Guerrilla Games recently released its follow-up to the 2017 hit Horizon Zero Dawn, and the sequel has been received positively by fans and improves upon everything in its predecessor, from combat to exploration. Continuing the story of Aloy and her journey through dangerous environments overrun by mechanical animals, Horizon Forbidden West opens up the world of the previous game in great new ways. In addition to including underwater exploration and new mounts for Aloy to travel with, Horizon Forbidden West offers players expansive and previously unseen regions to explore, including a ruined San Francisco and areas of the Yosemite Valley.
Another new aspect in Horizon Forbidden West is the addition of the Regional Control Center, or the Base, which is located in the Whitewash Mountains. Many games, especially open-world titles with vast areas to explore, make use of a hub location to serve as a safe place for players to return to after missions,. Much like the Tower in Destiny, or the Normandy in the Mass Effect trilogy, the Base in Horizon Forbidden West is a location that Aloy can return to again and again. The base shifts as the story progresses, as more of the location is revealed after missions are completed.
The Function of the Base in Horizon Forbidden West
The Base is unlocked as part of the Death's Door main quest during Horizon Forbidden West, and the location is significant to the story of the game. GAIA, the advanced AI and the governing force behind Project Zero Dawn, can be inserted into a console inside the facility once one of its AI sub-functions, called MINERVA, allows it. Although MINERVA originally tries to block Aloy and her allies from accessing the Base, it was eventually persuaded by Aloy to allow entry.
As players progress through the game, areas of the Base unlock; particularly when other AI subfunctions called AETHER, POSEIDON, and DEMETER are found and reintegrated with GAIA to prevent Earth's extinction. The Base also provides Aloy with a Fabrication Terminal, which shows which machines players are capable of overriding, as well as other useful aspects and plot points.
Areas To Unlock in Horizon Forbidden West's Base
Through either completing parts of the main story, or finding several Datapoints to unlock areas, players will eventually be able to explore the full base as the game progresses. Aloy even gets herself a room within the Base, as her companions feel like she deserves a space of her own, and it's filled with meaningful objects and memories. One of the first areas that gamers can unlock is the Game Room (or Kotallo's room). This room is accessible after the first AI sub-function is returned to GAIA.
Although the sub-functions can be pursued in any order after MINERVA, it makes sense for players to track them down in a certain order as the missions associated with each one has a recommended level. After the second AI sub-function is returned to GAIA, the Botany room will become accessible. This room is particularly representative of the themes of Horizon Forbidden West and its focus on nature and conservation, as well as the destructive relationship humanity has with it.
Once three AI sub-functions have been returned to GAIA (AETHER, POSEIDON, and DEMETER), the monitoring station will be unlocked which players can access from the server room inside the Base. Beta — another genetic clone of Dr. Elisabet Sobeck — will get her own room, which will be unlocked once players have completed the GEMINI main quest. This is the point in the game when Aloy and Beta's relationship really starts to progress, and they begin to see each other as sisters as their understanding of one another improves.
The final area that players can unlock is a secret vault located behind a vent in the basement. In order to unlock the area, players will need to locate four different Datapoints from around the Base.
These Datapoints are not all immediately accessible, and some are in areas that unlock throughout the game as previously mentioned. The final Datapoint is in Beta's room, which is only accessible towards the end of Horizon Forbidden West's main story. The Datapoints will provide a code to unlock the vault's door, and inside there are five audio logs from the Regional Control Center's previous inhabitants speaking to future humans, which provides an emotional as well as informative insight for players.
Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5.
