5 Reasons to Play Horizon Zero Dawn Again

Different Approaches to Combat

On your first run through of Horizon Zero Dawn, you’ll likely engage in combat in your preferred style. Whether that’s going in guns blazing, a more tactical approach, or complete stealth, each and every one of them can be effective in Horizon Zero Dawn. Now that you’ve cleared the story and are looking for a reason to play it again, we’d strongly suggest starting over and just mixing up the way you approach combat.

If you went in all-guns-blazing, try looking at weapons or methods that you didn’t utilize the first time around. Or if you went for a stealth playthrough on your initial one, ride on the back of an overridden machine into battle and fire arrows at everything in sight. Horizon Zero Dawn’s combat is one of the most dynamic examples in gaming, and experimenting with it can keep that rewarding feeling going long into a second playthrough.

A Tougher Challenge

If the idea of changing up your tried and tested combat formula doesn’t entice you into playing Horizon Zero Dawn again, may we suggest upping the challenge. The obvious way to do this is through the game’s actual difficulty settings. Assuming you played on Normal difficulty the first time around, you can always bump the challenge up to Hard or Very Hard. This will see the machines soak up and deal out far more damage than on lower difficulties, making for more intense battle sequences.

Alternatively, you can try and ramp up the difficulty in different ways yourself. Don’t unlock any of the skills available to you, or use only the basic weapons you start with in the game. It’s a novel method, but it’ll push you to really think about how you take on the machines, and push you to improve your skills.

Plenty to Find

Horizon Zero Dawn’s world isn’t just filled with the machines you defeat and animals you hunt for resources. It’s also got a ton of collectibles, datapoints, and secrets just waiting to be explored.

While this doesn’t require you to start an entirely new game, finding these collectibles, particularly the datapoints, provide a ton of additional context and lore into this world. Whether it’s the story of Tiktuk told through the Banuk Figures, or the datapoints that provide snippets of conversations between important characters, you’re always sure to find something that feels a little big magical.

There are a ton of interesting tidbits locked away in the game’s collectibles and datapoints, and there are even some cool secrets that are worth checking out, too. Don’t just put the game down once the credits roll, keep on exploring and collecting.

The Final Battle

The final mission in Horizon Zero Dawn looks like it might just contain the only “missable” trophy in the entire game (though it’s easy to go back and get). The All Allies Joined trophy requires “all possible optional allies” to fight by Aloy’s side. In order to do this, you’ll need to complete all 20 of Horizon Zero Dawn’s side missions before beginning the final quest.

This doesn’t mean you have to start the game over, though, as you’ll be loaded back into your save just before the final mission once you’ve watched the credits roll. All you have to do then is polish off the remaining side missions and complete the final quest once more. Plus, who doesn’t want to play through that one more time?

The Platinum Trophy

By the time you’ve done the rest of the stuff on this list, chances are you’ll be incredibly close to having got the platinum trophy for Horizon Zero Dawn. And when you’re that close to a shiny platinum, you’ll definitely want to add it to your collection.

You’ll need to remember to take down all 23 of those training dummies in the world, clear out all of the Cauldrons, perfect all of the Hunting Grounds, and defeat all machines in the Corruption Zones. Do these and also discover one of the game’s coolest secrets and chances are you’ll pop Horizon Zero Dawn’s trophy. With that safely in your collection, and all of the collectibles and datapoints found, you can rest safe in the knowledge that you’ve seen all there is to see in Horizon Zero Dawn.