Beginner’s Guide: Tips and Tricks for Getting Started

Welcome to Game8's Tips and Tricks hub for Horizon Zero Dawn! This guide will provide helpful information for new players to progress smoothly through Horizon Zero Dawn!

Getting Started

Getting Started
Controls	Customize Your HUD	Scan Machines
Best Skills to Get Early	Claim Free Supply Boxes	Use Campfires to Save
Entering The Frozen Wilds DLC	Overriding Machines	Tokens

Controls

Unfortuantely, you will not be able to remap your controls when playing on console. However, this shouldn't be a problem since the default controls are sufficient and easy to get used to.

Best Control Layout and Button Mapping Guide

Customize Your HUD

Horizon Zero Dawn has an in-depth HUD customization system that allows you to tailor your HUD to your preferred playstyle. For example, if you want to have a more grounded experience, you can choose to remove your compass and objective markers, along with enemy health bars and status effects. Select just what you need so that you can have the best possible experience.

Scan Machines

Before jumping into a fight against machines, make sure you use your Focus to scan for any weak points or elemental vulnerabilities. These will make encounters much easier since you'll know what parts to focus on, or what type of weapon to use.

Best Skills to Get Early

There are four Skill Trees to use Skill Points on when you level up - Prowler, Brave, Forager, and Traveller. Prowler and Brave focus on combat, while Forager and Traveller focus on more utility aspects such as gathering resources or increasing inventory space.

Silent Strike

This should be the first skill you unlock since it's helpful for the early parts of the game when you don't deal much damage. It's an instant kill for the majority of the enemies you'll encounter early on, which means you can save on ammo and health kits that you'll need for tougher foes.

Concentration

If you're still getting used to hitting your arrows, unlock this skill to slow down time when aiming at enemies. This gives you more leeway to be able to hit enemy weak points and deal more damage.

Gatherer

You'll want to be constantly upgrading your equipment as you progress through the game. This requires a lot of resources from the world so by unlocking this skill early, you won't have trouble gathering enough amounts of resources.

Claim Free Supply Boxes

You can claim one free Supply Box from each merchant you encounter. These will contain anything from Fast Travel Packs, Potions, Traps, or Crafting Resources. These are helpful during the early game since you'll want to save your Shards for more important items such as outfits or weapons.

Use Campfires to Save

You'll encounter Campfires as you traverse the lands of Horizon Zero Dawn. These Campfires act as savepoints where you can choose to quick save or manually save. You can even use this in the middle of a fight so you don't end up spawning far away in case you die during a difficult battle.

How to Save: Quick Save vs. Manual Save

Entering The Frozen Wilds DLC

The Frozen Wilds DLC introduces a new region for Aloy to explore - The Cut. It contains new machines, equipment, and collectibles. In order to access this, you'll have to finish Main Quests until A Seeker at the Gates, then you can proceed to The Grave Hoard area in the northeast portion of the world. After approaching a tribesperson there, you'll be free to enter The Cut.

What's Included in the Frozen Wilds DLC?

Overriding Machines

As you progress through the game, you'll gain the ability to override machines. This is incredibly useful for travelling the world quickly since you can mount a machine, or you can also have the machines fight for you during intense battles.

How to Override Machines

Tokens

If you purchased the Complete Edition of Horizon Zero Dawn, you'll have access to tokens for three supply packs, the Nora Keeper Pack, Carja Trader Pack, and the Banuk Traveller Pack. These contain resources that will help your survival in the world.

How to Get Tokens

Useful Information

Getting Started
Modify Gear	Create Jobs to Look for Resources	Check the Machine Catalogue
Fast Travel	Sell Resources	Trophy List
Upgrade from PS4 to PS5	Flashpoint Choice System	Is There A Point of No Return?
How to Level Up Fast

Modify Gear

In the Crafting menu, you can modify your Weapons and Outfits. This is done by selecting an item, then equipping a modification to it that upgrades one of its stats.

For example, if you want to be able to remove a machine's armor more easily in order to expose weak spots, you'd choose to equip a modification that increases a weapon's Tear damage. You can use these to tailor Aloy to fit your preferred playstyle.

Create Jobs to Look for Resources

If you want to craft or upgrade an item but lack the necessary resources, you can Create a Job to track these materials. This creates a quest that shows how many resources you still need to gather to craft the item. In some cases, the map will even display the location of enemies that can drop your required resources.

Check the Machine Catalogue

Once you've defeated a machine, they will appear in the Machine Catalogue of the Notebook menu. This can be used to check their Components as well as the Loot they can drop.

This is helpful if you need to check for specific weaknesses or strengths in a machine's body, especially in combat situations where you're unable to scan them. The Loot section can also be used for when you're gathering resources and need to know what machines will drop them.

Fast Travel

In Horizon Zero Dawn, you can only fast travel to Campfires that you've already been to. You'll also need to use a Fast Travel Pack in order to do so. These can be crafted, purchased from Merchants, or obtained from chests and enemies.

Later on in the game, you will be able to purchase a Golden Fast Travel Pack that allows you to fast travel as much as you want without consuming any packs.

Sell Resources

There are various resources dropped by enemies that cannot be used for anything other than to be sold to Merchants. These will be indicated under the Used For section of an item. You can mark what items you want to automatically sell so that you don't have to sell each one individually.
Best Items to Sell

Trophy List

Horizon Zero Dawn has numerous trophies to unlock for both the main game and its expansion, The Frozen Wilds. They will test the skills you've learned throughout the game, so make sure you're well-prepared for any adversity.
Trophy List and How to Unlock

Upgrade from PS4 to PS5

Upgrading your PS4 copy of Horizon Zero Dawn to its PS5 version is straightforward. If you have the disc version, simply insert the PS4 disc into your PS5 and a download prompt should pop up. If you have the digital version, head to the game's page on the PS Store and download the PS5 Upgrade.
PS5 Upgrade Guide: How to Update From PS4 to PS5

Flashpoint Choice System

Horizon Zero Dawn introduces a choice mechanic in the form of Flashpoint Choices. At key points in the game, you'll be given three dialogue options to choose from that can affect the outcome of scenarios during quests. These three options are Heart, Brain, and Fist. These allow you to form Aloy's personality the way you want to.

Flashpoint Choices: Do Choices Affect the Story?

Is There A Point of No Return?

There is no Point of No Return, so you don't have to worry about missing any content. You can freely finish side missions even after finishing the main storyline.
Is There a Point of No Return?

How to Level Up Fast

There are several ways to swiftly level up in Horizon Zero Dawn. The best way would be to finish all Hunting Ground quests since these grant tremendous XP, especially if you repeatedly earn Blazing Suns. You can also finish Side Quests that pop up as you explore the world. They give decent XP and are generally easy to accomplish.
How to Level Up Fast

Other Tips and Tricks

Tips and Tricks
What's Included in the Frozen Wilds DLC?	Trophy List and How to Unlock
PS5 Upgrade Guide: How to Update From PS4 to PS5	Flashpoint Choices: Do Choices Affect the Story?
Is There a Point of No Return?	How to Override Machines
Horizon Zero Dawn Ending Explained	How to Get Tokens
How to Level Up Fast	Plot Summary Guide
How to Use Photo Mode	Best Control Layout and Button Mapping Guide
How to Get All Shadow Weapons	How to Save: Quick Save vs. Manual Save
How to Complete Tutorials	All Stranded Item Locations
Weapons Tier List	Outfits Tier List
All Editions Guide	What Does Corruption Do?
What Does Handling Do?	What Does Tear Do?
Best Builds: Damage, Resistance, and Stealth Builds	Best Modifications and How to Get
Ghost Levels: What is the Max Level?	How to Upgrade the Spear
How to Get and Use Mounts	New Game + Guide: What Carries Over and Best Loadouts
Difficulty Modes: How Hard is Horizon Zero Dawn?	Best Items to Sell
How to Unlock Face Paint

Horizon Zero Dawn Related Guides

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Horizon Zero Dawn Guides

Related Guides
Story Walkthrough	Enemy Machines
Equipment	Skills
Characters	Quests
Collectibles	Tips and Tricks
News and Game Info	Items