Being an open-world action-adventure title, Horizon Zero Dawn is full of weapons and armor for Aloy to use. The majority have their own upgraded versions that slightly alter their appearance, stats, and modification slots. Once New Game+ was introduced, however, Horizon also incentivized players to continue playing the game, including various cosmetic rewards to change Aloy's appearance.
While most of these cosmetic rewards weren't present in the original release of the game, a handful could be obtained before New Game+ was introduced. However, they were much easier to obtain at the time, even on greater difficulties.
Updated on July 21st, by Kim Dailey: Journeying through Horizon Zero Dawn on the harder difficulties is a long and rather arduous adventure. But throngs of players are taking on the monumental feat of beating the new mode on the hardest difficulty, in part to unlock all of those striking new cosmetic rewards introduced with New Game+. With so many players undertaking this tedious task, our article has been flushed out to meet the rising needs of adventurers everywhere and help them decide which cosmetics to set their sights on.
How To Unlock Face Paint
The main cosmetic rewards that players can obtain in Horizon Zero Dawn are the various face paints that they can use on Aloy and these were one of two cosmetic additions brought in with 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, the face paint patterns are inspired by the various tribes 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. However, this is fitting with the NPC designs of most Oseram characters.
There's a lot to choose from, so we've sorted them all out for you according to the difficulty level you'll need to beat New Game+ on in order to obtain them.
Hard
- Nora Scout
- Carja Noble
- Banuk Aspirant
- Nora Seeker
Very Hard
- Nora Brave
- Carja Champion
- Banuk Survivor
- Banuk Shaman
Ultra Hard
- Nora Deathseeker
- Carja Hawk
- Carja Stalker
- Banuk Chieftan
- Utaru Plainswalker
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.
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. Let's take a look at the Focus' different hologram effects below.
- Default - Blue, no-notch
- Hard - Light Blue, one-notch variant
- Very Hard - Red, two-notch variant
- Ultra Hard - Gold, three-notch variant
Each 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 link to the Utaru color and their face paint's link to Horizon Forbidden West, it will likely hold more significance for the series in future titles.
Unlocking Hunting Lodge Weapons
The original cosmetic rewards obtained in Horizon Zero Dawn, the Hunting Lodge weapons are reskinned versions of "The Weapons of The Lodge" quest rewards, which are also known to be some of the best weapons in the game. The Hunting Lodge reskins these weapons with a gold aesthetic, which may also link back to the Utaru in the future, given the tribe's association with the color in Horizon Zero Dawn.
You will need to complete the Hunting Trials scattered across the map (This excludes trials found in the Frozen Wilds DLC) and earn a certain ranking Sun from each in order to be rewarded with these esteemed weapons, respectively.
|
Weapon |
Suns/Rank |
|---|---|
|
Carja War Bow |
15 Half Suns |
|
Blast Sling |
15 Full Suns |
|
Ropecaster |
15 Blazing Suns |
While some of these trials can be particularly difficult, the weapons gained by completing the Weapons of the Lodge side quest are actually beneficial 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. The difference is that 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.