Introduction

What is Horizon Zero Dawn?

Horizon Zero Dawn is an open-world action RPG by Dutch studio Guerilla Games in 2017 for the PS4 and later for the PC. It is the first game in the Horizon series, still in progress with a sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, released in 2022 for the PS4/PS5 and a spin-off Horizon Call of the Mountain released earlier this year for the Playstation VR2. And there's robot dinosaurs we can shoot with fire arrows, among other things.

About the LP
I plan to update (at least) weekly, with videos without commentary over cutscenes available when there's story heavy parts.

Spoiler Policy
No spoilers, please! There are still plenty of people who haven't played this yet, be cool y'all.

Audience Participation
This is a pretty game with a decent photo mode. Please feel free to post screenshots of areas we've visited so far. Also, your own combat videos of machines we've encountered (once we get to the more interesting machines) are cool too.

Contents
Ep. 1 Literal Baby Tutorial Area
Ep. 1a Literal Baby Tutorial Area (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep.2 She'll be Fallin' Down the Mountain When She Comes
Ep. 3 CSI: All-Mother's Embrace
Ep. 4 Red Headed Fish out of Water
Ep. 4a Red Headed Fish out of Water (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 5 Let's win the Proving, y'all
Ep. 5a Let's win the Proving, y'all (no commentary over cutscenes
Ep. 6 A Whole New World
Ep. 6a A Whole New World (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 7 Roaming the Land in Search of a War Band
Ep. 8 Sorry I snort when I laugh
Ep. 9 Lean Six (Cauldron) Sigma
Ep. 10 Sawtooth Safari
Ep. 11 Revenge is a dish best served to the face
Ep. 12 Apocashitstorm Collection Tour Part 1: Sacred Lands
Ep. 13 Where's a robo Border Collie when you need one?
Ep. 14 The Road to Meridian
Ep. 15 Detective Aloy is on the case
Ep. 15a Detective Aloy is on the case (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 16 Tactical Retreat
Ep. 17 This is my boomstick
Ep. 18 Don't hurt the Tallneck
Ep. 19 Law and Order: Meridian
Ep. 20 Lake Placid
Ep. 21 Ravager Cannon Fodder
Ep. 21a Ravager Cannon Fodder (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 22 (Cauldron) Rho Rho Rho Your Boat
Ep. 23 Apocashitstorm Collection Tour Part 2: Sacred Lands/Valley Meet
Ep. 24 Cartastrophe
Ep. 25 Corruption Arrows Are Fun
Ep. 26 Fully Automated Robo Capitalism
Ep. 26a Fully Automated Robo Capitalism (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 27 A Song of Storm and Thunder
Ep. 28 Hunting Grounds Redux
Ep. 29 I can't read maps
Ep. 30 The Cheeriest Place on Earth
Ep. 30a The Cheeriest Place on Earth (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 31 Apocashitstorm Collection Tour Part 3: Sundom
Ep. 32 Lost World Jurassic Park vibes
Ep. 32a Lost World Jurassic Park vibes (no commentary over cutscenes
Ep. 33 King of the Friend Zone
Ep. 33a King of the Friend Zone (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 34 Time to Book It
Ep. 34a Time to Book It (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 35 I don't have anything punny for (Cauldron) Xi
Ep. 36 Aloy the Love Guru
Ep. 37-1 The Bad News and the Good News Part 1
Ep. 37-2 The Bad News and the Good News Part 2
Ep. 37-1a The Bad News and the Good News Part 1(no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 37-2a The Bad News and the Good News Part 2(no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 38 Night of a Thousand Glinthawks
Ep. 39 The One With All The Multitasking
Ep. 40 I Hate Rockbreakers
Ep. 41 The RNG Hates Me
Ep. 42 Red Headed Jesus
Ep. 42a Red Headed Jesus (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 43 Apocashitstorm Collection Tour: Mega Edition
Ep. 44 Aloy the Bounty Hunter
Ep. 45 Forever Nil
Ep. 46 Rescue Mission
Ep. 47 Aloy the Master Hunter
Ep. 48 Fuck Ted Faro
Ep. 48a Fuck Ted Faro (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 49 Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Robo-wolf?
Ep. 50 Robo Spirit in the Sky
Ep. 51 Dam It
Ep. 52 Everyone Hates Blevins
Ep. 53 Survive and Prevail
Ep. 54 Cultural Relatism
Ep. 55 Breaker of Many Things
Ep. 56-1 Fire Everywhere (Part 1)
Ep. 56-2 Fire Everywhere (Part 2)
Ep. 57 Apocashitstorm Collection Tour: Squirrel Rolling Down Mountain Edition
Ep. 58 Hunting Grounds: Cold Edition
Ep. 59 The Cleanup Video
Ep. 60-1 Heal The World, Just a Little Bit Part 1
Ep. 60-1a Heal The World, Just a Little Bit Part 1 (no commentary over cutscenes)
Ep. 60-2 Heal The World, Just a Little Bit Part 2
Ep. 60-2a Heal The World, Just a Little Bit Part 2 (no commentary over cutscenes
Bonus Video 1: Let's Try Ultra Hard
Bonus Video 2: I Ain't Ready for Ultra Hard

Updated as of Ep. 58(mild spoilers, larger spoilers hidden behind spoiler tags)

Important Characters We've Met So Far (click for pictures)

Nora tribe Tribe that occupies the eastern portion of the map, known as the Sacred Lands. A matriarchal society that worships the All-Mother, symbolized by a mountain. The tribe is ruled by High Matriarchs. All or most crimes seem to be punished by shunning

Aloy Our main character, outcast from the tribe since birth due to not having a mother. On a quest to find some answers.
Rost Aloy's foster/adoptive(?) dad. Also an outcast for unknown reasons.
Teersa One of the Nora High Matriarchs. Likes Aloy
Lansra One of the Nora High Matriarchs. Hates Aloy
Jezza One of the Nora High Matriarchs. Neither seems to like or dislike Aloy.
Teb A Brave / Stitcher of the Nora tribe that Aloy saves from a herd of Striders
Bast One of the participants in the Proving. The kid that threw a rock at Aloy's face, hasn't matured at all
Vala One of the participants in the Proving. A real cool girl
Resh A Nora brave who is a huge dick to Aloy
Varl Nora brave, brother to Vala. Also cool like his sister.
Sona Nora War Chief and all-around badass lady. Mother of Vala and Varl

Carja tribe Tribe that lives in the lands west of the Nora. Worships the sun and is ruled by the Sun King. They were at war with the Nora and other neighboring tribes for about 10 years, which ended 2 years prior to the events of the main game. After the end of a civil war, they now seem to be on the path of peace and mending relations with the neighbors.

Nil Guy with a serious case of bloodlust, who takes it out on bandits for the greater good of society.
Ahsis Leader or Sunhawk of the Hunter's Lodge. A huge asshole
Talanah Member of the Hunter's Lodge who takes Aloy under her figurative wing
Avad King of the Carja, has a big hat/crown. Moves really fast
Blameless Marad Avad's Master of Whispers/Hand of the King-ish guy, no idea why he's blameless
Uthid Former Carja soldier accused of a crime he didn't commit
Vanasha Carja spy trying to help Uthid
Itamen Avad's little half brother, exiled after the civil war
Nasadi Itamen's mother/Avad's step-mother, also exiled after the civil war


Oseram tribe Tribe that occupies The Claim (location in relation to the Nora Sacred Lands unknown). Known for their drinking, tinkering, delving and arguing. Basically post-apocalyptic dwarves.

Erend A member of the Oseram tribe currently working as a member of the Sun King's Vanguard after allying with the current Sun King to help him win their civil war and end the Red Raids. Has epic facial hair.
Olin A member of the Oseram tribe who is somehow part of the Carja envoy party to the Nora. Has a Focus for some reason.
Petra Forgewoman A cool Oseram lady who left The Claim to make a new home in Free Heap, invents a cannon

Banuk tribe Tribe that lives north of the game map in Ban-Ur. Focus of the Frozen Wilds DLC, which takes place in an area called The Cut located on the border of their territory. Worship the "Blue Light", some kind of essence that lives in machines, and are real big on proving themselves. Kind of Viking-y.

Brin Guy we met in a sidequest with a thing for drinking machine blood to get high
Aratak Chief of the werak that's currently hanging out in The Cut
Ourea Shaman of the werak in The Cut, has a spirit friend
Naltuk Ourea's apprentice
Enjuk Guy in The Cut who collects figurines, probably the best collectables NPC in the game


???? (spoilers)
Shadow Carja & Eclipse
Helis AKA Mysterious Killer Mastemind behind the raid on the Proving
Hades aka The Devil (not pictured) Deity that the Eclipse cult worships, just a voice (maybe)
Bahavas Co-founder of Eclipse, along with Helis. Overall sketchy guy with an enormous hat
Old World
Elizabet Sobeck AKA Mystery hologram lady Part of the reason behind the raid, looks a lot like Aloy, head of the Zero Dawn Project
Ted Faro (not pictured) Owner/Operator(?) of Faro Automated Systems, the company behind the robots that ended the world. Fuck this guy
General Herres Head of Operation Enduring Victory
Travis Tate Alpha over the Hades subfunction, into gross porn and death metal
Samina Ebadji Alpha over the Apollo subfuction
Patrick Brochard-Klein Alpha over the Eluthia subfunction, very specific about how they're not going to do eugenics crap
Margo Shen Alpha over the Hephaestus subfunction aka the machine one, the youngest of the Alphas
Other
Sylens AKA Mysterious Voice A mysterious voice that started speaking to Aloy through her Focus, finally reveals himself to us via hologram


Machines We've Encountered So Far (click for pictures)

Watcher Cute little trash mobs, appear either in small packs of 2-3 or guarding herds of other machines
Strider Robo-ponies. Found in herds and scare pretty easily.
Scrapper Scavengers who can suddenly show up to clean up machine corpses
Sawtooth Big sabertooth cat things that hit hard. Hates fire.
Grazer Robo-deer with garden tiller antlers and fire on their butts. Inspiration for the training dummies we've been knocking over
Corruptor Spikey crab-bug dude who loves taking over other machines and throwing rocks in your face
Bellowback Big walking sacs of stuff that like to spit in your face and fling themselves at you. Comes in Fire and Ice varieties.
Shell-walker Crabs with lightning guns and shield generators who carry cargo crates full of goodies on their backs
Longleg Big chickens that scream at you and try to scratch you to death
Stalker Big panther things with whip tails, sniper guns on their shoulders, and an invisibility shield generator. Also can drop mines. Generally hunts in packs of 3.
Broadhead Robo cow that you can ride
Lancehorn Antelope/gazelles(?) that have ice on their butts
Snapmaw Crocodiles that like to spit ice and fling themselves at you. The only machine that can move both on land and water
Stormbird Large eagles that would love nothing more than blasting you to death with lightning. At least you can see them flapping around from far away and can avoid them
Trampler Robo-bison that have fire attacks, shoot their bellies for a big explosion
Thunderjaw The guy on the front of the box. A T-Rex that traded in its arms for laser cannons on its face and disc launchers on its back
Rockbreaker Annoying mole things with earth grinder jaws that dig into the ground and pop out at you
Glinthawk Annoyance in bird form
Deathbringer Just like it says on the tin, full of guns
Behemoth Rhino dudes with gravity attacks to fling rocks in your face
Scorcher Big bad wolf who launches mines and wants to scratch your face
Frostclaw Ice bear that wants to hug you to death
Fireclaw Fire bear that knows WWE moves


Soundtrack Spotlight
Aloy's Theme Plays in the opening game menu
Prologue Plays in the opening cutscene
Years of Training Plays during the training montage
Within the Embrace One of the general running around songs in the Embrace
The Proving Plays during the Proving (obviously)
Forced Multiplication Plays when fighting Corruptors
On Our Mother's Shoulders One of the general running around songs out of the Embrace, plays throughout the Sacred Lands
A Truth Whispered At Night One of the running around songs that plays at night
Drawn to Strife Plays at bandit camps
To the Hunt! Plays during trials at Hunting Grounds
Territory of None One of the running around songs that plays in the Carja territory
City on the Mesa One of the songs that plays in Meridian
A Resplendent SoilAnother general running around song that plays in the Carja territory
Meridian, Shining Another song that plays in Meridian
A Resplendent Soil Running around music in the Carja territory
Collosal Plays when fighting Thunderjaws and Stormbirds
Menu Music Surprisingly not on the official soundtrack; Youtube comments may have spoilers
Ruins/bunker Also surprisingly not on the official soundtrack; Youtube comments may have spoilers
The Bad News Plays during "The Bad News" cutscene
The Good News Plays during "The Good News" cutscene
The Cavalry Breaks Through Plays during the cutscene where the cavalry breaks through...
Delver's Hymnal Occasionally plays around Oseram towns
To Call Our Own Also occasionally plays around Oseram towns
Into the Frozen Wilds Plays as you enter the DLC area
While Falls General running around music in The Cut