Horizon Zero Dawn: The Story So Far

With Horizon Forbidden West out on Feb. 18 for PS4 and PS5, Aloy begins a new journey into parts of the world she's never explored in hopes of finding answers and solutions to save humanity.

But how did Aloy get to this point in her life, and what do you need to know to understand Forbidden West's story? Well, look no further than Horizon Zero Dawn: The Story So Far, as we break down everything Aloy experienced in the PS4 hit Horizon Zero Dawn, as well as its DLC, Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds. Learn about the beginnings of Aloy's story, the friends and enemies she met along the way, and some of the key lore about the state of the world as players prepare to jump into Forbidden West.

Whether you played HZD years ago or have not jumped into Horizon but are eager to play Horizon Forbidden West, our Horizon story recap breaks down key moments in Aloy's story to prepare you for the sequel and the next chapter in Aloy's journey with Horizon Forbidden West. Much of Horizon Forbidden West's story has been shrouded in mystery, other than some general ideas about Aloy's goals, and a few returning faces, but before venturing into Horizon's Forbidden West, catch up on some of the important hanging lore threads, major players, both good and bad, and why Aloy is pursuing her new goals in Horizon Forbidden West with this story recap.

#IGN

[sdo]

One of the deepest and most underrated lores in gaming

[aship]

This story is way better and deeper than most want to give it credit for. Can't wait for forbidden west.

[thegamingguy]

One story error:

Hades doesn't have anything to do with the derangement, the derangement is a direct consequence of the gaia prime signal rendering Hephaestus, Hades and all other subfunctions independent. Hephaestus is the AI that creates the machines and because it's no longer controlled by Gaia, it stops taking into account human life and just creates robots that best preserve its terraforming goals. Because humans are harmful to the machines it creates increasingly weaponized machines to defend the terraforming process.

What Hades does with its newfound independence is to try and destroy the world, because that's its reason to exist. It will take over Gaia and from there destroy the world. To prevent this from happening Gaia destroys itself by overloading its core reactor but before it can do so Hades launches its first "strike" on Gaia and in doing so corrupts the alpha prime registry that (initially) renders Aloy unable to enter the cradle facility and hear Gaia's dying plea.

[paulbrown]

Thanks for this. Played and loved it when it first came out but I’m old and have forget most of the story 🙂

[thedarkknight]

Honestly one of the best and most original sci-fi stories in decades in ALL of fiction!

[GJesse]

I finished replaying HZD, just today since my original playthrough back on PS4 when it launched. Some of the best sci-fi writing I can think of, and the way the story unfolded as Aloy discovers the history of the world was brilliant. The scene where Elizabet is narrating the 1, 000yr plan for Gaia to terraform, rebuild, and repopulate the planet (mixed with incredible music) genuinely gave me goosebumps lol. I bought a PS5 specifically for Forbidden West. LET'S GO!

[bob_eeee]

Love these videos, a shortcut for new players 👍🏽

[Ironcorgi]

When they explained in the game how the world ended and what project zero dawn was it knocked me over with how good the story was. Like after it was explained how the faro plauge would have left earth a lifeless husk I had to take a moment to be like "oh ya as of right now earth is pretty much the only planet with a biosphere" and it shook me lol. The best thing about this game was the story

[victhom]

Can’t wait for the sequel. It’s been a while since I played the first one but I always remembered the ending where she finally sees Elisabeth. Makes me tear up. One of the best endings in a game.

[vannaratliff]

This game is one of the most well thought out, visually appealing, and expertly executed games of all time. The forbidden west looks amazing and the decima engine is proving itself again. I can not wait to see the forbidden west

[sawdust]

I'm almost done with my first ever playthrough of this game in preparation for Forbidden West(I stopped the video near the end to avoid spoilers). I am genuinely impressed by this games story.
It's always great to get a solid, well thought out, and well put together story in any format. I think games have a bigger opportunity to do this better than movies do, as you can have the time and length to make a bigger, better story with lore.
It's great when a game takes full advantage of thier potential. The length and detail of a novel. The screenplay, visual, and audio beauty of a movie. And the direct interaction of the audience, requiring skill and effort that gives a sense of pride to the player.

[GooN]

I have had zero dawn for month. Never cared to play not even when they announced the 2nd one. Then one day I just started playing and now I like it so much that I skipped all the games this month to pre-order Forbidden west. Good stuff..

[raidenvakarian]

I feel like Horizon has SPECTACULAR lore and backstory, but its actual moment-to-moment narrative was a bit lacking. I remember Elizabeth Sobeck and Ted Faro, I remember all those details about Operation Enduring Victory... But at the same I barely remember the actual "modern day" plot, or the names of any characters besides Aloy, Rost and Sylens. And I've beaten the game twice! Honestly, even now, having just watched the video, if someone put a gun to my head and asked me to explain the moment-to-moment plot in more detail than "Aloy goes from place to place because an evil AI wants to destroy the world for some reason", I'd say "Shoot me".

Love this game, but am definitely hoping that now that we know the lore, Forbidden West will be able to put focus on the modern day narrative, as it deserves.

[tobinsyoutubechannel]

Best storytelling in a videogame ever imo. Everything about my playthrough was fantastic, every discovery kept me on my toes, I skipped lots of sidequests so I could see the rest of the story... what an experience. Topped with super great gameplay + stunning graphics, definitely one of my favorites of all time.

[jeejames]

Also worthy to check out the Complete History of Horizon by Random Side Quest!!

[pensinseo]

when she jumps as a child and lands as an adult in the prologue is one of the best introductions of a hero in gaming imo

[KuueenKumi]

So glad Erend's gonna be back, he was legit my second favorite character after Aloy. Got his and Aloy's Funkos

[dragonforce]

This definitely answered a lot of questions. So glad you guys posted this, I can't wait till Forbidden West comes out!!

[marklaw]

Platinum'd the game a few days ago after missing the Grazer trophy & all allies trophy back in 2017.

Loved every second of it & it's my 3rd place Game of the Generation.

Can't WAIT for Forbidden West!!

[ThGrWrggi]

I don't know why I started to cry through this 😂, this is my favorite game of all time & it's great to hear the story explained so well 👏🏾. This also made me reminiscence my play through in which suddenly brought me to tears.