Trophy 46: Defeated Asera
Official Description: Investigated all Rebel Camps and helped Erend defeat Asera.
Type: Silver
Earned on: April 18th, 2022
Overall Earned: #1851
Investigating the Rebel camps uncovered that an Oseram militant group called Sons of Prometheus was operating in the Forbidden West. Looks like they’re working with Sylens and helping the Tenakth Rebels take control of machines.
Eventually, Aloy finds out the location of their base (with Erend’s help) and the two pwn the vicious leader Asera. Erend felt like he needed to help since the group had ties to the militants that killed his sister in the first game.
Trophy 47: All Cores Overridden
Official Description: Reached the Core of every Cauldron and accessed their information.
Type: Silver
Earned on: April 18th, 2022
Overall Earned: #1852
The coastal Kappa Cauldron is the Water Temple of Horizon Cauldrons! It was mostly flooded and required crate puzzles involving changing water levels. I actually enjoyed it! The final boss was an angry Tideripper which definitely fit the water theme.
Trophy 48: Recovered DEMETER
Official Description: Encountered the Quen and recovered DEMETER.
Type: Bronze
Earned on: April 18th, 2022
Overall Earned: #1853
DEMETER was hiding out in an Old World facility that seemed to focus on plant development. Seems fitting! At the entrance, Aloy is rudely shot at by a new tribe of humans: the Quen. After murdering groups of angry Quen, Aloy finds a peaceful member, Alva, who actually wants to talk to her instead of shoot her.
Alva calls herself a Diviner and has a Focus to search Old World data files (the Quen call those The Legacy). The Quen crossed a vast ocean (so I guess they’re from Asia or Australia?) to search this area for clues to fix their climate change problems. Alva’s Focus is an older model that can’t read files made after 2040. Aloy shares the files she sees that Alva cannot.
On the way to DEMETER, they witness a demonstration of ultimately how the Old World ended: machines converting all life into biomass for machine fuel. Alva seems horrified to see this stating that knowledge of their ancestor’s sins is forbidden in her culture. She just wants to find a way to help her people grow food. Aloy says she can’t explain how exactly, but promises Alva that her mission will save everyone (go go, GAIA!).
Aloy and Alva fight off a giant bat-bot to get to Station Ivy. Inside Aloy finds a depressing holo-message that states the Metal Flowers (often found blocking areas) were an attempt to stop the robo-swarm that killed the Old World, but they ran out of time. Aloy gets schematics to make a Metal Flower buster (bash flower with spear, insert module… bye bye, vines!). Using that, Aloy gets Inside the data core to find DEMETER who more than happy to be returned to GAIA.
Recovering DEMETER unlocks a bunch of data Alva can take back to her people. Suddenly, an arrow zooms by and the angry solider Quen are back. Alva stops the battle by convincing the soldiers Aloy is Elisabet Sobeck reborn and ushers Aloy away before the soldiers decide to take her back with them.
Trophy 49: Healed the Land-gods
Official Description: Helped Zo reboot the land-gods to save Plainsong..
Type: Bronze
Earned on: April 18th, 2022
Overall Earned: #1854
With the ability to get rid of those pesky Metal Flowers, I was finally able to help Zo reboot her tribe’s beloved land-gods. Once rebooted they all started “singing” a familiar melody to recalibrate themselves. Cute!
🎶Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti…
Trophy 50: Discovered Faro’s Fate
Official Description: Survived Thebes and befriended the Quen.
Type: Bronze
Earned on: April 18th, 2022
Overall Earned: #1855
Unfortunately, HEPHAESTUS has learned how to bypass Elisabet Sobeck’s Alpha control clearance and Aloy needs to find Ted Faro’s Omega clearance (The one he used to murder all the Zero Dawn project leads and erase the APOLLO database. Jerk!!).
Rich asshat Faro sealed himself in a posh private bunker to live out the apocalypse he created. The bunker (called Thebes since Faro loved pyramids) is rumored to be under what was once San Francisco. Aloy needed to link up with the Quen to find it.
At Legacy’s Landing, Aloy meets the Quen’s super douchebag leader who calls himself the ‘Ceo’ (they clearly misinterpreted the Old World title C.E.O.). He worships Ted Faro and thinks he carries his essence. Ugh. Not gonna lie, I wanted to punch him about 1 second after the game introduced him, but he got his just reward at the end of the quest.
Aloy is shown to a door that can only be opened by someone with Ted Faro DNA. She swims through some flooded caverns to find an alternate route into Ted’s bunker. Along the way Aloy also finds recordings that explain how Ted Faro had kill switches installed in the heads of his fellow bunker mates and offed a few of them. Yikes.
Shortly inside Thebes, they run into a room with Corruptor bots. The ‘brave’ Ceo flees with the others leaving Alva and Aloy to fight them off. Once those are taken care of and the Omega clearance is recovered, Aloy finds out Ted Faro was getting experimental cellular treatments to extend his life, but those also caused mutations. Now he’s an immortal Resident Evil style bio-monster living off the endless geothermal power in the bunker.
The Ceo busts in demanding to see Ted Faro’s legacy, but is horrified to find a still alive Ted instead (the game never shows what monster Ted looks like). He orders his minions to burn Faro to ash and kill all the witnesses (Aloy and Alva included). The Ceo doesn’t listen when Aloy tries to warn him Faro rigged the place to meltdown in the event he was ever killed, so all hell breaks loose shortly thereafter.
Aloy and Alva fight their way out and witness beautiful karma in action. The Ceo selfishly pushes a guard aside to his death, but then gets crushed like a bug by the giant head of a Ted Faro statue. Chef’s kiss!
Aloy and Alva are the only two to make it out alive and have some explaining to do to the Overseer waiting for them outside. Alva tries to lie and say the Ceo bravely died for them, but the Overseer calls BS (he explains the Ceo is a selfish prick who twisted their stories for his own benefit). Aloy gives the real story of how he died a coward, what she found in there will save the world, and if the Overseer lets her go the world will be saved and he can take credit. The Overseer is sold and sends Alva off to work for Aloy.
Trophy 51: Aided Kotallo
Official Description: Helped Kotallo build and test a mechanized arm.
Type: Bronze
Earned on: April 18th, 2022
Overall Earned: #1856
Kotallo is probably my favourite companion character! His quest was pretty awesome too. Aloy helps him build a mechanical arm to replace the one he lost during the Embassy. Once assembled, Aloy and Kotallo take out a Scorcher to test it. Kotallo takes it off at the end saying he’ll only use the arm when he needs it. He’s proud of who he is and feels adding the new arm is like wearing a disguise.
Trophy 52: Recovered Alva’s Data
Official Description: Helped Alva retrieve data to help the Quen.
Type: Bronze
Earned on: April 30th, 2022
Overall Earned: #1857
Alva asks Aloy to help her retrieve data on an Old World project called Leviathan. The ancestors used it to control flooding and Alva hopes it will help her people back on the Great Delta.
The Leviathan tech was developed by Eileen Sasaki, who of course, wasn’t nearly as honorable as the Quen thought she was. Aloy and Alva discover Sasaki’s other water purification project killed a few hundred people and she covered it up because her father (the CEO) ordered her to. Alva seems really disappointed to learn yet another revered ancestor was actually a monster.
Eventually, the pair climb a really high ruined office tower in search of the datas. They find the Leviathan info in Sasaki’s office (what was left of it, anyway), along with a holo recording of Sasaki. She explains how she did a hostile takeover of the company and vowed to be more ethical creating Leviathan. At least she made up for her mistakes! Alva takes more time to go over the data as Aloy jumps off the building with her glider. That will never get old!
Trophy 53: All Tallnecks Overridden
Official Description: Reached the top of every Tallneck and accessed their information.
Type: Silver
Earned on: April 30th, 2022
Overall Earned: #1858
The last Tallneck I overrode was intertwined in the main plot.
The TL;DR version is Varl gets killed (Nooo!!) by a Zenith asshole, and the Zeniths take Beta back during the mission to capture HEPHAESTUS in Cauldron Gemini. One of the Zeniths named Tilda betrays her friends and saves Aloy. Turns out Elisabet was Tilda’s ex-girlfriend and she regrets leaving her ex to die on Earth 1,000 years ago. Tilda definitely seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with Beta and Aloy, the clones of her ex. Stalker vibes!
Tilda agrees to help Aloy and they need to stop the Regalla and her army (backed by Sylens) from murdering Hekarro. The plan is to drop a pulse bomb thingy from a Horus Titan (aka Metal Devils from Zero Dawn) on Regalla’s army to disable their machines (Tilda’s suggestion).
In order to activate the all pulse bomb thingys in the area, Aloy needs to override a Tallneck in the desert (the one I saw really early in the game that bugged the hell out of me because I couldn’t climb it). Thanks to the Sunwing override ability Beta left, Aloy is able to fly to the top and jump off onto its head quite easily. Wish I would have known flying was a thing! I would have waited and cheesed the other Tallnecks. Oh well.
Trophy 54: Flew on the Wings of the Ten
Official Description: Flew into battle and vanquished Regalla.
Type: Bronze
Earned on: April 30th, 2022
Overall Earned: #1859
Aloy makes quite the grand entrance into the Tenakth battle! The tribe based their entire belief system around a unit of fighter pilots from the Old World (whom they call The Ten). Needless to say, they were extremely impressed the Nora huntress actually flew into an epic battle and saved their butts. The pulse bomb thingy worked like a charm, rendering Regalla’s robo-army useless.
The pulse bomb thingy doesn’t stop Regalla’s thirst for vengeance, though! She corners Hekarro and his Marshals, but thankfully Aloy swoops in to talk trash and kick ass. That was probably my most favourite badass Aloy moment in the game. So cool!! Anyway, Aloy challenges Regalla to a duel to the death and she happily agrees. The fight itself wasn’t too hard. Melee fight, Regalla shooting at me part, then back to melee to finish her off.
Now I’m not sure if you can actually kill Regalla here, but my dialogue choice after the fight led to Regalla joining Aloy for the final Zenith push. Regalla hated that Aloy spared her life at the end of the duel (just like Hekarro did). Aloy assured her it wasn’t a mercy and ordered Regalla to join them in a battle of almost certain death. Regalla loved the thought of dying more honorably in combat and pledged herself to Aloy’s cause.
Aloy and the Tenakth enjoy their sweet victory in the throne room! A captured rebel Oseram is dragged into the chamber with a message for Aloy’s eyes only in the form of a Focus. Aloy asks for some privacy and the Tenakth leave her to it.
The Focus opens a comms channel with Sylens, who is filled with more passive aggressive sarcasm than usual since Aloy thwarted his plans. Aloy assures him she has a better plan and orders him to bring his Zenith shield remover device to her base.
Trophy 55: Completed 2 Flying Mount Quests
Official Description: Completed 2 quests that required a flying mount.
Type: Bronze
Earned on: May 1st, 2022
Overall Earned: #1860
I loved finally taking care of all the side quests that hinted I needed to fly!
The second one I did was hunt down a group of Rebels who raided a coastal Tenakth town. They sailed off into the strong currents and Aloy needed to fly out to find them. I found one wrecked on a tiny island. She seemed content to die there alone in peace, but pointed Aloy to the rest of her crew. They were hiding out on a tall building in San Francisco. No idea how they got up there if I needed a flying mount to reach them, but whatever!
Trophy 56: All Machine Types Scanned
Official Description: Encountered and Focus scanned every type of machine.
Type: Silver
Earned on: May 1st, 2022
Overall Earned: #1861
The last machine type I scanned was the game’s final boss! After a long grueling battle, Aloy finds herself at the top of the tower on the Zenith island base. Very glad Zo got to spear the jerk who killed Varl along the way.
Zenith leader Gerard gets thrown into the room and shot in the back by none other than Tilda. Aloy demands the truth from Tilda. The Zeniths were unsatisfied with immortality and were running experiments to transfer themselves to other beings. This led them to uploading copies of their minds into a database thingy. They abandoned the project but it gained sentience and broke free, now going by the name Nemesis.
Since the Zeniths are a corrupt group of cruel megalomaniacs, this thing is the very embodiment of everything wrong with humanity. It wants to kill all the Zeniths and destroy Earth. And guess what? It’s on the way over!
Let’s just say Tilda’s toxic ex true colours finally came out! She says Earth is doomed and the only hope is to take GAIA to a random planet Nemesis can’t find. Aloy refuses to go with her, but Tilda says it’s not optional and she’ll forgive her in a few centuries. She also calls Beta an inferior copy… what a bitch! Tilda is shield less now, but she summons a new bot called Specter Prime and enters it in a bid to subdue Aloy.
Yep. The final boss is Elisabet’s immortal ex-girlfriend. Never in a million years would I have guessed that at the start of this game.
Trophy 57: Discovered Nemesis
Official Description: Put an end to the Zenith threat and discovered Nemesis.
Type: Gold
Earned on: May 1st, 2022
Overall Earned: #1862
Tilda gets killed along with the Specter Prime and Sylens enters the room. He has known about everything all along, and has also concluded Earth is doomed. He plans to leave on the Zenith shuttle and politely asks Aloy if she would like to join him. At least he respects boundaries!
Aloy, of course, declines and Sylens ascends the staircase to board the shuttle alone. Aloy’s worried friends join her and Beta gives her a big hug. D’aww!!
Sylens witnesses the beautiful friend bonding happening below and has a change of heart. He decides to stay for a time because “you people are going to need all the help you can get” 😆
The end scene plays with Aloy narrating. She has sent all her friends to spread the word of incoming doom and they are preparing for the most intense threat Earth has ever faced. The last thing Aloy says is that for the first time in her life, she doesn’t feel alone. This left me sobbing like a baby during the credits (which were very awesomely presented as Aloy flew around on her Sunwing).
Trophy 58: Used Dye Flowers
Official Description: Used dye flowers to unlock and apply a new dye.
Type: Bronze
Earned on: May 1st, 2022
Overall Earned: #1863
There was one secret trophy left on my list I didn’t reveal until after I beat the game (just in case). Turns out it was for using a super simple feature I didn’t notice during my playthrough: armor dyeing. I made my legendary Nora Thunder Warrior set a lovely pink to unlock it.
Trophy 59: All Trophies Obtained
Official Description: Obtained all Horizon Forbidden West trophies.
Type: Platinum
Earned on: May 1st, 2022
Overall Earned: #1864
Shiny platinum! I’m really happy I got to play this one, while at the same time feeling incredibly sad it’s over. At least the ending lines up all the stars for a 3rd game and I am so freaking happy about that!
Sources: All images in this post are screenshots we took with the PlayStation 4 from the video game Horizon Forbidden West created by Guerilla Games
