#hfw zenith base

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon forbidden west | aloy 68/?

[h0riz0nstuff]

Zenith Aesthetics

[tare-otome]

Zenith Base 3/?

The very southern tip of the Valley of the Fallen...

In the words of Ren Hoek: "What IIISS IT, maaaannn??!" I tried to make my way closer and closer...

Getting so close! And remember, later here there's a Dreadwing hanging from that tentacle...

[cicadaknight]

Why did you do it?

—Dorrak. Jorokkah. Mekallo. When the Carja pushed into the desert to raid our people, my brothers’ squad was among the first to intercept them.

[theriainwonderland]

The Far Zenith base

Details - Pt. 2 / ?

[just-here-with-my-thoughts]

Chapters: 9/9 Fandom: Horizon Forbidden West - Fandom Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Aloy/Kotallo, Kotallo/Aloy, Aloy & Kotallo, Kotallo & Aloy, Kotaloy - Relationship Characters: Aloy, Kotallo, zo, Erend, Varl, Alva Additional Tags: Feelings & Smut, Canon-adjacent Summary:

Singularity – the point at the centre of a black hole where the laws of physics as we know them cease to operate. – the point at which an AI technology becomes more advanced than its creator, becoming ungovernable.

Event Horizon – a one-way boundary at the edge of a black hole. Anything passing this point has no way back.

(A Kotaloy fic set the night before the assault on the Zenith Base - mission named Singularity - fanfic title Event Horizon. See what I did there?)

[artekai]

Burning Shores spoilers //

THERE IS A MISSING THIRTEENTH ZENITH AFTER ALL?

[heyitsthatgirl]

Horizon Forbidden West » Photo Mode 01/∞

[xamiipholia]

okay y'all seemed to like the last one so here's a few more Horizon 3 thoughts:

Aloy won’t die. It would completely upend the series’ themes and just be really nihilistic.

Since Nemesis is a gestalt entity I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Sam Witwer, Carrie-Anne Moss, etc again. I’m curious how they’re going to do it because at least structurally, it’s basically a reaper. Maybe it’ll use different Avatars when communicating like the Leviathan in ME3. 

It's gonna take some work to make a flashback/dream/vision not contrived but I would love to see Varl and Rost again. I think we deserve that.

Minerva is gonna have its work cut out for it blocking access to both the dormant Faro Swarm and the ZD terraforming system. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Nemesis has some sort of corruption function that becomes the equivalent of the corruption in HZD. It would be a really fun tech showcase if GG uses Zenith nanotech for machine corruption and leans into mechanical body horror.

If we’re going to Ban-Ur I really really hope they do the work to make the Banuk less problematic and more fleshed out as a culture. A quasi-Spartan society absolutely would not survive in an extreme environment, *especially* without megafauna to hunt. The Banuk characters are lovely and well-written; they deserve a society as well thought out as the Utaru or Carja. I’m honestly fine if there’s retcons or revamps to the cultural lore because the whole “outsider barges in and becomes chief” is rooted in racist, colonial tropes and we just don’t really need that imo.

The most recent footage of Death Stranding 2 (also running on Decima) has me SO excited for the visuals. GG’s gonna knock it out. The facial rendering and animation that Kojima Productions are doing looks industry-peak and I’m sure GG’s gonna match that. Aloy’s Gay Panic™️ scene on the beach in HBS is already top-tier nonverbal storytelling through animation. Digital Foundry actually just posted a really cool tech breakdown of the current Decima engine. I’m especially excited about the environmental stuff. The ocean simulations in HFW are already incredible and I hope they increase verticality in the world. I can’t wait to see the Sacred Lands in current gen graphics. 

I really love Kotallo’s DIY arm and it’s so so important to his development but Beta and Gaia now have access to Zenith nanotech, maybe give your buddy a sick upgrade hmm?

Speaking of, I can’t wait to see Beta come into her own. She’s one of the best parts of HFW and Aloy’s character absolutely shines in a sibling dynamic. 

I wouldn’t get your hopes up for a romance mechanic. Everyone’s feelings on that aside, it would be really odd from a game development perspective to just overhaul part of how the narrative develops Aloy’s character in the last act of the story. Yeah, there are flashpoints but I would argue that the presence of choice in Horizon is smoke and mirrors- cosmetic at best. Kentucky Route Zero (which you should play) does something similar where the player is given a certain amount of control over the substance of individual conversations and scenarios and it does absolutely nothing to alter the plot, by design. I think it’s the same here - this isn’t really a choice-based RPG, the flashpoints don’t really affect anything plot-wise or for Aloy’s character development. Olin is still out of the story, Nil lives, Regalla still dies one way or another. Aloy’s character development is pretty firmly on rails (think Jin Sakai, not Shepard - you get to guide some momentary character reactions but that’s it). I don’t think HBS is a testing ground either - If they were gonna introduce a romance mechanic I think they’d just do it, and not spend two years making a direct continuation of HFW’s main quest and establishing a specific romance hard-baked into the plot, complete with multiple leitmotifs for the character relationship (which is something they haven’t done before afaik) just to introduce a side quest mechanic coming in 5 years. I genuinely can’t think of any game or dev that has beta tested a major alteration to upcoming game mechanics that way - it doesn’t really make any sense in terms of developer resources, and these games are extremely time-consuming to make. I know this is a thing a bunch of people want and I can totally empathize with that! I just think it’s probably not on the table. 

I would bet money the series will bookend itself and the epilogue will involve a) the naming of Zo and Varl’s kid and b) Lis’ pendant. 

Mostly I'm just looking forward to being surprised. One of my favorite things that Horizon does is use carefully established elements in the world to pull the plot in unexpected directions and keeping the world grounded while they lean into speculative science fiction. I can't wait to see what Guerrilla is cooking up

[foibles-fables]

I've been following you for the Horizon content, and it's been very fun to see it. And I've recently finished HFW, and honestly... I can't help but feel underwhelmed and disappointed with the story.

I loved the world building, character interactions and themes in general, as I truly felt involved with HFW, but like... I just can't bother to like, care, or feel involved with the Zenith storyline.

They were supposed to be the main force to drive the story to the final game... and yet, they had so little screen time on a very impressive world, Beta ended up playing a minor role compared to the whole world and had a sudden change on trusting Aloy after just seeing Rost, and Tilda played a huge exposition role, shoehorning all depth of them in the last hours, which I found to be rather overwhelming and even easy to forget after Varl died on GEMINI.

And the final mission just didn't do much to make them compelling. Like... as I was charging through the base and hearing them ramble about their superiority, Zo killed the sadist idiot, Tilda suddenly revealing Nemesis, and the final monologue from Aloy... I was just reactionless, because I didn't feel any sort of involvement with that storyline to make me hyped.

It felt like I was fighting an enemy just for the sake of fighting it. Which is something I didn't feel with Helis and the Eclipse on my first playthrough of HZD.

I really wanted to love HFW and be excited for Aloy's follow-up adventure... but I guess I just can't with this.

I know I'm rambling and complaining a lot, but as a huge fan of Aloy and Horizon (in general), I can't help but point this out to someone.

You might be surprised to hear that many share your reservations about the narrative of HFW, myself very much included.

Over two years later it's still kind of shocking how much the story--including the implementation of the Zeniths--hamstrung what HZD had naturally built HFW to address. Sometimes it feels like the team forgot how to pace? Bringing back GAIA in the first act was...a true ??? to me. The turning point of Aloy and Beta's relationship was, IMO, incredibly unearned, and I concur entirely about both Varl (as well as the player reaction to it, filtered through Aloy's reaction) and the final mission/fight.

I also know that others feel that Tilda's Nemesis reveal kind of stole the fun out of speculation for H3. With where HFW (and BS, re: Londra's data and other threads) left the story, I'm finding myself just not inclined or enthusiastic to think in-depth about what could plausibly be coming next, beyond what actually bridges back to HZD (Elysium and VAST SILVER, namely). HFW itself left no new mysteries to carry forward.

Consider, however, if the Zeniths and Beta had been saved for the final chapter. That, IMO, would have made for a much more compelling hook into H3. Reveal them in a post-credits stinger after Aloy succeeds at stabilizing the biosphere and finally restoring GAIA as an endgame task. Instead of some...questionably-motived space spaghetti Bigger Fish, we'd have an actual full-circle existential threat.

It really seems like a compelling storyline for HFW and beyond was spelled out right there in GAIA's dying plea from HZD, and then just...sidestepped into what we actually received.

This is all to say, nonny, you're absolutely not alone and I think many folks who were head over heels for HZD were underwhelmed by what was presented in HFW. Like you, I still adore the world and the characters--but there was a lot that very disappointingly fell flat otherwise. Here's hoping it was just a sophomore slump, second-installment weirdness, and H3 falls back into the stride that the first installment set up.

[robinpixels]

Have you ever thought about how much worse the dynamic between Beta and the Zeniths are, when you do up the timeline and realize she could be as young as fourteen/fifteen? In no way a developed socially adept child because she grew up with freaking holograms and had no positive physical contact?

If you ignore the age bit. Beta probably only knows physical touch through the Specters and maybe some robotics around the ship. The first time she has physical contact that’s nice isn’t even from Aloy. It’s from Varl. And then he gets brutalized and she has no one to hug her or pull her close because Aloy is also socially inept (and possibly 19/20). Zo is trying to deal with the loss of not only the guy she liked but her baby’s dad. The others aren’t even sure how to connect. Though Erend might cause he’s a sibling.

But just. Does anyone else realize how traumatized Beta actually is and how much worse it is for her?

Opinion or your own thoughts? Cause this has me very concerned for how Beta could be mentally for the next game.

oh hello!! haha, god its been so long since i've put my hzd/hfw thinking cap on but i love chattin' shop and opinions and i've a few to toss around

to start around my thoughts personally i've always interpreted beta from the time we know her to be about 18! not from any hard concrete evidence, so this is definitely not a correction, i just gleaned so from initial impressions and from a personal bias in my head how its quite poetic to me if Aloy were staring back at someone that could resemble a version of herself back when she first started her journey. Then lending to her personal frustration when said mirror doesn't in actuality resemble her (or Lis, in her view) at all. its even more devastating to me in this sense too 'cuz what she could have had as a 'childhood' is essentially already all gone. but yeah, long story short - while if i'm honest i don't think she's a child anymore, she is definitely very much so floundering and struggling in her young adulthood (i still stand by how she's depicted in False Negative, like that's just Her to me, Tessa u absolute wonder u).

god, ur probably right about her not having positive physical contact all this time - either violence or nothing up until the point she meets the GAIA squad. the concept of the bond beta and varl could have had always makes me SO sad to think about, it could have been so good, and personally it does frustrate me how they never leaned more into it to the detriment of both varl and beta. they could've had such a beautiful meaningful friendship (please pardon 'Ro is Annoyed at How Varl was Treated as a Character In-Story, Part Infinity, but this does touch upon it). It's undeniable she's been through a whole hell of a lot in that brief span of time she was on Earth and away from the Zeniths - the whole crew has, and as trauma does it's definitely gonna leave them all scrambling.

but in my wholesale opinion i gently pat ur head and assure you she will probably be alright at the end of the day! while FW was imo incredibly garbled in its delivery in places it does make clear that coming together to form a community to withhold against adversity is the goal here, and one everybody at Base recognizes and I feel are making great strides to get there! i have faith in this motley crew - Alva is Alva, bubbly and cooperative as ever; Kotallo's stoic but incredibly warm and well-meaning; Erend is Erend, he's always been good to his friends; Zo as an Utaru probably knows better than anyone the importance of community support and cooperation. as for Aloy i think she's taken that good bopping to the head in regards to learning to depend on people and letting people depend on her - she's got a lot of solitude issues herself as is to be expected but it really did warm me seeing how she's trying to get over them for the sake of everyone around her, and is enjoying finally leaning on that community too. my most precious babygirl. i'm very proud of her

i'm absolutely positive beta is in astoundingly good hands - they're all in astoundingly good hands w one another! it's been so cute to me how post game you can tell she's starting to heal and engage with others, just how the team had done before and after her. While absolutely I think they're all going to have their missteps and stresses and maybe a falling out here or there as they try and adjust, I honestly think the horizon series is at its core all about having compassion and care for your fellow man (albeit taking no shit from them at the same time) and the world you live in, so I doubt any of them will even accidentally leave Beta behind. she's got a sister, a mom, and a wholeass family now!! i adore how all the post-game content has been beta shyly but slowly but surely getting better, determined as she is to contribute the ways she can now.

hahaskdaflj; you were probably expecting an angstier response out of me and oh believe me i love the angst!! but i also have such a soft spot for when horizon goes all Indomitable Human Spirit on us it makes me go all gooey. i think the kids will be alright <3

on a funnier note to an extent i believe in beta precisely BECAUSE she's already a little unhinged. girl came in with the box already banged up and inherently fucked up. yeah miss beta 'let me just knock myself out cold and tear this implant directly out of my head that'll thwart em' sobeck will fit right alongside that hall of madness now known as Base GAIA she'll do just fine and dandy. i've gotten such a taste for unhinged sapphics lately and when horizon delivers it DELIVERS

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon forbidden west | sylens 1/?

[h0riz0nstuff]

or…

🤔

I hear you can't get into the Zenith Base, but I did it after I read that, and then there was another patch. I wonder if I can still do it.

[tare-otome]

Sights Around the Raintrace 3/? Zenith Base 1/?

A shelter in the skeleton of another aircraft...

This was maybe my first real clear view of the Zenith base...

[phthalology]

situation: helping someone remove an accessory/article of clothing/armor/etc. not often removed? (i was thinking of necklaces, but...)

ah, friend, I asked for cute prompts, received many lovely ones including this one, and immediately started writing for you the aftermath of bloody violence. there are some cute parts in this, perhaps. I did not consult my fanfiction medical expert except to say like "I got this," so any mistakes are my own. for anyone who has been following my hfw opinions closely: burning shores exists in my headcanon only under certain conditions. this is one of those conditions. similarly, this story is not in signal-verse, although perhaps if I had written about one sentence longer it would have had to be, since these two need about thirty thousand words of buildup to get to the kissin. shoutout to the playstation cosplay guides, which provided turnarounds and useful information about materials and such.

aloy/sylens, 800 words, pre-ship 

*

Sylens slammed to his knees in the grass, green staining up his pant leg. The verdant jungle colors clashed with blood so red and free-flowing Aloy thought for a moment the machine might have taken off his hand.

Aloy and Sylens had gone to the jungle shore tracing rumors of a surviving Zenith mobile platform. Now, Aloy left her spear in the machine’s guts, seeing by the shudder and collapse that it wouldn’t rise up again, and hit her own knees hard. Craned to see whether she was about to have to figure out a prosthetic for the only person on the planet who could reverse engineer a Zenith shield.

Sylens winced and ripped a strip of cloth off his wrist. Repositioned it to staunch the blood pooling over the back of his hand. His metal brace hung at a broken angle; the machine’s flail had cut up and under the brace, through leather and linen. Aloy’s voice clenched in her throat. This can’t be what kills him. Not after everything. 

She wouldn’t fuss over him, and he wouldn’t want her to. But her throat relaxed when he spoke. “Need to elevate it —“

So he hung his head against the machine’s strange, smooth chassis and stretched his arms up, one hand clasping the other wrist. Closed his eyes and breathed hard. Aloy, breathing hard too and wanting to close her own eyes, started tearing the machine’s wrenched-apart limbs into scrap. Sylens wouldn’t necessarily tell her if he was hurt badly, but she’d be angry if he didn’t, angry that he valued his aloofness more than their shared venture, angry that … well, scared that he’d leave her again. They’d just gotten used to each other. They’d just started sharing meals with Beta at the base.

“Tell me that cut isn’t as bad as it looks,” Aloy finally said, half-way finished with material recovery. 

“It is not as bad as it looks.” Sylens struggled to unpeel tangled cloth from the metal brace as blood dried and turned tacky. 

“Let me help you.”

“The wound shouldn’t be moved now. Surely, you know that much.”

Aloy climbed on top of the machine. Flopped down on her belly and eased his palm off the metal from above. “It’s tangled.”

“I know.”

“Do you mind if I move this?” The brace — a strut from a Ravager, most likely — had nearly fallen loose from the wrappings. 

He sighed, exasperated, and she pulled back. Battlefield care was one thing. But the blood was clotting, the emergency ending, and she hoped to show some respect for him. She wouldn’t help if he didn’t want, out of both that respect and many years of anger. Grudging as it was, their last serious conversation — after her return from the Burning Shores — had left her with a smile and some mutual respect, and had left him working in her room, as comfortable there as he was in his own skin.  

“If you must,” he said.

She untangled the brace, pulling strips of blue linen with it, and tied it to her belt. After that he was quiet and watched her. The leather wrapping hooked around his thumb was ripped down to the big veins at his wrist.

“I have to cut this off,” she said, “Or it’ll stick in the wound.”

Sylens nodded. 

“This angle will make it difficult,” Aloy said, realizing as she spoke. “Put your hand down. The blood is clotting.”

He nodded. With both of them standing in the green clearing she could lay the golden edge of an arrowhead against his wrist and tear. The battlefield healing was nothing new to her — she’d helped other people with wounds after the battle of Meridian, and after some Tenakth or Utaru skirmishes — but since Sylens had always held himself so aloof, it was strange to see the calmness with which he presented the underside of his wrist to her weapon. Aloy found herself holding the back of his hand in the palm of hers to wash the wound. He kept his fingers curled up so as not to touch her. The flail had laid open a thin layer of fat on his lower arm, but at the back just below the first set of piercings, not near the vital veins. She had done all she needed to do now; he could do the rest. But … 

“I have herbs,” she said. “Let me fix this up before we start a long ride back.”

So she packed the wound too, and this let her feel the warm weight of his wrist in her palm for a while longer, let her look at the proportions of him and feel the pulse point under her fingertips. She hadn’t noticed such details before, the hair on his arm or the lines on his palm. All the while he looked at her with the new openness she had seen since he started living at the base, a sort of surprise that softened his face. People think Avad looks regal, Aloy thought, because they’ve never seen Sylens … 

His hand trembled slightly. Aloy had packed the wound all she could. She handed him the brace and the torn linen strips, which he took in a firm left hand. No tremble there at all. 

[theriainwonderland]

How to return to the Far Zenith base after the game ends - Horizon Fobidden West