Main Quest Walkthrough – Deep Secrets of the Earth [Horizon Zero Dawn] - SAMURAI GAMERS (2024)

This is Samurai Gamers’ walkthrough for the mission Deep Secrets of the Earth in Horizon Zero Dawn.

The Deep Secrets of the Earth mission follows To Curse the Darkness. The mission begins with Aloy on her way to Sunfall, the summer palace of the Mad King Jiran. This walkthrough will also cover the succeeding mission, called The Terror of the Sun.

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Main Quest Walkthrough – The Deep Secrets of the Earth

Objective 1: Go to Sunfall

Follow the waypoint until you get to Sunfall. Depending on where you pass, you might run into some Machines. Take them down if you need resources.

Go to the Citadel Courtyard: As you enter the archway into Sunfall, loot the contents of the crate just beside the stairs. Climb the stairs to the second level of the area. A cutscene will play once you get there, showing some Carja engaged in a kind of rodeo with a Behemoth. Sylens will speak over Aloy’s Focus, explaining that what she is seeing is called the Sun-Ring.

From where you are standing at the end of the cutscene, head back and up the staircase to your right, then up the next staircase you will come across. Sylens will welcome you to the Citadel.

Enter the Citadel: Enter the building and head down the steps. Another cutscene will play. A group of courtiers are clustered around a throne. A courtier named Bahavas introduces someone he calls “The One True Sun King”, Itamen.

Itamen, it turns out, is only a young boy. Bahavas, speaking for Itamen’s behalf, decrees that a reward of 500 shards awaits anyone who brings them the head of Uthid.

As Bahavas is talking, a woman talks to Aloy. The woman, Vanasha, says that she and Aloy need to talk, and that she is waiting at the green tent in Shadowside. Vanasha says that Aloy knows that Uthid is innocent, and she needs to act while Uthid can still be saved.

Go to the Grand Balcony/Climb Down: Leave the courtiers behind and exit the throne room. The balustrade on your left has a gap; drop down to the ledge below, then hop on the succession of pointy rocks until you reach the other side, where there’s a ledge. Move to your right until you drop; Aloy will grab the handholds, allowing her to scale down the rock face.

When you reach the ground, inspect the low structure behind you. This is a secret entrance into an important facility, and you won’t be able to return to Sunfall once you go into the entrance. Sylens warns you as much, saying that if you have anything else to do, you need to do them now before proceeding into the facility. Open the door and enter when you’re ready.

Objective 2: Explore the Project: Zero Dawn Facility

Aloy descends into the facility and gains entry into the inner chamber. A synthetic voice welcomes her to Project: Zero Dawn.

Open the door to your right and go inside. Enter the next doorway, then stand on the glowing circle inside the room. Sylens tells you that this is a holographic theater, and the system in the facility plays back a hologram of someone from the past. Aloy learns the truth about “Zero Dawn” from the hologram.

Kill the Shadow Carja: After the hologram stops playing, enter the door ahead of you into a large room. Several Shadow Carja have already entered the facility and are now hunting Aloy. Kill them, loot the bodies, then go to the location specified by the waypoint.

Enter Viewing Room: Once inside the viewing room, another hologram will play automatically.

Go to the Processing Area/ Central Projects: Following the waypoint to Central Projects, you will enter a large room that looks much like a cave. The next room after this one is smaller; slow down before entering it though, as a couple of armed Carja are just waiting for you. This room is dark, and the Carja are on the far side, so take your time in killing them if you don’t want to get hurt. You can also use the doorway as cover. The Carja may also go to your location, allowing you to ambush them.

Objective 3: Restore Power to the door

After the room is cleared, head to the direction indicated by the waypoint. You will reach a corridor with Holo-lock switches on both walls you need to solve. The solution for one side can be found easily – scan the panel on the wall using Focus to reveal the combination (Left-Up-Left-Down-Right) – then turn the switches accordingly. However, the Holo-lock switches on the other wall are incomplete. A nearby datapoint will play a recording that gives a clue to the location of an emitter.

Exit the corridor with the Holo-locks and enter the one beside it. (You can see the door at the end of this corridor from a window beside the last switch.) Unlock the area and enter the room.

Find the ladder in the middle of the room and climb it, leading you to a short vent that opens up to a control room. The emitter is lying in front of a datapoint. Grab it and return to the puzzle area downstairs. (You can drop down to the puzzle area from the datapoint, as they are directly above each other.)

Like the puzzle on the other side, you need to turn the Holo-locks on the walls according to the pattern displayed on a wall panel. However, the wall panel is installed wrong side up, making the pattern wrong. What you need to do is install the emitter into the blank space, then turn the Holo-locks this way: Down-Left-Up-Right-Down.

When you have entered the correct pattern for both sets of Holo-locks, the door will regain power, allowing you to enter. Follow the waypoint through the door ahead of you into Central Projects.

Kill the Eclipse: The room has several Eclipse members patrolling it; arm yourself with fire arrows and shoot away at the Blaze Canisters on their backs to make them explode. Some of them might even take out a fellow Eclipse when they blow up.