Let's Play Horizon Zero Dawn – Part 1: The Outcasts

It is time to start a new Let's Play series on what became one of my favourite games, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. The first hour or so seamlessly blends gameplay and cutscene elements to establish the game's world and introduce its post-apocalyptic nature, overrun by machines. It also serves as a good tutorial for the game.

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We saw a cutscene where a man from the Nora Tribe, Rost, climbs up a mountain with a newborn baby on his back. He is going to attend the naming ceremony. However, we discover that he is an outcast from the tribe, and only one of the high matriarchs approves of this naming ceremony.

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This kid was named Aloy, who is going to be our protagonist for this game.

Now the game shows events of 6-year-old Aloy, how she is being treated in these lands. No other child from the tribe is allowed to speak with her, and she felt bad not knowing why they treat her like that. She rushes off from the scene and falls into an old cave. This is where we play as Aloy for the first time.

It seems to be a strange cave with ruins of a long-gone civilisation. She found an earpiece on one of the bodies.

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Aloy tried to put it on her ear, and to her surprise, she could see a lot more. This is some kind of futuristic technology which shows her extra information about the place. We can use it to know more about the world around us and scan objects.

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This cave section teaches us how to use this device, Focus, to our advantage. Open locked doors or read ancient logs.

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She can also play 3d holographic messages, and she loved this new device. Aloy found a way out of this cave with the help of Rost. He sees this new device and wants to take it, but Aloy doesn't want to give it away. Rost, thinking that she is just playing with this piece of metal, leaves it on her.

Then we see another cutscene where Aloy is seen playing with this device, trying to uncover its mystery.

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Rost hands her a new bow and takes her out to give her first hunting lesson. This mission is very important for the story and serves as a good tutorial for hunting, crafting, gathering things, sneaking around, etc. It teaches us the basics and tells us more about the machines around us.

These tall grasses remind me of Ghost of Tsushima's pampas grass. How they were used to sneak around. Rost teaches us how to avoid the machines that can detect you if they see you or even hear you.

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We are taught to distract these machines using rocks while Rost kills them. Aloy harvested the kill for parts.

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The most important lesson, I think, is finding the vulnerable parts on each machine. Rost asked her to guess a weak spot. Aloy scanned the machine and pinpointed it instantly. Rost was surprised to find how she knew, but didn't believe it when she told him it was the little device that helped her.

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Once you scan a machine, it gets added to your database, and you can see all the information about it. Which parts of the machines are vulnerable to which element? What can you loot from that machine, etc.

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This is when we hear a scream for help. Turns out one of the boys from the tribe is trapped among multiple machines. Rost said it was a matter of time before the machines find him and kill him. But Aloy wanted to help.

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Rost finds it too dangerous to go and help him. But Aloy, with her little device, can see much more than Rost can. She could see the exact paths the machines would walk. This makes it easy for her to help that boy.

She didn't listen to Rost and went in. A small kid among a group of deadly machines? That can't turn out well. The control was back to us, and we had to sneakily go past all those scary machines and save that kid.

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Both the kid and Rost were surprised to see this bravery. Rost now believed that the little toy thing was not just a toy but a useful device.

Before that boy could thank her, his tribe mate came and scolded him for trying to talk with the outcasts. This hurt little Aloy even more, and she was pissed and asked why they were outcasts. What did they do to receive this kind of discrimination? But Rost didn't tell her anything, nor did the game tell us what the reason was.

Can you guess what could be the reason Rost was ostracised with a newborn baby, and where or who are Aloy's parents? I will leave you all with those questions and see you in the next part.

Thanks for reading

Until next time...