energy into a dynamo, which causes a rapid boost in acceleration that goes about as fast as the speed of light. Afterwards, the ship's dynamo uses all of the dark energy and the ship returns to normal speed. At that point, the ship would have reached its destination.

Rifts were at first considered unreliable because of how they can potentially refocus too much dark energy and send a ship flying too far out of range or into a celestial body. Scientists who helped engineer the rifts later came out with a statement saying that rifts are coordinated to target a vast but clear expanse in the destination cluster the ship wants to reach. With this, crew and passengers can find themselves resting easy.