[dartharva]

HZD overwhelmingly felt like belonging to the same "fake open world" trope as described by the author to me though. Apart from the enemy types and combat mechanics it's really hard to distinguish it from your run-of-the-mill AC game - it has the same feel of repititive missions scattered across the world as a distraction from the main storyline. Rather, AC at least tries to make its characters look lively and have individual traits. HZD's forced dialogues with its excessively lifeless and mechanical characters are abhorrent and were a huge deterrent for me against completing the game.

[jeppester]

They very much improved that aspect for the second game. It's still the same type of open world, but it's the best I've played of that kind.