Woudn’t say I “hated” it, but def liked it WAY less than the original Horizon. Mechanically, they made it feel much more like a looter-shooter/live-service game, where no matter how much you upgrade your weapons, the enemies just keep getting spongier and spongier, and your reward for exploration is never anything good - just a bunch of crafting crap.

Your gear starts off nearly useless, and to level it up you have to grind tons of ultra-rare materials. As a result I finished the game with unabgraded gear. I also made it all the way to the end without understanding how those damn stash chests work - the interface on those is just busted!

The story is far less interesting too. It goes in a direction you might’ve predicted in part 1, but the tone changes completely. Though I liked some of the new and returning secondary characters, I really didn’t like the new Aloy - she’s just SOOO sanctimonious and unpleasant now!