Horizon Zero Dawn Has a Nice Relaxing Build up to the Proving
After battling sawtooths, this time around Horizon Zero Dawn we’ve got some ups and downs but we’ll get to the downs after some nice ups. To start things off we talk to Rost one last time before it’s revealed that he will be leaving and to not go looking for him. Once we pass “The Proving” well become a Brave and in this join the tribe and no longer be an outcast. In turn, I’d hope more people will be nice to Aloy in this harsh world, but to get there we have to go through the village. Everyone has different opinions and it’s pretty interesting to see such a nice diverse set of characters.
Before heading inside we tell Rost that no matter where he goes we’ll find him since he trained Aloy to be such an amazing tracker. Also with the help of the focus, I don’t see many problems on this front cause that thing is damn useful. Heading up to the entrance we get held up at the gate by some guardians. Thankfully Teersa has our backs as she lets us in and tells us to enjoy ourselves on our way to the ceremony.
Not the warmest reception to something Aloy was invited to take part in
Taking in the Culture of a Tribe in Horizon Zero Dawn
As we enter the settlement of Mother’s Heart we can take in some native culture on our route. You can sit on a log to watch a little song and dance. Check out some guy stuck at the top of a house as his wife gets mad at him. Sit back and relax with a children’s story, we also run into Karst again. He wants us to know that he’s rooting for us but wants to keep are the earlier sale of the TripCaster a secret. He’ll become a true merchant for us once we complete “The Proving” and become a brave, so that’s something.
The villagers are throwing fruit at someone with such cool clothes and it just gets to me
We come upon someone trying to say an apology to the villagers for a past leader’s misguided views. The crowd isn’t having any of it, but thankfully Erend can calm them down. Erend is probably my favorite character yet in the game as he just has a good way with words and is super likable. While this is going on we notice someone else in the crowd with their focus. Naturally, we move in to learn more as this is the first person other than Aloy we’ve seen with one.
He’s pretty amazed to see someone in the tribe to be wearing a focus, but once we say we’re an outsider he states that this makes more sense. He scatters away as his Focus malfunctions, which was weird. We discuss some of the armor choices made with Erend and make our way to the ceremony.
All Mother’s Lanterns and Lodging
We learn that the Lanterns to be lifted to the sky are created by the participant’s mother, thankfully Teersa crafted ours. Who wants to be left out, no one that’s who. We’re given a choice of who to dedicate this lantern to and I choose to go with Rost since he was the one who raised and trained Aloy. Lifting the lanterns to the sky is a nice little scene and now it’s time to rest up for what everyone’s been waiting for; “The Proving”. We run back into the focus wearing guy and question him but he’s super sketchy and weird so we’ll just continue onward.
Bast on the left is a total asshole, Vala on the right is my new best friend
Entering the lodge after a little mean-spirited back and forth with a person named Resh, we see who’ll be joining us in “The Proving”. Bast was the kid from the beginning who hit us in the face with a rock and he still brings up. Like he’s so proud of it, thankfully Vala’s got our back and we play out this conversation with no violence. Cause man did I want to bash Basts face in. He thinks he’s so cool with that right eye makeup, but he’s not. We become quick friends with Vala. Before going to sleep but before we know it it’s time to finally get to “The Proving”.
The Proving
After a amazing montage, we learn that it’s time to get down to business. We simply need to take down a machine and grab a trophy from it. I’m fairly certain that I was a bit under-leveled for this section as taking down my trophy was tough. It took a lot of arrows, dodging, and probably luck to take just one down. Just as I get mine Bast shoots my trophy from my grasp and I have to get another. This takes up even more time and I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Oh, and the fact that I died didn’t help anything.
This part was a bit defeating as getting the first trophy was fairly tough
I’m able to kill another machine and push forward to try and play catch up. Seeing that there is a fork in the road Aloy decides that taking the normal path would mean failure. So we utilize the old path that will probably kill us, great choices made here. It’s just a little tougher climbing section, I like how you can see the others in the background. Also, they talk about how you’ll never catch up and are amazed at what you’re doing.
First has never felt so amazing
We manage to make it in first and pass everyone, we’re told we’ve become a brave and everything is just roses. For like 5 seconds; then it all goes to hell. I’ll be honest I knew something bad was going to happen, but what happened caught me off guard. I was sort of awestruck at just how off the rails Horizon Zero Dawn goes from this moment.
Everything Just Goes To Hell
It’s about this moment that everything goes bad, like really bad
Suddenly we’re bombarded with tons of arrows falling from the sky by some masked baddies. There human and they’re ruthless. Killing several people and starting to leave no one alive. It’s looking really bad as Aloy takes to cover a moment to think the situation through. But before you know it we’re in the thick of battle and have to take down every last one of these masked baddies. But that’s for the next episode.