It ’s not too much longer until the release ofHorizon Forbidden Westand the continuation of Aloy ’s story . From what ’s been revealed so far , the sequel seems to   preserve with   some tale factor fromHorizon Zero Dawn , such as a subversion - like plague sail over the state and causing plants and other biomatter to speedily decay . To understand what this could intend for the story ofHorizon Forbidden West , it ’s important to get it on the   full account ofHorizon Zero Dawn .

[ discourage : Major spoiler for the entirety of Horizon Zero Dawn and the Frozen Wilds DLC ]

This is no gentle exploit however . The tale ofHorizon Zero Dawnspans multiple centuries and make do to get moderately specific about people , event , and date   thanks to the various data - logs launch throughout the game . Not only that , the playable events ofHorizon Zero Dawnand its DLC expansion , Frozen Wilds , are expansive and have a lot of run parts , such as   political conflicts , cultural systems , and entire religions .

GTA 6 artwork of Jason and Lucia with guns on a pier.

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Keeping caterpillar tread of all these parts ofHorizon Zero Dawn ’s storycan get puzzling . While players do n’t postulate to know every fine detail , there is still a pile of important account and effect to experience so as to have a effective understanding of this creation . This breakdown ofHorizon Zero Dawn ’s story , in chronological ordering , explains everything that musician need to know for climb up into the world ofHorizon Forbidden Westwith sureness .

Before The Events Of Horizon Zero Dawn, Explained

In the   mid-21st century , Ted Faro congeal the events in motion that would go to the quenching of the human race . Faro was the founder and CEO of Faro Automated Systems , famed for their accomplishment in A.I. and robotics . They would become most well - known for   theirMetal Gear Solid - like   engagement   robotsknown as the   Chariot line of " Peacekeepers . " Faro personally oversaw their ontogenesis and contrive   them to be heavy armed and operate   like a cloud of insects .

In his hubris , Faro made the mistake of making the robots near unstoppable . All of them consumed biomatter for fuel , the stupendous Horus - class   titans were able-bodied to self - replicate exponentially , and   yjey had an operating arrangement so well - protected that it would take 10 to penetrate . To make it even worse , Faro purposefully excluded any failsafes that could close them down .

This forthwith became a problem in   late   2064 whena organization - breaking   " glitch"infected one of the swarms   and made them unresponsive to commands . In his panic   about not being able to shut the drove down , Faro meet roboticist , bioengineer , and former partner Dr. Elisobet Sobeck to observe a solution . A day later , Sobeck reported that the swarm is n’t just unresponsive to orders , they ’re entirely self-governing . The swarm was already beginning to repeat and Sobeck sleep with it was already beyond containment   and estimated that it would devour all the Earth ’s constituent matter in only 15 month .

Genshin Impact’s Shenhe and Mavuika pose next to each other.

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The   swarm became fitly known as the Faro Plague . Sobeck   live that there was nothing they could do to stop   it from destroy lifetime on Earth , but she did have an musical theme   that would   allow lifespan to be reborn :   Project Zero Dawn .   It centered around GAIA , an A.I. designed by Sobeck   to terraform and repopulate the planet . To do this , GAIA was accompanied by various subordinate single-valued function , such as APOLLO , who was tasked with give the new humans the knowledge of   their past and HADES , who was task with   resetting the process if something ever went wrong .

It would n’t be long after the completion of Project Zero Dawn that the biosphere began to go away . The extreme personnel casualty of botany and fauna began depleting O levels and   killing off lifefaster thanDeath Stranding ’s Timefall .   In Holy Order to survive , humans either want re - breathing spell or had to be held inside sealed facility .

Oblivion Lelles shopkeeper with the docks of Anvil behind him

Sobeck , Faro , and the Alpha members of Project Zero Dawn sealed themselves inside   one such facility ,   GAIA Prime . One of the latches misfunction however , which   allow for GAIA ’s go signal to bleed out and reveal their bearing to the Faro Plague . In her final act of heroism , Sobeckdonned   the shield weaver armorto manually close up the hatching from the outside , knowing that she would n’t be able to re - record .

Inside the facility , Faro ’s mental State Department quickly devolve , likely due to his guilt . This lead him to pass over out all of APOLLO ’s archives as he   became positive   that the future of humanity would be corrupted by the knowledge of their past . He called a meeting with the Alpha appendage and inform them of his action   via hologram . As they call on the carpet him in repugnance , Faro remotely vented the oxygen   out of the way and suffocated them all . Faro presumptively died of old geezerhood inside GAIA Prime .

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Horizon Zero Dawn Story and Ending Explained

It ’s count on that all life , including marine spirit , went   destroy   by 2068.The mass extinction of mankindand the biosphere   rendered Earth toxic and sterile , the Faro Plague go bad dormant .   All the while , GAIA had been trying to break through the plague ’s encryption and at   some point in the 23rd century ,   she follow   and keep out them down permanently . at last , in the twenty-fourth century , Project Zero Dawn   trigger off and spirit return to the planet .

The Story of Horizon Zero Dawn Explained

In Autumn   of 3020 , a sign of unsung origin make GAIA and cause her to mislay ascendency of her subsidiary . HADES , now autonomous ,   attempted to   take control of the terraforming system to fulfill his directive even though it had been a success . Unable to stupefy HADESon her own , GAIA sacrificed herself by explode the GAIA Prime facility to demolish   him and the terraforming system , but HADES survived by plant himself in the computing machine substance of a Horus - class titan .   HADES , now pin , developed a plan to reactivate the Faro Plague   and fulfil his desire to eradicate lifetime in a for good , but he take assist . He direct out a signal in hope someone would come to his aid , and a bird of passage named Sylens did just that .

They began work together in central for cognition of the old and new world . Sylens learned of   the Old Ones   and their downfall while HADES learned about the ongoingcivil warfare between two knock-down factions : the Carja and extremist Shadow Carja . Sylens introduce leader of the Shadow Carja to HADES , who show himself as one of their immortal , the Buried Shadow . By manipulate their zealousness , HADES transformed the group in the Eclipse rage . With no more use for Sylens , HADES order him to be killed but was unsuccessful .

A year later , a   newborn   young woman was found by the High Matriarchs of the Nora tribe , pose   on the alter of the All - Mother . One materfamilias , Teersa , saw this child as a blessing while   her counterparts feel she was acurse from the godsand   wanted her dead , arguing that she   was site in the Sacred Mountain by a   metal devil as she had no mother .   The infant was at last permit to live but was deem an outcast by Nora law and was placed in the care of another Ishmael diagnose Rost .

A photo of the Faro Plague machines from Horizon Zero Dawn.

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Rost key the kid Aloy and   would dedicate his life to raising her . One Clarence Day ,   six years subsequently ,   Aloy   was harassed by a chemical group of Nora children while break up berries   and lead away in anger , finally falling down a golf hole into   to   a ruin of the Old Ones . After let her bearings , Aloy found   an arrow shaped target called a Focus , which displayed information and cognition right before her eyes . She used the Focus to get off the ruins andreunite with Rost .

As Aloy continued wonder why she was an outcast and what happened to her mother , Rost told her that the good way to detect out was by win the Proving . This result is the follow of age ritual for the Nora , where those who fill in it become Braves and the one who succeed receives a boon from the High Matriarchs .   Rost trainsAloy to be a master hunterin go for that , by winning , she   would learn the truth about her past .

An image of Dr. Elisabet Sobeck’s hologram next to GAIA and her subordinate functions in Horizon Zero Dawn.

When the   day of the Proving finally make it and   the other Nora teenagers   examine   to   keep her from gain through foul free rein , but Aloy overcame them and crossed the conclusion line first . However , before she could be officially named the victor , a mysterious radical assail and killed all of the new Braves except for Aloy . She managed to stay calm andavoid making misunderstanding during combat , which resulted in the aggressor ’s frustration . Upon investigating their bodies , she discovered they all had Focuses , but was then snipe and immobilized by their leader , Helis , before she could make sense of it .

Thankfully , Rost get in in prison term to relieve Aloy , but is fatally prod in the unconscious process . Helis prepares explosive   and leaves them to die out   in the blow . Rost make believe his means over to a half - witting Aloy and , with his final row , tell   her to survive and pushes her off the side of the mountain . As she fall , she looks up to see Rost melt into the detonation .

Sometime after , Aloy   jolt awake inside the Sacred Mountain , having been breastfeed back to health by Teersa . Knowing her desire tolearn of her past tense , Teersa postulate Aloy to the alter of the All - Mother , where she was establish , and Aloy ’s Focus activates .   It start communicating with the All - Mother ,   which is really a doorway to some kind of installation that   wo n’t open due to the putridness that ’s affecting the land and its machines . More importantly , Aloy get word the face of someone who depend a deal like her .

Horizon Zero Dawn Producer Responds

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Determined to start the threshold and bump out who the woman is , Aloy is anointed as a Seeker which gives her the power to move freely . in short after leaving Nora lands for the first metre , Aloy encounters corruptedmachines that are fast-growing and difficult to beat- some   of which are all new to her . Aloy ’s first goal is to track down a man she met the Nox before the Proving . He had a Focus like the attackers and was acting suspicious , and   Aloy think of   that he was accompany by   Erend , a leader from Meridian . After traversing through some of the game ’s most breathtaking location , Aloy obtain Erend and   learns that the person she ’s looking for is named Olin . After investigating his home base , they come across that he is working with the grouping that assault the Proving .

Aloy traverse Olin down to an archeological site site and where the attackers are uncovering and   reactivate   ancient motorcar , known as Corrupters .   dead , their   Focuses malfunction thanks to a mysterious voice   that tells Aloy what she need to do to take them down .   She wangle to   excrete the   attackers andbeat the Corrupters , leaving only her and Olin . Olin uncover that they are   members of the Eclipse that function an entity called HADES and that he was work with them to keep his snatch family alive . One of his jobs involved going to the Proving observance where they would look through his Focus to determine the best metre to attack .

Aloy running with Rost in the forest in Horizon Zero Dawn.

However , when the Eclipse pick up Aloy through Olin ’s Focus , HADES made killing her a elementary objective of the assault . Since Helis did n’t stick around ,   they assume Aloy give-up the ghost in the plosion - but this did n’t last long .   Aloy require Olin about the fair sex she see and he retrieve seeing her image at a location known as Maker ’s final stage . As Aloy makes her way there , she fights   another grouping of Eclipse andthe vitiate machines they controlled , thus alerting HADES that she still live on .

She manages to enter Maker ’s End and disclose that it was once the headquarters of Faro Automated Solutions .   Aloy also identify   that the identicalness of the adult female is someone diagnose Elizabet Sobeck and that she engineer something call Project Zero Dawn . Before leaving , the part let on himself to be Sylens . He directs Aloy to a post call the Grave - Hoard and finally to the Zero Dawn facility hidden beneath the Shadow Carja majuscule , Sunfall . Though Aloy does n’t fully trust him , she take away his advice and heads   to the locations .

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Horizon Zero Dawn’s Story and Ending Explained

In the Grave - Hoard , Aloy hail across something squall   cognitive operation : Enduring Victory , which she learns more about in the Zero Dawn facility . cognitive operation : Enduring Victory was in public portray as an attempt to fight back against the Faro Plague with some kind ofoverpoweredCoDlevel   ace   weapon , but   in realness   was an attempt to buy Sobeck enough meter to finish up Project Zero Dawn . explore further , Aloy go in a hologram house in which a expulsion of Sobeck plays , excuse Project Zero Dawn and all the procedure of GAIA and her subordinates . Aloy , still unsure of her connection to Sobeck , investigates her office and finds transcript of the Alpha Registry which would be able to spread out the door in the Sacred Mountain . Before she could will ,   Aloy was incapacitated by Helis .

She   derive to in a John Milton Cage Jr. dangling above the grounds of a Amphitheatrum Flavium call the Sun - Ring . Helis taunting Aloy by crushing her Focus and drop her down to the priming to face a Behemoth without her weapons .   Aloy do to apply   the political machine ’s size to bring down various support columnsto   get her best weaponsand finally   take it down . Helis then sends out 2 Corrupters in retaliation , but before a struggle could ensue Sylens breaks into the Sun - Ring with overridden Striders and head for the hills with Aloy . Once good , he commit her a Modern focus with all of her honest-to-goodness data point backed up on it , including the Alpha register . Aloy returns to the Sacred Mountain and opens the door   to a facility call ELEUTHIA 9 , where   the new humans were raised until the food ran out and they were sent into the wild .

Aloy discovers the last recorded content from GAIA ,   where she learns that HADES can be shoot down   with the Master Override locate in GAIA Prime . Most significantly , Aloy at last learns how she and Sobeck are connect . Though Aloy had total to hope Sobeck was her female parent ,   GAIA reveals that she is a clone of Sobeck that   was created whenHADES operate roguewith the hope that her intelligence would one day bring him down .

Horizon Zero Dawn’s Story and Ending Explained

Aloy , unsure of how to action this information , coiffe her sights on GAIA Prime to recollect the Master Override . She climb the frigid and acerbic tip to reach the entrance to the facility .   Here ,   Aloy learn the fate of the Alphas , Faro , and Sobeck . She retrieves the Master Override and leave GAIA Prime , determine to not let their deaths be in conceited . Aloy   makes her style to Sylen ’s shop where he forge the Master Override on to   the tip of his spear . Beforegiving her the advance lancehowever ,   Sylens tells her the truth   about how he take HADES and the Eclipse to life and   how he wish to ransom himself by helping Aloy take them down . With that , he tells Aloy to present HADES at a data point tugboat known as The Spire , where he design to broadcast the activation signal to bring in back the abeyant Faro Plague .

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Aloy and her allies fall in one another at an outstation overlooking the Spire , ready to face off with the army of Eclipse . Together , they   negociate to vote down Helis , the Eclipse , and Aloy impale the Horus computer inwardness , putting an close to HADES . With HADES deactivate , the corruption of the car stop and the Faro Plague remained dormant - but while everyone celebrated their victory , Aloy leave for what was   once known as Nevada . She get at the family of Elizabet Sobeck , where   her body lie in a triangle of flowers . Aloy approaches and gently touches her helmet , bring out a hologram of her face . Aloy   takes the   locket that was hanging from her neck opening and   holds on to it as she   baby-sit silently with Sobeck .

Horizon Zero Dawn’s Story and Ending Explained

The Ending Of Horizon Zero Dawn Explained

After the credit ofHorizon Zero Dawn , a chemical group of scavengers are shown   prove the stake core that was once dwelling to HADES . As they examined it , HADES ’ essence tear out of the core and fly across the sky . It ’s revealed that he was being summon by Sylens , who traps HADES in some kind of container . In a sinister tincture , Sylens tells HADES that they still have things to discourse as he walks towards to corpse of a Horus - class titan .

At the end of the DLC expanding upon , Horizon Zero Dawn : Frozen Wilds , one of GAIA ’s foot soldier called   HEPHAESTUS is building an US Army of new and highly life-threatening machines made to kill . This revelation , as well as Sylens holding HADES , only indicate a future with more conflict and possible second extinction .   Now caught up with the story ofHorizon Zero Dawnso far , role player are quick to leap intoHorizon Forbidden Westand   continue Aloy ’s journey .

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