These Horizon: Zero Dawn tips will help new players master some of the game's basic mechanics and concepts including Aloy's focus ability, the importance of patience, and the significance of changing Aloy's outfits.
Granted, some of these tips are likely to fall into the common sense category, though they're still things that are often overlooked. To help keep Aloy alive, be sure to make use of the following tips during your first few hours in Horizon: Zero Dawn.
Be Patient and Use Stealth
One of the most important tips to keep in mind while playing Horizon: Zero Dawn is to always remember to be patient. A vast majority of the game requires careful movement through areas swarming with robotic dinosaurs.
Before moving through an area, be sure to take your time to see what creatures may be attracted by the sounds of combat. By taking an extra moment to survey a situation, you'll save the time it takes to reload your game after rushing in and dying foolishly.
This task of being patient and assess an area can be made easier and faster when using some of the best skills in Horizon: Zero Dawn. With the Silent Strike, Silent Drop, and Quiet Sprint skills, you will be able to move around the perimeter of enemy encampments to get a better idea of their power or to simply avoid combat altogether.
Collect Resources
This Horizon: Zero Dawn tip is similar to the one above, as collecting resources also requires patience. Between hunting creatures and fighting enemies, take a moment to scour the land.
In your searches, you’ll find healing flowers and ammunition parts, among other items. Collecting these things can be a bit time consuming and tedious, but it will pay off in the long run when you have the crafting supplies that Aloy requires on hand.
Use Aloy’s Focus
The more you know about your opponent, the more effective you'll be in combat. In Horizon: Zero Dawn, Aloy has a special ability that allows her to scan enemies for weak points. This ability is called Focus and can be achieved by pressing R3 (clicking the right thumbstick).
In using Aloy's ability to exploit an enemy's weak points, you'll become more effective in combat. After all, there's no point in wasting valuable resources firing at a creature's heavily armored sides! Most of the enemies early on have easy to hit weakpoints, but as you progress through the game, you'll have to rely more on Focus to figure out where a robot's weakpoint is located.
Use Aloy’s Traps
Another tip to keep in mind when playing Horizon: Zero Dawn is to constantly use Aloy’s traps. By setting traps, you'll be able to slow enemies down, giving you easier access to their weak points.
This can also become quite tedious, but putting extra time and effort into studying and preparing for a fight is crucial when it comes to securing a victory. If you remember to make smart investments with your time and resources, you'll reap more benefits later on in the game.
Change Aloy’s Outfits
While style isn’t everything in Horizon: Zero Dawn, one tip to keep in mind is to change Aloy's outfits whenever necessary. The clothing items in Horizon: Zero Dawn are more than just cosmetic, as they affect Aloy in various different ways.
By complementing your style of play with a clothing item for Aloy, you'll help make your life fighting robotic dinosaurs that much easier. Always be sure to equip an outfit that will help you in whatever situation you face.
One of the first Outfits can be purchased when you reach the first major settlement in the game. If you've collect enough resources by then, you could even purchase more than one!
Storage for Crafting
Upgrading your storage is an important tip to remember when playing Horizon: Zero Dawn. Upgrading your storage can be done through the crafting menu.
Take your time to familiarize yourself with this menu, as you will want as much storage as possible—especially if you've taken the time to gather resources which, if you're following our tips, you most certainly have. At the start of the game, Aloy has barely any room to collect resources, so whenever you can, spend some time upgrading how many you can hold.
While you will want to upgrade your ammo pouches in time, they aren't as important at the start of the game as you will have a limited amount of weapons to use. Better to spend your Shards on other upgrades.
Horizon: Zero Dawn is an immense game full of quests, tasks, and collectibles. In order to succeed, you should always keep the basic tenets of the game in mind. By following our advice, you should now know plenty of tips for Horizon: Zero Dawn.
