#hfw riverhymn

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon forbidden west | riverhymn

[tare-otome]

Riverhymn

The lights glowed like fireflies~

[maybirdie]

Riverhymn 🌿🌌

[elliott6669]

Scenery: Riverhymn

[forbiddenwestern]

If you could live in any HFW settlement which would you pick?

[horizon-forbidden-sheesh]

HFW: Realistic Gameplay

I'm not sure how many people do this, but I like to approach my HFW gameplay to make the experience as realistic as possible. Here are a few of the considerations I keep in mind while playing to ensure my timeline is accurate to the game's storyline. :)

[⚠️ Warning! Some light spoilers are referenced ahead.]

ON SLEEP:

How long can Aloy reasonably go without sleep? Maybe 48 hours, but the high-intensity work she does requires dexterity & focus, so her accuracy & analytical abilities diminish the longer she's awake.

When she's desperate, or thiiiiis close to her goals, she likely gets tunnel vision, and gameplay gets a bit sloppier. (ie. Latopolis 😬)

Plus, the world is way more DANGEROUS for people at night! Humans are not a naturally nocturnal species, even if Aloy's stealth approach excels in the cover of darkness. She's also probably a little ~off~ in her circadian rhythm because she's one of a very few future humans exposed to blue light, lol.

ON FOOD:

Let's assume she's fed when she stays at any given settlement, but out in the wilds, she should be eating every day.

This means with a small food pouch, she can really only be out in the wilds for ~3 days without having to hunt her own meals. (Which no doubt, she can do, but do your really think Aloy has the time or patience to be cooking while she's saving the literal world? Nah.)

ON TRAVEL:

Along the way, I have to ask myself: how much does the side quest matter? How time-sensitive is it? Is it already on her existing route?

I try to WALK through settlements to A) not appear insane, B) accurately simulate the time she would actually spend there.

Can she really sprint all day long?? In this house, we jog. ("most humans can store about 20 miles’ worth of glycogen in their muscles." - NYT)

I don't love riding machines unless it's a long distance or an urgent situation. (ie. Sprinting back to the Base from Tilda's house) The reason for this is because:

A) you alert literally every machine around you, and I prefer to play a stealth approach

B) Riding is associated with Rebel activity, so you'd likely meet resistance from Tenakth locals.

C) not every path is cut out for riding (ie. On Lowland paths, her steed is likely too heavy & might get mired in the swamp / Riding in the Desert during the day, the metal would burn the everliving sh*t out of her.)

ON WEATHER:

In the Desert, I try to sleep during the day & travel at night. It's way too hot to be out during the height of day—even if it's around late October when she's there.

A little rain never hurt anybody, but major storms require cover & a wait-out period. I once got stuck in Sky's Sentry for half a day while I waited for an AETHER-driven storm to die down.

In my gameplay, it's November when Aloy turns up in Sky Clan territory (Yosemite Valley) which means it's freezing at night!

ON TIME:

I track calendar days while I'm playing to make sure I'm within GAIA's estimated ~3 month climate collapse timeline estimate. (Note that she doesn't give this estimate until Aloy discovers the Base, a little over 1 month into gameplay.)

Aloy is probably stuck in Stone's Echo for ~2 weeks healing her ribs. "Most broken ribs heal on their own within six weeks" (Mayo Clinic) But there's no way Aloy has that kind of patience. PLUS I'd bet big money when GAIA made her, she was given some cool genetic boosts that make her heartier than most naturally-born humans. In my game, I took her on some pretty chill missions back to Chainscrape afterward to give her more time to heal.

The game is literally set up to have us experience the seasons as we navigate the world over ~4-6 months!! (ie. The trees are changing color in Chainscrape when we begin in early Autumn / The Riverhymn side quest tells us it's the first of the winter bloom / There is snow in Yosemite Valley.)

From Embassy to Singularity, my gameplay took 132 Days (~4 months). I still have some side quests & errands to finish up, so if you try and complete all tasks before the Singularity, you're probably looking at 5-6 months total.

Okay, that's all I can think of off the top of my noggin, but I'd really love to hear if anyone else has some rad realistic constraints they like to add to the game! :)

[singingkestrel]

I really am a sucker for glowy lights.

[aloy-the-desert-flame]

I got inspired by @horizonzerodawnaesthetic post:

And since my own will be quite long, I decided to post separately. Here goes (spoilers, duh).

I was pretty sick for the last two days (does anyone know how a workaholic feels when they're bedridden for TWO WHOLE DAYS??) so I jumped into HFW and immediately ran to Plainsong and here it was:

Watching the sunrise, good little baby:

Once I was in Plainsong I went upstairs to the platform in front of the Chorus chamber, where a story about brave little Drey is being told and listened for a while:

That cute baby on the left was running around carrying the doll with her!

Also, on the other side of the platform:

Didn't catch the whole sequence but it starts with kiddo coming to the adult and pestering them until they give up and start playing xD

Turns out that once you know they are there, they are... Everywhere...

I was still not satisfied, because, you know, inability to enter photomode, so I decided to run outside and check out the abandoned settlements. Turns out that A. The two that are on the dishes on either side of Plainsong are the exact copies of each other (creepy) B. Kiddos toys are the one thing you DEFINITELY want to pick up when abandoning ship. Dish. Whatever.

Did manage to catch this guy, though:

After that I checked out some inhabited places and ended up in Riverhymn. They have their own toys, one being this cute little bugger standing guard on the doorstep (and watching over sandals):

And they have the Tallneck, diligently guarding the honey:

I took more photos but of different topics, so will post them sometime later :3

Bonus!

Riverhymn? More like RAVE-er-hymn.

[melikochan]

Horizontober Day 8: Small

“But it’s so small!”

Nel smiled indulgently at the group of children clustered around her in a rough circle, looking with awe at the tiny seed in her palm.

“That’s right. You all started small too, you know. But like this seed, you will grow tall and strong.”

“How big will this seed grow?” The curious child asked, staring up at Nel with wide eyes.

“With enough time and care? Big enough to reach a Tallneck.”

The child whistled in appreciation. “I’m glad my dad will get to be big again.”

“Let’s plant his seeds together, and watch him grow.”

[robo-dino-puppy]

view of plainsong

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon forbidden west | kue 2/?

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon forbidden west | aloy 61/?

[robo-dino-puppy]

kue, metalweaver of riverhymn