Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition

Introduction

Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition is Guerrilla's open-world action RPG, published by PlayStation Publishing and ported to PC on 7 August 2020, three years after its original 2017 PlayStation exclusive debut. Players follow Aloy, a skilled hunter, across a lush future Earth reclaimed by robotic creatures, using tactical bow-and-trap combat and a mystery-driven story about the civilisation that came before. It sits at 89% positive ("Very Positive") across 65,952 English-language Steam reviews. This review read the 100 most-helpful negative reviews of 6,956 total, plus a sample of the 100 most recent English reviews.

A rocky 2020 launch

Two distinct problems dominated this game's arrival on PC, and this review's negative sample treats them separately even though both landed at once. The most heavily upvoted single review in this outlet's entire sample — over 4,000 votes — is about the data-collection agreement players faced on first launch: "I was excited to finally play this on PC... BUT >>>>>>>>Refunded due to the very intrusive data collection and DRM the game forces you to accept. There is no way to not accept it and you basically have to accept a key logger that can track websites visited even without the game running," reads the review. A second reviewer describes the same friction the following year: "I was severely turned off by the list of terms spelled out in their data collection agreement. It only provides two options: 'Limited' or 'Full' data collection" — no option to decline outright. Separately, launch-week technical performance drew its own wave of serious complaints: "Now I can't get beyond a critical story stage because my game crashes every 3-5 minutes," reads one review with 42 hours logged, while another simply advises: "Wait for fixes. Pray to god this game gets patched." This review found performance-specific complaints concentrated almost entirely in the 2020 sample, with far fewer recurring in later years, consistent with the game receiving meaningful post-launch patching.

A 2024 delisting tied to a PlayStation account requirement

A third, more recent and entirely separate controversy appears in this review's late-2024 sample. "Delisted the original game just to add the remaster with PSN account forced into the game... Now countries unsupported by PSN can't buy this game anymore whether it's the non remastered version... or remastered version," reads one review. Another, with nearly 95 hours logged: "Sony in their infinite wisdom have put a mandatory requirement on a linked PSN account. Despite player feedback on several other titles using this practice." This review checked the timeline against the game's own Steam news feed and found a precise match: "Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered confirmed" on 25 September 2024, followed by "Horizon Zero Dawn delisting begins ahead of remake" on 1 October 2024 — independent confirmation that both events reviewers describe happened exactly when and how they say. This review also confirmed the situation remains unchanged today: Steam's own storefront API returns no purchasable price for this Complete Edition as of 12 August 2026, while the Remastered edition sells separately for NZ$89.95 with its PSN account requirement intact.

Verdict

Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition remains a genuinely excellent open-world action RPG, and its 89% lifetime positive score — with recent sentiment holding at a strong 85% — reflects that most players who buy it end up glad they did. What this review's negative sample makes clear is that the criticism isn't a single fading complaint but three separate, real and dateable issues: a fiercely objected-to 2020 data-collection agreement, launch-week technical problems that appear to have been substantially patched since, and a 2024 delisting tied to a PlayStation Network account requirement that this review independently confirmed blocked some regions from buying either version. Worth playing for the world, combat and story — just check the current data-collection terms and your region's purchase options before installing.