With Horizon Zero Dawn, Guerrilla Games veered away from its first-person shooter roots and decided to experiment with a unique third-person game. The Horizon series gained popularity from featuring mechanical robot enemies and primitive tribes, making the best of a future Earth wrecked by human-caused disasters. Although it was a risky move for the studio at launch, the game was well-received, and Horizon Zero Dawn has sold over 20 million copies on PS4 and PC. Not unexpectedly, the game was followed up with a sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, released in February 2022.
With Horizon Forbidden West, everything is bigger and better. Aloy travels to the Forbidden West to figure out the mystery behind a strange blight that is infecting nature and threatening to bring a host of disasters. The game packs plenty of content including new machines to discover, tribes to learn about, weapons to play with, and collectibles to find. One of these collectibles is the relic ruin ornaments which are scattered throughout the Forbidden West. Aloy does not know what to do with them at first, but they are highly useful and worth collecting.
What Are the Relic Ruin Ornaments?
The Horizon franchise is set in the distant future following the apocalyptic events triggered by Faro Automated Solutions. Almost all life on Earth is wiped out, but thanks to a genius plan by Elisabet Sobeck, an AI system known as GAIA repopulates the planet with life. Unfortunately, most of humankind's greatest creations have been lost to time; urban areas have been reclaimed by nature, and entire cities are submerged underwater. By the time Aloy is around, humans have established primitive societies, and while survival is still a struggle, some semblance of life is possible.
Aloy's adventures have her attempting to uncover the secrets of her origins, and this requires her to learn more about Old Ones, which is what she calls the humans who lived before the apocalypse. She discovers more about the Old Ones through various ways, including through datapoints she finds. Sometimes, when Aloy explores ruins, she may discover relic ruin ornaments. These are special orbs that are themed after holidays that were celebrated by the Old Ones.
Where Are The Relic Ruin Ornaments Located?
There are nine relic ruin ornaments to collect, and one of them is obtained through a side quest. Unfortunately, players cannot obtain all the ornaments at the beginning of the game because some relics feature obstacles such as Metal Flowers and Firegleam that require tools only obtained later on.
The first ornament is located in The Daunt, and it requires no special abilities, so it can be obtained early on. This ornament is themed around Saint Patrick's Day. The next few ornaments — located in No Man's Land, Restless Weald, The Stillsands, Runner's Wild, and The Long Coast — are all blocked by Firegleam, which is a red, crystalline substance. It can be destroyed by attaching an Igniter to Aloy's spear, but this ability is only unlocked after completing the "Death's Door" main quest.
The No Man's Land ornament is themed after the Buddhist holiday Bodhi Day, the Restless Weald ornament is themed after Eid Al-Fitr, the Stillsands ornament is themed after the Chinese New Year, the Runner's Wild is themed after Easter, and The Long Coast ornament is themed after Valentine's Day.
The remaining ornaments are located in the Dry Yearn and the Isle of Spires, and they are blocked by both Firegleam and Metal Flowers. To deal with Metal Flowers and the vines that emanate from them, Aloy must attach Vine Cutters to her spear. This upgrade is only unlocked after completing the "Seeds of the Past" main quest. The Dry Yearn ornament is themed after Halloween, and the Isle of Spires ornament is themed after New Year's Eve.
What Do the Relic Ruin Ornaments Do?
Aloy does not know what to do with the relic ruin ornaments, but some people do value them. To make use of the ornaments, players have to complete the "Sea of Sands" main quest, then go to Stemmur at Hidden Ember and start the "Nights of Lights" quest. To complete this quest, players have to explore an underground ruin and retrieve a Gizmo which happens to be the ninth ornament. This ornament is Christmas-themed.
If players collect all the ornaments and give them to Stemmur, he will give Aloy access to a chest that contains a Legendary weapon called the Ancestor's Return Shredder Gauntlet, which is one of the best weapons in Horizon Forbidden West. Shredder Gauntlets are a new kind of weapon that eject projectiles that grow more powerful every time they are caught. After being caught three times, they explode upon impact. This weapon is an asset against machines with heavy armor, and it is highly effective when used on foes that are weak against acid attacks.
In addition to the new weapon, Stemmur will also use the ornaments to put on a light show for Aloy. The light shows are themed around different holidays, and players can change the theme of the light show by talking to Stemmur. Of course, Stemmur does not know the context behind the holidays of the Old Ones, so he is left wondering why they celebrated crescent moons and bats. Although collecting all the relic ruin ornaments is no easy task, the rewards ensure that players are not wasting their time.
The relic ruin ornaments are just one of the many collectibles scattered throughout the Forbidden West, waiting for players to discover them. There are survey drones to leap onto, signal lenses to find, vista point puzzles to solve, and harrowing airplane black box recordings to listen to. Although it is not necessary to complete many of these activities, they are worth doing as they complement the main quests well. For players who wish to understand as much as possible about Aloy's world, side quests and collectibles such as the relic ruin ornaments are vital, as they contain important information about the lives of the Old Ones and their demise.
Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5.
