Horizon Zero Dawn vs Breath of the Wild?

[DaHeckIzDat]

I've said before that I'm not really into open world/sandbox games. The amount of time you spend getting from point a to point b, with nothing important or interesting to do in between them, wears on my patience and I lose interest pretty fast. That said, I was surprised by how addicting I've found Breath of the Wild. I've beaten three divine beasts and acquired the Master Sword, and I intend to get the last beast and then beat Ganon asap. If I had to guess, I'd say it's because the game world feels just as big as it needs to be, instead of stretching itself out just to be bigger. There are things to do in between points a and b, even if they're just minor things like finding koroks. You can climb to the top of a mountain, look into the distance, and go "Ooh, what's that?" Plus, the visuals are more appealing to me than something hyper realistic like Skyrim or The Witcher 3. I'm not going to spend more time than I have to walking around, but when I do explore the world looks interesting enough that I enjoy it.

I'm curious, though: how does BotW compare to Horizon Zero Dawn? They're both open world action RPG-ish games, and from what I hear HZD is amazing too. HZD just didn't get as much attention because it made the mistake of releasing right alongside BotW. So, what do you guys think? How does the gameplay, exploration, and lasting appeal compare? Or if you haven't played both, what are your impressions solely on HZD?

[DrLitch]

Horizon Zero Dawn is indeed a very good and fun game, but for most RPG enthusiasts, it does not offer anything tremendously different. In BOTW you can do what you want when you want (outside of the compulsory 4 shrine quest in the beginning of the game). No character levelling up, perks or quirks. Little to no story or background, just a giant world for the player to explore and do as he/she pleases. Whether this is a good thing is subjective, but I personally have invested > 200hours in BOTW while clocking approx 60hours on HZD. The games are similar in some regards but HZD is a more story driven action RPG while BOTW is its own thing. Both are quality IP's for Sony and Nintendo respectively.

To highlight one key difference:
In HZD you come across areas where you are hopelessly outmatched, you got to go back and smash some weaker enemies to gain XP or complete quests/trials to rack up the points. In Zelda BOTW, got a hard enemy (i.e. a Silver Lynel to bash)? No problem, go to the cook pot, knock out an attack elixir, grab a couple of decent'ish weapons, and you will be killing this guy with minimal effort (subject to mastering of flurry rush and shield parry).