I had no idea who Ashley Burch was before HZD so fortunately don't carry that baggage around, and IMO she manages to (largely) deliver a believable heroine who displays bravura, bravado and compassion both at the players' behest (the first time I really got Aloy was the medicine mission when she has the conversation with the hermit medical dude and the tone in her voice conveyed a deep sense of personal injustice at his words about outcasts) and in dialog-fixed cutscenes.
I think comparisons with Witcher about the writing are a bit unfair - CDPR are taking from a mainline well written (if conventional) fantasy series, HZD is a new fiction from the ground up, and carries with it the burden of foundational world-building, a central character origins quest as well as the main story - all of this being fitted into a gaming format that isn't necessarily conducive to well paced & rounded storytelling.
As a piece of SF (which I read a lot of and is the main reason I had no issues with the high/low tech mix and general setting of the game) what I've played so far puts it in early Neal Asher quality level (and OMG I'd love to see him involved in world-building in a video game), and while the writing isn't always good/great it's never actually poor IMO. Someone said it's like mid-tier YA fiction...which puts it easily into the top 10% of game writing...
