Life as we don't know it: Cyclical time and collectives in horizon: Zero Dawn

Taking cues from both posthuman studies and video game studies, this essay dives into the narrative of the video game Horizon: Zero Dawn (2017) to examine the ways in which entanglements of different forms of life (such as the coexistence of humans, nonhumans, and technology) as planetary collectives are tied to reinterpretations of linear and cyclical time. More specifically, I argue that the reconfiguration of collectives beyond the human as a radical challenge to conventional human-nonhuman relationships requires an equally significant reconfiguration of time. To do so, I examine the narrative and gameplay of Horizon: Zero Dawn as a theoretical endeavor in thinking about collectives in terms of entanglements between life-forms made possible through a reimagining of linear and cyclical time.