This is the summary of the main story in Horizon Zero Dawn. Read on to learn the secrets Aloy uncovers in her quests! Obvious spoilers ahead.

Main Character Background

In Horizon Zero Dawn, you play as Aloy, an outcast from the Nora tribe who is raised by Rost, a fellow outcast. Despite a difficult upbringing, she learns how to survive in the world, and becomes a skilled hunter of machines. She is aided by her Focus, a small device that grants her access to an augmented reality, letting her see weak spots of machines and hidden areas in the world.

Eager to prove herself to the tribe that cast her out, and to uncover the past that's been hidden from her, she trains her whole life to prepare for The Proving - a competition that lets the winners become Nora Braves. But winning The Proving is only the beginning of her journey.

Main Plot Summary

The Proving

Aloy enters The Proving, eager to find out who her mother was, and faces a bittersweet goodbye with her father figure, Rost. Right as she wins the competition, the Nora are ambushed by a group called the Eclipse, lead by Helis. They are heavily outmatched due to the Eclipse's ability to control machines. Aloy is almost killed by Helis, until Rost sacrifices himself for her.

She discovers that the Eclipse were targeting her due to her resemblance to a scientist from the Old World, Dr. Elisabet Sobeck. She leaves the land of the Nora to unravel the conspiracy against her.

The Old World

In her journey, she meets Sylens, a helpful but mysterious figure who guides her as she reaches the ruins of Faro Automated Solutions. Aloy discovers that this company caused the destruction of the Old World after they lost control of their military machines, FARO robots.

In response, Dr. Sobeck started Project Zero Dawn, a plan to shut down the FARO robots and for human life to start anew. This system was to be controlled by GAIA, an AI that would've overseen both the deactivation of the machines and Earth's restoration. It's apparent, however, that something disrupted the plan.

Project Zero Dawn

With Sylens' help, Aloy travels to an Orbital Launch Base, the area that Project Zero Dawn was to be completed. It's revealed that Project Zero Dawn's plan was to let humanity go extinct. GAIA was to then deactivate all the machines and repopulate Earth with clones using stored DNA of past humans.

The plan was initially a success until Theodore Faro, the company's founder, sabotaged the system that would've taught the clones lessons for society to thrive due to his want to hide his involvement in humanity's extinction. This resulted in the tribal society that Aloy occupied.

The Truth About Aloy

As Project Zero Dawn fell apart, an unidentified signal caused HADES, one of GAIA's subsystems, to take control of her functions. HADES was tasked with restarting Earth's extinction in the event that Project Zero Dawn didn't succeed. Dr. Sobeck sacrificed herself in order to stop the machines from reaching GAIA.

The AI ended up deactivating to try to stop HADES and the FARO robots, but not before creating a clone of Dr. Sobeck in the form of Aloy. This was done in the hopes that Aloy would remember her predecessor and destroy HADES.

Defeating Hades

Sylens reveals to Aloy that he was the original leader of Eclipse. He gave HADES info about the world in exchange for lost knowledge about the Old World, but eventually the AI tried to kill him. They realize that HADES' mission is to reactivate the FARO robots and finish humanity's extinction once and for all.

With the help of her allies, she travels to Eclipse's base to stop this from happening. She kills Helis and then defeats HADES by stabbing it with a lance containing the Master Override. This deactivates HADES and prevents the FARO robots from restarting.

Finished with her quest, Aloy travels to Dr. Sobeck's home, and finds a momentary peace.

Sylens' Secrets

A post-credits scene reveals that Sylens took control of the HADES AI after its destruction. Now in his possession, he says that it still has many questions it needs to answer, such as the identity of who originally corrupted the AI.

The answer to this and more will be revealed in Horizon Forbidden West, as Aloy journeys to a land teeming with both new wonders and dangers.

Horizon Zero Dawn Ending Explained

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