Machines, Mountains, and the Wilds: My Favorite HZD Shots

It was a good day for gamers as one of the most anticipated games was announced to be released in just a couple of weeks. I am talking about Hollow Knight: Silksong. I am excited about it and going to play it as soon as it drops. I need to complete Horizon: Zero Dawn before this, but my love for taking beautiful shots from this game is not letting me go faster. I am in the middle of the campaign now, and every day the game still surprises me with its beautiful graphics.

I have a lot of shots to share with you from the quests in the game.

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Aloy digs deeper into the mysteries of this world and sees the old machines that were probably once used to threaten the entire human civilisation. Look at the size of those tentacles; it makes sense that if these war robots go rogue, it would be tough to stop.

We were on a big mountain where a big facility was created. This place is called the grave-hold, which, as the name suggests, is the graves for many machines. Look at what this facility looks like from the outside.

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I had an idea for a creative shot using those tentacles to frame the subject. There are many poses she can do, and I chose the one-legged stand because of how high we were in the mountains. She is balancing herself gracefully.

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I love the next shot too. I didn't have to do much with this one. That was part of the game. Adding a bit of tint was enough. Those huge metal gates work well as a framing element again.

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The weather system is impressive, too. I was once roaming on these mountains hunting some machines for parts and pleasure, and a big storm came. It was snowing heavily and looked very beautiful. This is with a low-mid setting, too; imagine playing it in the highest preset quality with better resolution. Insane, how the graphics in games have come so far.

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Nature is reclaiming everything. Huge rubble of the past civilisation is covered in moss and rust now. The landscapes are beautiful, the flowers vibrant than ever in the meadows.

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The developers have done a great job with the textures and lighting in the game. Those vibrant colours with highly detailed models are nothing without a good lighting environment. I have tried my hand at 3d scene building with Blender in the past, and I can tell you that lighting plays a huge role in making or breaking your scene.

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I keep lens flares turned off in the game because those flares look too artificial at times. But when I want to put extra emphasis on the lights, I turn them on. I am not too sure about the next shot. Does the lens flare look too fake to you?

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I will leave you with this last shot. This is the place where you start a hunting challenge. Pretty fun if you ask me, and I visit this place often. I like the design of this hut.

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I want to spend more time per day playing this game, but my time is divided between other games and offline activities. And when I do play, my mind keeps distracting me from taking on new quests and looking for opportunities to take down some more machines or capture a good shot of me doing it. But in any case, the game is visually stunning, and the gameplay is fun too. Not much to complain about in this game, apart from an occasional crash once in a while.

Let me know if you liked these shots and which one is your favourite.