Horizon Forbidden West introduced players to new tribes, with a heavy focus on the Utaru of Plainsong and various Tenakth clans across the west. However, Horizon Forbidden West also brought the Quen into the picture, providing players with a tribe more advanced than any met previously. While the Quen are mostly featured near the end of the game, Forbidden West's Burning Shores DLC will expand upon their culture and tribe, which may be especially beneficial for Aloy in terms of improving her technology.
The Quen in Horizon Forbidden West are first encountered while Aloy searches The Greenhouse, a Faro Automated Solutions research facility involving agricultural technology that has been taken over by a GAIA subordinate function, DEMETER. A Quen Diviner, Alva, meets Aloy and works alongside her to fulfill their initial goals. Aloy later ventures to the Quen's Legacy's Landfall settlement in the San Francisco ruins for further help locating Ted Faro's bunker of Thebes, hoping to gain his Omega Clearance.
The Quen in Horizon Forbidden West
The Quen come from across the Pacific Ocean, referring to their homeland as The Great Delta - widely assumed to be mainland China. Unlike the other tribes featured in Horizon that came from Zero Dawn's Cradle facility, ELEUTHIA-9, the Quen most likely originated from ELEUTHIA-1 within the Xinjiang province. The Quen tribe is unique in that they have had access to Focus technology for at least 13 generations, granting them access to the knowledge from the Old Ones.
However, while this information grants them an advantage over other tribes, it also limits them. The Quen's Focuses are older, less powerful models that cannot read data past the mid-2050s. Furthermore, the Quen limit access to information. Their Focus devices are not granted to the populace; instead, Diviners are the only members who know how to use Focuses, with an Overseer monitoring information further. This suppression of information is not only done to control the wider population, but to prevent information from being obtained by other tribes.
How the Quen May Foreshadow Advanced Technologies
In addition to utilizing Focuses and having a grasp on old-world technology, the Quen are also known to repurpose tech from the Old Ones. This is seen in their use of gyrocompasses to cross the Pacific Ocean. A recent PlayStation Blog post from lead writer Annie Kitain explains more about the Quen and their role in Burning Shores. Kitain says unlike the Oseram, whose creativity drives their technological prowess, the Quen rely on the data they've uncovered. This indicates the Quen can replicate certain technologies found in their data, whereas the Oseram are known to experiment and create something new. Players will also apparently learn more about the Quen's rigid hierarchy in Burning Shores.
This could mean the Quen have information that can enhance Aloy's technology for both offensive and defensive measures. With Burning Shores promising larger threats than Aloy has faced previously, such as a FAS-BOR7 HORUS, it only makes sense that Aloy's technological arsenal will need to grow. Moreover, the Quen's knowledge and abilities to replicate such technology could be instrumental with the threat of Nemesis on the horizon.
Still, the Quen's suppression of knowledge will undoubtedly be a barrier. For example, a plot point of Burning Shores may see Aloy and her new companion, Seyka, working to prove themselves worthy of receiving such information, much like in The Frozen Wilds DLC where Aloy needed to become a Banuk Chieftain to continue her quest. While story details regarding Burning Shores have been limited so far, these possibilities are worth considering as it approaches release.
Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5, and the Burning Shores DLC is scheduled to release on April 19 exclusively for PS5.
