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A Gift from the Past is the first main quest of Horizon Zero Dawn.

Description[]

Six years after her naming ceremony, while venturing across The Embrace, Aloy finds herself trapped in a ruin cave and must find a way to escape.

Transcript[]

A six-year-old Aloy ventured through some vegetation near Mother's Watch as Rost called for her.

  • Rost: Aloy! Aloy!
A Gift from the Past (4)

Bast delivers berries to the mother

She hid among the bushes, observing from afar a group of children gathering berries, watched by a Nora woman. The girl smiled as a blond-haired boy called the woman's attention and deposited some of the berries in the bowl in her posession.

  • Nora Mother: Oooh, that's a lot of berries. You are quite the gatherer, aren't you, little Bast.

She caressed him and directed him to the other children.

  • Nora Mother: Now go and see if you can find some more.
A Gift from the Past (5)

Aloy attempts to join the group

Aloy then gathered some berries herself with the intent of delivering them to the mother. As she approached her, one of the children looked to her in surprise. Aloy approached the woman from behind, as she congratulated another boy on his work.

  • Nora Mother: Well done, that's a good boy.

The woman turned, alerted by Aloy's presence, who in turn stretched out the berries in her hands to her.

  • Nora Mother: Children, come with me. She's an outcast, to be shunned.
A Gift from the Past (7)

Bast looks to Aloy

She reunited the group of children and they walked away from Aloy. Bast stared onto her with curiousity, as the mother sitted the other children under a tree.

  • Nora Mother: There...

Noticing that the boy had stayed behind, the woman rushed to him and redirected him to the group.

  • Nora Mother: Oh, come on.
A Gift from the Past (9)

Aloy emerges from the pond

With her feelings hurt, Aloy squeezed the berries in anger and threw them to the ground, running away from the site and into the woods. She eventually stumbled and fell into an underground cave, landing in a small pond. She coffed as she pushed herself to the rocky margin, looking to the opening above her afterwards.

  • Aloy: Rost! Down here! Rost! ROST! He won't hear me.

She then looked to her surroundings.

  • Aloy: Some kind of cave?

The girl entered a tunnel, with a group of bats passing by in bursts, finding a small passage.

  • Aloy: Looks tight. But I can get through...

On the other side, she found herself in a metallic ruined room.

  • Aloy: This must be a ruin of the Metal World! One of the old places...

Aloy then passed through the main entrance of the ruin.

  • Aloy: Rost said never go in places like this... but I have to find a way out.

Going up two flights of stairs, Aloy reached the first floor of the bunker, greeted by another burst of bats.

  • Aloy: There's something up ahead...
A Gift from the Past (10)

The Focus on the corpse

Entering the next room, the child found the middle of the room iluminated by a beam of light, where a rotten corpse could be seen.

  • Aloy: What's that? A dead person!

She approached the long deceased body.

  • Aloy: There's something shiny there.
A Gift from the Past (14)

Aloy uses the device

Aloy inspected its head, where a strange device was attached to the ear. After removing it, she examined it, before attaching it to her own. As she did this, an hologram interface surrounded the device, which prompted the girl to detach and move away from it in fear. Still curious, Aloy picked the piece of technology up again and attached it as before, this time witnessing various holograms lighting up the room.

  • Aloy: Lights - everywhere! How does it do this?

Aloy then walked up to a large door which blocked the exit of the room.

  • Aloy: A metal door. Closed. Maybe this device I found can help?

She used the Focus to examine the door, rvealing two cables leading away from it.

  • Aloy: More lights...

Aloy followed one of the cables to a strange apparatus on the other side of the wall. After finding a way to the adjacent room, she examined another device near it, to which the other cable was leading to.

  • Aloy: A shape. It's connected to the door somehow...

She used the setting displayed on the device to turn the holo lock to the right position, changing the color of the device's interface from red to bright blue.

  • Aloy: It changed color!

Returning to the door, Aloy found it unlocked.

  • Aloy: The door changed color, too!

The child opened the door after touching the small hologram that served as handle.

  • Aloy: It did it!

She descended to the lower floor again, finding another corpse near the entrance of the next room, which also beared a Focus.

  • Aloy: What's that? It's got a device, like the one I found.
A Gift from the Past (15)

Aloy encounters a hologram

As she analysed the corpse, a hologram of a man in the process of adjusting something showed up.

  • Unknown Man: You think I want it this way? It's the best I can do, he's right behind you.

The man waved, prompting Aloy to turn, looking for the person he was greeting.

  • Unknown Man: Hi! Happy birthday Isacc! Daddy sure does love his little big man.

The hologram put on a party hat.

  • Unknown Man: Look, Daddy can't be there with you and mom, but... We can still have a party, right? Sure we can.

The message ended as the man blew on a cracker tongue. Fascinated, Aloy slided her hand on the hologram, pushing the message backwards.

  • Aloy: Show me... Show me again!
  • Unknown Man: -I can do, he's right behind you. Hi!
  • Aloy: Hi!
  • Unknown Man: Happy birthday Isaac! Daddy sure does love his little big man. Look, Daddy can't be there with you and mom, but... We can still have a party, right? Sure we can.

She laughed in joy, as the hologram faded once again.

  • Aloy: Happy Birthday, Isaac... Daddy sure does love his little big man...
A Gift from the Past (17)

Aloy slides through the metal door

The girl then squeezed though the gap of a semi-open door, leaving the room. Going up a satircase again, she reached where several corpses layed on various beds.

  • Aloy: Why did they die here? What happened to them?

She used the Focus to scan the bodies, discovering several audio recordings of the old inhabitants' final moments. Progressing deeper into the facility, Aloy heard Rost's voice calling her nearby.

  • Rost: Aloy! Aloy, are you down there! Aloy!
  • Aloy: He found me! Rost found me!

Aloy ran until she found Rost readying his hand in order to help her get out from the hole.

  • Rost: All-Mother be praised! Come, girl! Take my hand!

The girl looked down to the interior of the bunker.

  • Rost: You don't belong down there! Come!
A Gift from the Past (18)

Rost pulls Aloy from the ruins

He grabbed her and pulled her to safety, kneeling beside her.

  • Rost: Such places are forbidden, Aloy.
  • Aloy: I fell in.
  • Rost: They are of the Metal World-

The outcast noticed the device attached to her ear.

  • Rost: What is that, on your face?

She covered the Focus with her hand.

  • Aloy: Nothing.
  • Rost: Did you find it... down there?
  • Aloy: No.
A Gift from the Past (21)

Rost demands that Aloy give him the device

Rost extended his hand.

  • Rost: Give it to me.

She shacked her head and, when he tried to take the device, backed away.

  • Aloy: No!
  • Rost: Aloy, such things are dangerous!

This time, he stood up to take the Focus, but Aloy ran away.

  • Aloy: No!
A Gift from the Past (22)

Rost frustrated at Aloy's resistance

Seeing that he couldn't make the child change her mind, Rost turned around and sighed. Happy for getting to keep it, Aloy gave a small smirk. Rost then picked his spear from the ground.

  • Rost: Well, if you're going to go sneaking away from home, you need to know how to survive in the wild. Come Aloy! Home now! But starting tomorrow you will learn to hunt.

Aloy followed Rost as he lead the way home.

Outcome[]

Aloy was rescued by Rost from the ruins, with him deciding to teach her to hunt machines the following day.

Objectives[]

  1. Find a Way Out
  2. Examine the Strange Object
  3. Find a Way back to the Surface
  4. Use the Device to Scan the Room
  5. Use the Holo Lock
  6. Return to the Door
  7. Open the Door
  8. Find a Way Out
  9. Scan the Device
  10. Find a Way Out

Collectables[]

Unmissable[]

The following datapoints are obtained automatically during this quest and cannot be missed.

Hologram Datapoints[]

Missable[]

In addition, the following datapoints can also be found during this quest. It is possible to return at any time if they are missed.

Audio Datapoints[]

Walkthrough[]

A_Gift_from_the_Past_-_Very_Hard_-_No_Damage_-_Video_Guide

A Gift from the Past - Very Hard - No Damage - Video Guide

Trivia[]

  • This quest doubles as a tutorial level.

Gallery[]

Horizon Zero Dawn Quests
Main Quest A Gift from the Past - Lessons of the Wild - The Point of the Spear - Mother's Heart - The Proving - The Womb of the Mountain - A Seeker at the Gates - The War-Chief's Trail - Revenge of the Nora - The City of the Sun - The Field of the Fallen - Into the Borderlands - The Sun Shall Fall - Maker's End - The Grave-Hoard - To Curse the Darkness - Deep Secrets of the Earth - The Terror of the Sun - The Heart of the Nora - The Mountain That Fell - The Looming Shadow - The Face of Extinction
Side Quests A Daughter's Vengeance - A Moment's Peace - Acquired Taste - Ancient Armory - Blood on Stone - Cause for Concern - Farewell - Death from the Skies - Fatal Inheritance - Heap of Trouble - Honor The Fallen - Hunters' Blind - In Her Mother's Footsteps - Insult to Injury - Queen's Gambit - Redmaw - Robbing the Rich - Sun and Shadow - Sunstone Rock - The Forgotten - Traitor's Bounty - Underequipped - Weapons of the Lodge
Errands A Curious Proposal - Collateral - Deadliest Game - Demand and Supply - Hammer and Steel - Healer's Oath - Hunting for the Lodge - In Foreign Lands - Luck of the Hunt - Odd Grata - Sanctuary - Shortage of Supplies - Sun's Judgment - To Old Acquaintance
Activities Bandit Camps Blackwing Snag - Devil's Thirst - Gatelands - Hollow Fort - Shattered Kiln - Two-Teeth
Cauldrons Cauldron RHO - Cauldron SIGMA - Cauldron XI - Cauldron ZETA
Corrupted Zones Corrupted Zones
Hunting Grounds Greatrun - Nora - Spurflints - Sun Furrows - Valleymeet
Tallnecks Copper Deeps - Devil's Thirst - Rustwash - Spearshafts - Sun-Steps
Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds Quests
Side Quests Firebreak - For the Werak - Frontier Justice - Into the Frozen Wilds - The Forge of Winter - The Hunters Three - The Shaman's Path - The Survivor - Waterlogged
Errands A Secret Shared - Ikrie's Challenge - Geared Up: Forgefire - Geared Up: Icerail - Geared Up: Stormslinger - Out of the Forge - The Claws Beneath
Activities Tallneck: Frostfigures - Snowchants Hunting Grounds - Stone Yield Bandit Camp
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