Horizon Zero Dawn Guide Tips, Tricks, and All Collectibles PS4

Horizon Zero Dawn is an original open world role-playing game set in a post apocalyptic world, created by Dutch developer Guerrilla Games. Filled with quests, side-quests, errands, and collectibles, this Horizon Zero Dawn guide spans the main game as well as its Frozen Wilds expansion. On this page, we'll list every mission in the game so you can cross-check your progress, as well as beginner's tips and tricks for the gameplay.

We're also going to detail some of the open world activities, like Bandit Camps, Tallnecks, and Cauldrons, while also revealing the locations of all collectibles, including Ancient Vessels, Vantage Datapoints, Power Cells, Metal Flowers, and Banuk Figures.

In addition, this guide will feature various miscellaneous guides, like how to get all possible optional allies to join Aloy and how to get the Shield-Weaver outfit. If you're looking for a full story recap of Horizon Zero Dawn, click through the link for a summary. Please note that while we've endeavoured to ensure Horizon Zero Dawn spoilers are minimal, if you're sensitive to things like quest names, then you may want to consider proceeding with caution.

Finally, if you're looking for help with the sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, please do take a look at our extensive Horizon Forbidden West guide.

Horizon Zero Dawn Guide: Full Story Recap

With the sequel Horizon Forbidden West now approaching, you might be looking to refresh your memory of the story in Horizon Zero Dawn. If you're looking for a story recap to make sure you start the new game well informed, we've got all the story details you need to know about in the below guide.

Horizon Zero Dawn Guide: All Story Quests, Side-Quests, and Errands

In this part of our Horizon Zero Dawn guide, we're going to list all story quests, side-quests, and errands in the game. While there's much to explore in the game's open world, if you're focused purely on progressing the plot, then the story quests are the only missions you'll be required to complete.

All Story Quests

  • A Gift from the Past
  • Lessons of the Wild
  • The Point of the Spear
  • Mother's Heart
  • The Proving
  • The Womb of the Mountain
  • A Seeker At the Gates
  • The War-Chief's Trail
  • Revenge of the Nora
  • The City of the Sun
  • The Field of the Fallen
  • Into the Borderlands
  • Maker's End
  • The Grave-Hoard
  • The Sun Shall Fall
  • To Curse the Darkness
  • Deep Secrets of the Earth
  • The Terror of the Sun
  • The Heart of the Nora
  • The Mountain That Fell
  • The Looming Shadow
  • The Face of Extinction

All Side-Quests and Errands

Horizon Zero Dawn labels some missions as either Side-Quests or Errands. The former are more in-depth story missions, while the latter are simpler objectives, like fetch quests. Completing all of these objectives generally rewards you with Experience Points, as well as Skill Points and various other items.

Area Side-Quests Errands
Mother's Embrace
  • The Forgotten
  • In Her Mother's Footsteps
  • Odd Grata
The Sacred Lands
  • Ancient Armory
  • A Daughter's Vengeance
  • A Moment's Peace
  • Underequipped
  • Insult to Injury
  • Hunting for the Lodge
  • Shortage of Supplies
  • Luck of the Hunt
  • To Old Acquaintance
  • Sanctuary
  • Traitor's Bounty
Meridian City
  • Robbing the Rich
  • Honor the Fallen
  • Fatal Inheritance
  • Deadliest Game
  • Redmaw
  • Hunter's Blind
  • Demand and Supply
Carja Land
  • Hammer and Steel
  • Heap of Trouble
  • Death from the Skies
  • Sun and Shadow
  • Sunstone Rock
  • Cause for Concern
  • Blood on Stone
  • Queen's Bandit
  • Collateral
  • Sun's Judgment
  • Healer's Oath
  • A Curious Proposal
  • In Foreign Lands

Horizon Zero Dawn Guide: All The Frozen Wilds Quests

If you've got the Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition, or purchased the DLC separately, then you'll gain access to the following quests as part of The Frozen Wilds expansion. If you're not sure how to start the add-on, then refer to the following page: Horizon Zero Dawn: How to Play The Frozen Wilds DLC.

  • Into the Frozen Wilds
  • The Shaman's Path
  • For the Werak
  • Firebreak
  • Hunter's Lodge: Onslaught
  • Hunter's Ledge: Control
  • Waterlogged
  • Frontier Justice
  • Geared Up
  • The Hunters Three
  • The Survivor

Horizon Zero Dawn Guide: All Collectibles

Horizon Zero Dawn has 103 collectibles for you to find. You can keep track of these at any time by accessing your Notebook by pushing the touchpad. The easiest way to find all collectibles is to visit a Merchant in any post-prologue area and purchase a map for each type from the Special Items category of their inventory. This will display the general location of each collectible on the map. You will still need to search within the radiuses displayed by pushing R3 and looking for the purple loot icon.

  • Metal Flowers are small, metallic plants that you'll find located around Horizon Zero Dawn's open world. You simply need to interact with these to collect them.
  • Banuk Figures are small animal shaped models that are typically preceded by platforming challenges. You'll usually find markings on the wall in areas where Banuk Figures are located.
  • Ancient Vessels are rare pieces of loot located around Horizon Zero Dawn's open world. You'll find them located among other items, hidden among debris.
  • Grazer Training Dummies are animal shaped training dummies that need to be destroyed in order to be collected. There are 23 of these in total, although you will find many grouped in the same general area.
  • Vantage Datapoints are glitches that reveal historical information about the world that preceded the fictional one in Horizon Zero Dawn.
  • Cauldrons are dungeons that you'll discover within Horizon Zero Dawn's world. These areas include high level enemies and puzzles, but completing them will unlock new Overrides for Aloy's spear.
  • Tallnecks are distinctive animals that you find in Horizon Zero Dawn which can be climbed to unlock more markers on Aloy's map.
  • Power Cells are part of the Ancient Armory quest and must be recovered to craft the Shield Weaver outfit, which is the best armour in Horizon Zero Dawn.
  • Bandit Camps are areas where bandits gather. You must kill all of the enemies in these locations to clear them from your map.

All Metal Flowers, Banuk Figures, Power Cells Locations

Horizon Zero Dawn Guide: Hints, Help, and FAQs

In this part of our Horizon Zero Dawn guide, we'll be covering any other key pieces of information you need to know, such as how to get all possible optional allies to join Aloy and how to get the Shield-Weaver outfit.

Horizon Zero Dawn Guide: Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Horizon Zero Dawn has plenty of difficulty toggles and settings which mean you shouldn't have too much trouble completing the campaign. However, if you do get stuck or are looking for some best practices to help get you started, we've compiled some tips and tricks below.

Save the Game Often

Horizon Zero Dawn does auto-save, but it only tends to do so during key story moments. Because the game's post-apocalyptic world can be quite wild, then, you'll want to ensure that you're saving at bonfires often otherwise you may lose progress when you inevitably eat the dirt.

Scavenge Everything

Crafting is a key part of Horizon Zero Dawn, and you're going to need the right gear to take advantage of it. You should be picking up virtually everything you see; prioritise the resources part of your inventory in errands to expand your available storage space, and ensure that you're always looting the carcasses of dead robot fiends.

Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail

You'll run into lots of battles while wandering Horizon Zero Dawn's open world, so it can be smart to do your preparations ahead of time. While it's not essential – crafting is relatively painless – ensuring that you have a plentiful supply of ammo, traps, and potions before entering battle can help you to focus on the task at hand.

Stay on the Move

You should not be standing still in combat in Horizon Zero Dawn. The game is designed around mobility, so make sure you're dodge rolling often and always looking for the best position in order to expose your enemy's weak points.

Stealth Can Help

You don't always need to approach every battle arrows blazing. Stealth is a big part of Horizon Zero Dawn, so make sure that you use the tall grass to your advantage in order to get the drop on both bandits and robots. Remember that you can use your hacking abilities or corruption arrows to take control of enemies and turn the tides of battle.

Know Thy Enemy

Each time you encounter a new machine, make sure that you use your Focus to scan it by pressing the R3 button. This will add information about the enemy to your Machine Catalogue, which you can then read in order to learn more about its weak points and which kind of arrows it's most susceptible to.

That just about does it for our Horizon Zero Dawn guide, but obviously let us know if you have any further questions. Have you beaten the campaign yet? Update us on your progress in the comments section below.