Being an open-world action-adventure title, Horizon Zero Dawn is full of weapons and armor for Aloy to use, with the majority having their own upgraded versions that slightly alter their appearance, stats, and modification slots. Once New Game+ was introduced, however, Horizon also brought incentives for players to continue to play the game, including various cosmetic rewards to change Aloy’s appearance.
While the majority of these cosmetic rewards weren’t present in the original release of the game, there were a handful that could be obtained before New Game+ was introduced, though they were much easier to obtain at the time, even on higher difficulties.
3 How To Unlock Face Paint
The main cosmetic reward that players can obtain in Horizon Zero Dawn are the various face paints that they can use on Aloy and was one of two cosmetic additions brought in with the addition of New Game+. These face paints are all unlocked by completing the game in a New Game+ mode, though each increasing level of difficulty will unlock an additional set of face paints to equip.
For the most part, each face paint is based on the various tribes that can be found in Horizon, with most of them being based on the Nora, Carja, and Banuk tribes. Due to their rejection of tribal culture and emphasis on advancing technology, there are no face paint options associated with the Oseram, though this is fitting with the NPC designs of most Oseram characters.
Although finishing the game on Hard or Very Hard difficulty will result in unlocking several face paints for the Nora, Carja, and Banuk tribes, if you finish the game on Ultra Hard, the highest difficulty, you will also unlock a unique face paint associated with the Utaru tribe, a splinter of the Banuk with few members in Horizon Zero Dawn, but who make the Forbidden West their home and are likely to appear more prominently in Horizon Forbidden West as a result.
2 Unlocking Focus Effects
Although the Focus is fairly innocuous and is often well hidden unless it is being used, there are a handful of skins that can be unlocked to change the color and appearance of the Focus. For the most part, they are simple pallet swaps of the base Focus, but on closer inspection, there seems to be more going on with the design of the hologram.
To unlock each new Focus effect, you will need to complete the game in New Game+ on Hard difficulty or higher, just like with the face paints, though you will only unlock one Focus effect per difficulty level rather than the four or five face paints unlocked. However, like the face paints, you can beat the game on New Game+ in Ultra Hard mode just once to unlock all of the cosmetic rewards.
If beaten in Hard difficulty, you will unlock a lighter-blue variant that is reminiscent of the Banuk’s tribal colors, Very Hard will unlock a red-colored effect similar to the Carja’s colors, while Ultra Hard will unlock a gold variant that is similar to the Utaru tribe’s face paint colors.
Each additional Focus effect also has a small, additional notch above the main hologram that can’t easily be seen outside of photo mode. The light-blue Focus effect has one notch, the red effect has two, while the gold effect has three in the shape of the Cauldron doors. This is one of the only other times in Horizon where this shape appears and, considering the Utaru face paint’s link to Horizon Forbidden West, this could mean that it will hold more significance in future titles in the series.
1 Unlocking Hunting Lodge Weapons
The original cosmetic rewards obtained in Horizon Zero Dawn, the Hunting Lodge weapons are reskinned versions of the Carja War Bow, Blast Sling, and Ropecaster with a gold aesthetic and may also link back to the Utaru in the future given their association with the color in Horizon Zero Dawn.
In order to unlock these unique weapons, you will need to complete the Hunting Trials scattered across the map, with the exception of those found in the Frozen Wilds DLC, and earn 15 Half Suns, 15 Full Suns, and 15 Blazing Suns in each individual trial. While some of these trials can be particularly difficult, the weapons gained by completing the Weapons of the Lodge side quest are actually very useful in those said trials, making repeat attempts on New Game+ runs easier.
If these weapons are obtained in New Game+, you will still get the Lodge variations of the Carja War Bow, Blast Sling, and Ropecaster, but they will instead be Adept level weapons and have an additional modification slot. Unfortunately, this doesn’t carry over to the other Hunter Lodge weapon, the Tearblaster, which has no modification slots to begin with and, therefore, doesn’t receive the Adept upgrade on subsequent New Game+ runs.
Next: Horizon Zero Dawn: How To Upgrade Your Spear (& 9 Other Handy Weapons Tips)
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Callum Archer is a freelance writer based in Perth, Western Australia. He is an avid gamer, Nintendo fanboy, and lover of weird sci-fi novels, who also dabbles in manga from time to time, usually dark and twisted work like Uzumaki and Death Note.
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