Welcome to the Horizon Forbidden West Trophy Guide! This is a fun and quick platinum that only requires ~50% game completion. You will have to beat the main story, most of the open world activities, find 1 of each type of collectible (not all of them), and play a few specific side quests tied to trophies (not all side quests). You must also scan and kill one of every type of machine (only one variant per machine needed). The only potential missableis scanning the machines Specter and Specter Prime (final story boss) because they are quest-related and don’t have open world spawns, and quests cannot be replayed. Other than that everything is still doable after the story in free-roam. All other machines have open world spawns and you can still do all side activities and side quests after the story. You also get a flying mountat the end of the story, which makes it easy to reach any place quickly. Feel free to do as many or as few side tasks as you like while playing through the game, enjoy it any way you want.If you focus on strictly what is mandatory for trophies you canplatinum it in about 30 hours on story difficulty. It can take an extra 10-20 hours longer if playing onhigher difficultiesor when doing more side tasks than needed.
Focus on playing through the story. At the end of the story you unlock theFlying Mountwhich makes it much easierto reach Collectibles and get around the world quickly. You can already work on any side tasks you like, but it’s more time-efficient to do them after the story using the Flying Mount. Some trophy-related Side Quests also require story progress, after the story you will have access to everything.
Clean up any of the Points of Interest you have left. You can still do all of them after the story in free-roam. It’s best to do Tallnecks first to unfog more map icons, and the Arena second to unlock the Legendary Hunter Bow “Death-Seeker’s Shadow”. This is one of the best weapons and will make the remaining tasks faster to complete. Here’s everything you need to doin the recommended order:
From the Main Collectibles you need one of each type forRecovered 5 Different Collectablesand 3 Relic Ruins forCompleted 3 Relic Ruins.
Only a few specific Side Quests are needed for trophy purposes. They are all still available after the story in free-roam. The below quests are the ones tied to trophies, everything else can be ignored:
At this point you might still be missing a few quick trophies, such as gliding for 60 seconds in one try, or overriding 10 types of machines. By now you will have everything you need to get any trophy quickly. Clean up whatever you have left, this should only take an hour or less at this point.
Save Transfer only works from PS4 to PS5 (not from PS5 to PS4). If you platinum the game on PS4 first, you can autopop all trophies on PS5 instantly by importing your platinum save game. With the PS5 version in the title screen or pause menu, click “Import Game from PlayStation 4” to import the save file. You can copy your PS4 save to PS5 via PlayStation Plus Cloud or via USB. When you have the PS4 save on the console it will get automatically detected by the PS5 version. Select the most recent save and it will automatically unlock all trophies from that save, including the platinum itself.
While DLCs are not needed for the Platinum, they are needed for 100% trophy completion. For DLCs refer to their dedicated trophy guides below:
Obtained all Horizon Forbidden West trophies.
Reached player level 20.
Reached player level 30.
Reached player level 50.
The story alone will get you to about Level 25-30. You will easily gain the remaining level-ups from the trophy-related points of interest and side quests. If you want to reach Level 50 earlier, you can fast travel between two large machines that give a lot of XP, for example Tremortusk. Play on Story difficulty to defeat it in a few hits, fast travel to a campfire at another machine site (big combat machines give the msot XP) and repeat. Doing this at night is even better, because at night Apex variants spawn more often and those give more XP. You can advance time at any Shelter.
Arrived at the Daunt seeking passage into the Forbidden West.
Cleared the way to the Embassy and reopened the Daunt.
Survived the ambush at the Embassy and gained passage into the Forbidden West.
Secured a base of operations and rebooted GAIA.
Defended the Kulrut and recovered AETHER.
Drained Las Vegas and recovered POSEIDON.
Encountered the Quen and recovered DEMETER.
Followed Beta’s distress signal and brought her back to base.
Survived Thebes and befriended the Quen.
Flew into battle and vanquished Regalla.
Put an end to the Zenith threat and discovered Nemesis.
Aided both Drakka and Yarra and chose the better candidate.
This is for completing the following 3 side quests, starting in Arrowhand settlement:
- Thirst for The Hunt
- The Wound in The Sand
- The Gate of the Vanquished
Resolved all of the problems troubling the Daunt.
The Daunt is the starting area in north-east of the map, reached duringMain Mission 3: To The Brink. It consists of two larger towns “Chainscrape” and “Barren Light”. You must complete 4 specific side quests from those two towns to unlock the trophy:
- Shadow from the Past
- Shadowin the West
- The Twilight Path
- The Bristlebacks
There are many other side quests and errands in this region but those aren’t needed, only those specific four. You can skip the other quests in the area.
Helped Kotallo build and test a mechanized arm.
This comes from completing 1 specific Side Quest for Kotallo:
- What Was Lost
Helped Zo reboot the land-gods to save Plainsong.
This comes from completing 1 specific Side Quest for Zo:
- The Second Verse
Helped Alva retrieve data to help the Quen.
This comes from completing 1 specific Side Quest for Alva:
- Forbidden Legacy
Reached the top of a Tallneck and accessed its information.
Reached the top of every Tallneck and accessed their information.
Completed key objectives in 1 Rebel Camp.
Investigated all Rebel Camps and helped Erend defeat Asera.
Reached the Core of a Cauldron and accessed its information.
The story-related Cauldron’s don’t count for this trophy, it only unlocks after doing one of the non-story ones in open world.
Reached the Core of every Cauldron and accessed their information.
Earned at least a Quarter Stripe mark in all three trials at one Hunting Ground.
Earned at least a Quarter Stripe mark in all three trials at all Hunting Grounds.
For this you only need the lowest grade “Quarter Stripes” (Bronze) in all 12 Hunting Ground Trials across the 4 different Hunting Ground Locations. Full Stripes (Gold) is not needed.
Killed at least one of every type of Acquisition machine.
In order of in-game Machine Catalogue, click link for machine page with locations:
- Grazer
- Scrounger
- Scrapper
- Spikesnout
- Plowhorn
- Charger
- Lancehorn
- Bristleback
- Fanghorn
- Widemaw
- Glinthawk
- Snapmaw
- Sunwing
- Clamberjaw
- Rockbreaker
- Tideripper
- Frostclaw
- Fireclaw
For all Machine Locations, see below guide:
»Horizon Forbidden West –All Machine Locations
Killed at least one of every type of Reconnaissance machine.
In order of in-game Machine Catalogue, click link for machine page with locations:
- Burrower
- Skydrifter
- Longleg
- Redeye Watcher
- Tallneck(cannot be killed)
For all Machine Locations, see below guide:
»Horizon Forbidden West –All Machine Locations
Killed at least one of every type of Combat machine.
In order of in-game Machine Catalogue, click link for machine page with locations:
- Clawstrider
- Corruptor
- Stalker
- Grimhorn
- Ravager
- Dreadwing
- Shellsnapper
- Stormbird
- Thunderjaw
- Scorcher
- Slitherfang
- Tremortusk
- Slaughterspine
- Specter
- Specter Prime
For all Machine Locations, see below guide:
»Horizon Forbidden West –All Machine Locations
Killed at least one of every type of Transport machine.
In order of in-game Machine Catalogue, click link for machine page with locations:
- Leaplasher
- Bellowback
- Shell-Walker
- Rollerback
- Behemoth
For all Machine Locations, see below guide:
»Horizon Forbidden West –All Machine Locations
Rode a Charger, Bristleback, and Clawstrider.
Charger,BristlebackandClawstriderare the 3 rideable ground-based mounts (the flying mount “Sunwing” isn’t needed for this). You must first unlock their overrides, then you can walk up to them and hold to override the machine and to ride it. You just need to mount it for a moment, then you can move on to overriding the next machine.
Charger: override unlocked from the start. Spawn location below:
Bristleback: override unlocked fromTAU Cauldron, you complete this Cauldron as part ofMain Quest 6: The Dying Lands. Spawn location below:
Clawstrider: override unlocked fromIOTA Cauldron. See Cauldron location & Spawn location below:
Encountered and Focus scanned every type of machine.
There are 43 machines in Horizon Forbidden West. You must scan ALL 43 of them. For the trophy you need only ONE variant of each machine. Most machines have multiple sub-variants, e.g. Burrower has “Tracker Burrower” or “Apex Burrower” sub-variants. You only need one single variant scanned per machine, doesn’t matter if you scan the normal variant or Apex variant or whatever other variants.You can keep track of your scans under Notebook > Machine Catalogue. All 43 machines must have an icon there for the trophy to unlock.
»Horizon Forbidden West –All Machine Locations
Glided uninterrupted for 60 seconds.
This is easiest to do after getting the flying mount, automatically unlockednear the end of the storyinMain Quest 16: The Wings of the Ten. Use the flying Mount to fly as high up as the game lets you, then dismount by pressing and immediately hold to open the Glider. Glide all the way down to the ground and you should easily stay in the air for 60+ seconds.
Completed 2 quests that required a flying mount.
There are a total of 4 Flying Mount Quests. You only need to complete 2 of them for the trophy. The flying mount is unlocked automatically near the end of the storyinMain Quest 16: The Wings of the Ten.
- Shining Example
- First to Fly
- The Way Home
- Tides of Justice
Won first place in two different Gauntlet Runs.
Go there, win the race, then it will add the other ones to your quest log. From there you can track them to see their locations on the map.
»Horizon Forbidden West –All Gauntlet Run Locations
Completed all contracts at a Salvage Contractor.
Salvage Contractors are marked by “blue pages” icons on the map. The first one is found 300 meters south-west of Barren Light. There are a total of 4Salvage Contractors in the game (Barren Light, The Greenswell, The Stillsands, The Raintrace). For this trophy you must complete all the quests of one single Salvage Contractor.
Here’s where you find the Barren Light Salvage Contractor:
Talk to him and do all his quests. You can track these in the Menu under Quests > Salvage Contracts. His 4 quests are:
- Convoy Ambush
- Scavengers
- Alarm Antennas
- Elusive Fanghorn
After those 4 quests the trophy will unlock.
»Horizon Forbidden West –AllSalvage Contractor Locations
Defeated the outpost leader and recovered the tags from 4 Rebel Outposts.
»Horizon Forbidden West –AllRebel Outpost Locations
Discovered and completed 3 Relic Ruins.
Completed 1 Arena challenge set.
The Arena becomes available afterMain Quest 9: The Kulrut. It is found near the center of the map, called “The Maw of the Arena” on the map. It’s directly north of “The Memorial Grove”, a story-related settlement you visit automatically. Here’s the location:
Approach the Arena Master outside the Arena to get the side quest “Opening the Arena”. Complete this side quest and then talk to the arena master again to play the arena challenges. For this trophy you only need to complete the 4 fights in the “easy” playlist. Simply kill the machines within the time limit. If you put the game on story difficulty this shouldn’t give you any trouble. A quick way to kill machines is with a Spike Thrower weapon. It is recommended to play a few more challenges for more Arena Medals until you can afford the Legendary Hunter Bow “Death-Seeker’s Shadow”, it’s one of the best weapons in the game and makes other side activities easier and faster. You can trade the Arena Medals at the vendor in front of the arena entrance.
Won a match against 2 different Machine Strike challengers.
Machine Strike is board game / minigame. It’s marked by a “blue cube” icon on the map, found at all big settlements. For trophy purposes you only need to beat any 2 opponents. So head to 2 different Machine Strike icons on the map and defeat the opponent on one board.
You should play the Machine Strike in Chainscrape first, inside the tavern. It gives you a tutorial how this minigame works and you are given your first set of match pieces there. For trophy purposes it’s enough to play the first challenge “Beginner’s Practice: Easy”.
Then head to the second opponent found in Barren Light, just south of Chainscrape and defeat him on his first board, the trophy will unlock after that:
Obtained 1 weapon from every weapon class.
- Hunter Bow
- Warrior Bow
- Sharpshot Bow
- Blastslings
- Tripcaster
- Ropecaster
- Shredder Gauntlet
- Spike Thrower
- Boltblaster
The easiest option is to simply buy one of each from Hunter Merchants, found at almost every settlement. They usually have 3 different weapons for sale, visit a few different ones and you will find one of every weapon in their inventories. For all weapon locations see the below guide:
»Horizon Forbidden West –AllWeapon Locations
Inflicted every elemental state on an enemy at least once.
To get this trophy you have two options: The first is to shoot the weak points on machines, usually some canisters, until those weak spots explode and cause an elemental chain reaction. The second option is to use weapons with an elemental effect and shoot an enemy repeatedly until the element has fully built up (element icon on enemy filling up with each hit). You can see your weapon elements in the weapon wheel, it varies for each weapon variant and ammo type used. You will quite certainly get this through natural gameplay will working on the other trophies, without having to go out of your way for this. As you kill machines you will eventually hit their weak spots and cause elemental effects with that. Another quick way is to play the last challenge in each Arena Set which gives you a predefined set of weapons with various elemental effects.
All Elemental Effects:
- Frost
- Acid
- Shock
- Fire
- Purgewater
- Plasma
For an overview of all weapons, their locations and their elemental effects see the below guide:
»Horizon Forbidden West –AllWeapon Locations
Successfully performed 3 different unlockable melee combos.
Performed a stealth kill on 10 machines.
Doing silent strike takedowns on enemies that have been alerted does NOT count. They have to be proper stealth kills, without alerting any machines. An easy method is to keep fast traveling between groups of small machines, sneak up from behind, do stealth takedowns on as many as you can, then fast travel to another group and repeat until the trophy pops. If you use stealth from time to time you should get it naturally over the course of the story.
Detached 100 components from machines.
Picked up 5 different heavy weapons.
Heavy Weapons are dropped by certain large combat-type machines when shooting off their weapon parts. Then you can pick up their weapon and use it against them. They usually carry those weapons on their back.
- Stalker(Stalker Dart Gun)
- Grimhorn(Grimhorn Cluster Launcher)
- Ravager(Ravager Cannon)
- Dreadwing(Dreadwing Bomb Launcher)
- Shellsnapper(Shellsnapper Frost Blaster)
- Thunderjaw(Thunderjaw Disc Launcher)
- Scorcher(Scorcher Mine Launcher)
- Slitherfang(Slitherfang Shock Orb)
- Tremortusk(Tremortusk Shock Cannon+ Tremortusk Plasma Cannon)
- Slaughterspine(Slaughterspine Plasma Spine Launcher)
- Specter/Specter Prime(Specter Pulse Cannon)
Unlocked and used the overrides for 10 different types of machine.
»Horizon Forbidden West All Cauldron Locations
Some machines require crafting their Override at the Fabrication Terminal of the Base in addition to completing the Cauldrons. The base is visited automatically as part ofMain Quest 7: The Eye of the Earth.
To see if you have the Override for a machine unlocked, check under Notebook > Machine Catalogue > click Machine > left site “Cauldron” > Overrides. If it says “Unlocked” you can override it. If it says “Partially unlocked” it means you must craft the override at The Base first. If it says “Cannot override” there is no way to ever override it. None of the Apex Variants of machines can be overridden!
Machines for which you have unlocked the override can be overridden by approaching them in stealth and holding when close to them. If they turn hostile they can’t be overridden, but you can leave the area and come back to try again. Overridden machines will become your allies and fight for you and follow you.The following machines are the easiest, they can be overridden by just completing all Cauldrons, no need to craft their overrides at The Base.
»Horizon Forbidden West AllMachine Locations
- Grazer
- Burrower(except Apex)
- Scrounger(except Apex)
- Leaplasher(except Apex)
- Charger
- Lancehorn
- Longleg(except Apex)
- Bristleback(except Apex)
- Redeye Watcher(except Apex)
- Clawstrider(except Apex)
- Glinthawk(except Apex)
- Shell-Walker(except Apex)
- Sunwing(override unlocked in 2nd last story quest)
- Clamberjaw(except Apex)
- Rockbreaker(except Apex)
- Behemoth(except Apex)
- Tideripper(except Apex)
- Stormbird(except Apex)
- Tremortusk(except Apex)
Defeated the Tenakth melee master known as the Enduring.
»Horizon Forbidden West AllMelee Pit Locations
Upgraded a Valor Surge to its maximum level.
Here’s an example of a fully upgraded Valor Surge from the Trapper skill tree (costs 13 skill points to buy connected skills and fully upgrade Valor Surge):
Fully upgraded 3 weapons.
For a list of all weapons and their locations:
»Horizon Forbidden West AllWeapons
Fully upgraded 3 different outfits.
For a list of alloutfits and their locations:
»Horizon Forbidden West All Outfits
Upgraded the Food Pouch, Potion Pouch, Resource Pouch, Trap Pouch, and any ammo pouch at least once.
- Food Pouch = Buy Food (e.g. Local Stew) from any Cook (Food) Merchant at any large settlement. Every large town has a Cook Vendor. For example, at “Chainscrape” (but must do Errand for him first), or at “Plainsong” or “Scalding Spear” or “The Bulwark”. Once you bought your first food item the pouch will become available for upgrade at any workbench.
- Potion Pouch = Buy a Potion from any Herbalist (Remedies) vendor, found at any large settlement.
- Resource Pouch = Automatically available from the beginning
- Trap Pouch = Automatically available from the beginning
- Ammo Pouch = Automatically available from the beginning, there’s one pouch for each weapon type. For example, the “Hunter Bow Quiver” is unlocked from the start, but can also upgrade any other type of ammo pouch of any other weapon.
Equipped a weapon of any tier with 2 coils.
You can see how many coil slots a weapon has by going to Inventory > scroll over a weapon > check “Coils” in bottom right. If it shows a “lock icon” on a coil slot, it means you must go to a Workbench and upgrade the weapon first. Workbenches are found at almost every big town and get marked on the map when nearby. For example, in Chainscrape which is the first big town you visit. Alternatively, just wait until you have a Legendary rarity weapon.
Coils are frequentlyobtained throughout the game but can also be bought from any Hunter Merchant, there’s one at almost every big town. They are like “weapon runes” that give your weapon a bonus effect, such as higher critical hit chance.
Once you have a weapon with enough coil slots, go to Inventory > click on the weapon to edit Coils. Insert any two coils into it. It doesn’t matter what rarity level the coils have (can be the lowest green rarity). As soon as you have 2 coils slotted to the same weapon it will unlock the trophy.
Unlocked a Weapon Technique for 3 different weapon classes.
The important thing is you must unlock at least one technique for 3 DIFFERENT weapons, not 3 techniques for the same weapon! For example, 1 skill for the Ropecaster, 1 for Hunter Bow, 1 for Bolt Blaster. You get plenty of skill points from every quest, from level ups, and from completing locations marked on the map.
- Warrior = Warrior Bow
- Trapper Skill Tree = Tripcaster / Ropecaster
- Hunter Skill Tree = Hunter Bow / Boltblaster
- Survivor Skill Tree = Blastsling / Shredder Gauntlet
- Infiltrator Skill Tree = Sharpshot Bow
- Machine Master Skill Tree = Spike Thrower
Learned all available skills on one tree.
For this trophy you must buy all skills and upgrades in 1 of the 6 available skill trees.
These are the6 available skills trees:
- Warrior (31 skills)
- Trapper (20 skills)
- Hunter (29 skills)
- Survivor (29 skills)
- Infiltrator (27 skills)
- Machine Master (26 skills)
The cheapest one is “Trapper” because it has the fewest skills. Buying all skills and upgrades for Trappercosts 40 Skill Points total. If you save your skill points you should be able to do this by the time you reach Level 20.
Completed 1 Survey Drone, 1 Black Box, 1 Relic Ruin, 1 Vista Point, and 1 Signal Tower.
- Relic Ruins
- Signal Towers
- Black Boxes
- Vista Points
- Survey Drones
Used dye flowers to unlock and apply a new dye.
Here’sa mountain wall where you can find plenty, and what the flowers look like:
Dyer #1: Plainsong
Dyer #2: Scalding Spear
Dyer #3: Thornmarsh