Let’s Play Horizon Zero Dawn – Part 4: From Outcast to Brave

This is Part 4 of the Let's Play Horizon Zero Dawn series. To read Part 3, click here.

In the last part, we acquired fire arrows and a new weapon from the trader. Rost then took Aloy outside the Embrace to face a Sawtooth — her final test to prove she was ready for The Proving.

It was time for The Proving, and the gates that had always remained closed to Aloy would be opened for the first time. There was a big settlement called Mother's Heart, and it was time for a big celebration.

Some people were dancing, some singing, while others enjoyed the feast. Aloy was told that an old friend was waiting to meet her.

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It was none other than Teb, the young man Aloy had once saved when she was young. Good to see he still remembered her — and was still useful. He had a gift for us: a new outfit he had made.

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I sold some machine parts to buy another outfit as well. The one Teb gifted us was free.

There were a lot of things going on during this day. A group of ladies were singing, and you could just sit there and watch their performance for as long as you liked.

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One of the matriarchs was telling the stories of the Nora tribe — how the All-Mother became their deity. These shows were happening all over the settlement.

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One drunk guy climbed a tavern and created a big commotion. It was a bit chaotic and unorganised, but you could see that everyone was having fun.

There was also an envoy from a technologically advanced tribe — the Carja. They hadn’t had good relations with the Nora in the past, but now that the mad king was dead and a new king ruled, they wanted to improve relations.

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Aloy found another man with a Focus. She had thought she was the only one with this technology, but it seemed there were others. His name was Olin — suspicious and quick to dodge Aloy’s questions.

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But the other man, Erend, seemed fine at first glance. He was a member of the Vanguard who protected the new Sun-King of the Carja. He didn’t know much about the Focus, and according to him, Olin wasn’t an important man.

The settlement looked beautiful with all the lanterns and decorations.

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It was time for a ceremony where all the participants lit a sky lantern and released it into the night. The Proving challenge will be tomorrow morning.

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All the young Nora had to do was sleep in a lodge for the night. Here we met Bast — the one who had thrown a rock at Aloy when she was a child. He seemed to have grown even more arrogant with age.

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We also met Vala, who seemed friendly. She might help us tomorrow during The Proving — who knows? But Bast will surely cause trouble.

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Aloy was still an outcast, but if she completed the challenge tomorrow, she could become a Nora Brave. It would be interesting to see how things turn out.

This mission, Mother’s Heart, introduced us to a lot of new characters and mechanics.

The next day, all the participants were taken to the mountain base. Everyone had to climb a dangerous mountain. Bast tried to show off again, but this wasn’t the real challenge — we were just making our way to the starting point.

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All participants had to kill a grazer machine to get a trophy and then climb the mountain. But when Aloy got her trophy, Bast shot it with an arrow and shattered it. We had to get another one, but by then, all the others were far ahead.

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If Aloy took the same route as everyone else, she would never catch up. So, she took a more dangerous path — one no one else dared. Risky, but winning was the only option.

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It was a really cool sequence — years of Aloy’s hard work were on the line, and she had to take risks to beat the others. She managed to win in the end.

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But as soon as the announcer declared Aloy a Brave, an arrow struck her in the chest. A huge twist. Soon, arrows rained down on the other Braves as well. Who was trying to kill them? Where did they come from, and why?

Thanks for reading

Until next time...