Horizon Zero Dawn Story Explained: Recapping What Happened Before Forbidden West

The story of the Horizon series is full of dense lore, a multitude of important characters, and plenty of earth-shattering revelations. And while the franchise is only really just getting started, we’ve had more than enough happen just across a single game and its DLC expansion to warrant a story refresher. So with Horizon Forbidden West releasing on February 18, what better time to revisit the story of the franchise so far, from the mysterious Project Zero Dawn all the way through to Aloy’s adventures in the Frozen Wilds? This is Horizon’s story so far.

The setup

The Horizon franchise plays out its grand narrative of tribal politics and robot dino-animal-things in the 31st century, in the wake of a cataclysmic robot-apocalypse that has wiped out the majority of humanity. Those who survived have formed tribes and are living their lives largely devoid of the technological advancements of their predecessors. They have some awareness of a more advanced time, and refer to these ancestors as the Old Ones.

In Zero Dawn, there are four tribes that populate the world. The Nora are a group of deeply religious warrior-hunters from the south, who worship at the altar of ‘All-Mother.’ The Carja, who reside in the bustling cities of the central deserts and revere the Sun God. The Oseram are a tribe of practically minded forgemen and women. And the Banuk are a mountain-dwelling tribe of hunters and shaman. The tribes aren’t exactly all on friendly terms either: The Carja, in particular, are notorious for raiding their rivals under the leadership of the Mad Sun King, Jiran.