Cheats & Secrets

Cheats & Secrets – Horizon Forbidden West

Official Cheat Codes

Horizon Forbidden West does not include any traditional cheat codes, console commands, or password entries. There are no built-in debug menus, invincibility codes, or unlimited ammo unlocks available through standard gameplay. The game was designed without these features on all platforms (PS4, PS5, and PC).

Hidden Content & Developer-Intended Secrets

While there are no cheat codes, Guerrilla Games embedded numerous hidden secrets, Easter eggs, and intentional discoveries. These are not exploits or bugs but carefully placed content for observant players.

#### 1. Secret Ending Dialogue & Optional Boss

• Location: The final main quest "Singularity" has an optional objective to collect five Demeter Flowers before the final battle. Doing so triggers an extended cutscene and special dialogue from Aloy and Beta referencing the Horizon Zero Dawn DLC The Frozen Wilds.


• Requirement: Complete the side quest "The Souvenir" (unlocked after main quest "All That Remains") to obtain the Demeter Flowers.


• Result: The final boss fight (the Specter Prime) does not change, but the epilogue conversation with Gaia and Sylens includes unique lines about the old world and CYAN.


#### 2. The Burning Shores DLC Secret Armor

• Armor: Quen Commander Armor (legendary) – found during the DLC's main quest "The Eye of the Earth". After defeating the final boss, revisit the flooded basement in the Poseidon facility. Use the Durocher Tools (side quest item) to hack a hidden terminal, revealing a room with the armor.


• Note: This is the only legendary armor with a unique active skill: Glowbooster – increases elemental build-up resistance by 30% and provides a faint glow in dark areas.


#### 3. Easter Egg: "Alexa, Play Desperado"

• Trigger: During the main quest "The Broken Sky", talk to Zo at the base. If you stand idle near her for 10 seconds, she will say a line that sounds like "Alexa, play Desperado" (a reference to the Amazon Alexa voice assistant and the Eagles song "Desperado"). This is a dev joke.


#### 4. Easter Egg: Horizon Zero Dawn References

• Nora Tribe Shrine: In the Daunt, find a shrine with a small Nora totem. Interacting with it plays a recording of Rost (Aloy's mentor from Zero Dawn). The recording is triggered only after completing the side quest "The Door to the Past".


• Old World Artifacts: Collect all 12 Vantage Points. The final vantage point in The Stillsands shows a hologram of Elisabet Sobeck waving at a very specific mountain – a direct callback to the Horizon Zero Dawn quest "The Mountain That Fell".


#### 5. Hidden Machine: Apex Fireclaw

• Location: In the Tenakth Desert (west of the Salt Bite camp), there is a hidden gully with no map marker. During a sandstorm (weather condition), a Fireclaw – a rare machine normally exclusive to The Frozen Wilds – spawns. It has a 50% chance to be an Apex variant.


• Reward: Drops Fireclaw Circulation and Apex Fireclaw Heart – both required for legendary upgrades.


#### 6. Secret Coil: "Overdraw Coil"

• Location: In the Lagoon (south of Dunehollow), dive into an underwater cave behind a large waterfall. The entrance is hidden behind plants and debris. Inside is a chest containing a Legendary Overdraw Coil (+25% Overdraw Damage, +15% Draw Speed). No other copy exists.


• Note: Underwater breathing is required (Aqua Lung valor surge or Diver's Mask outfit upgrade).


#### 7. Developer Room (Easter Egg)

• Access: PC version only. In the Shadows of the West quest area (the Oseram salvage camp called "The Maw of the Arena"), look for a glitched texture on a wall near the campfire. Repeatedly jump into it for 5 seconds, and you'll phase through into a small room with a table and chairs. A message from the developers is on the table: "If you're reading this, you've found our lunch room. We hope you're having fun! – The Guerrilla Team"


• Platform: This room is absent on PS4/PS5.


#### 8. Ultra Hard Difficulty Exclusive Content

• New Game+ and Ultra Hard were added via patch. On Ultra Hard, machine prices at merchants are tripled, but the following secrets unlock:

- Focus HUD Customization – a hidden toggle in settings that changes the Focus highlight color to gold (Activate by completing a full playthrough on Ultra Hard).
- Trophy: "New Game+ Complete on Ultra Hard" – grants a unique Face Paint (Hunter's Mark) for Aloy.

#### 9. Secret Animal Encounters

• Foxes and Raccoons: In the Jungle region (southwest of the Scalebreaker settlement), there is a hidden pond where you can find a raccoon washing its food. If you approach slowly (crouch) while wearing the Utaru Winterweave outfit, the raccoon will not flee and will perform a unique animation. This is a reference to a similar interaction in The Last of Us Part II.


• Seagull Colony: On the roof of the Poseidon building, there is a colony of seagulls that can be shot to trigger a brief cutscene of them flying away. No gameplay effect – purely cosmetic.


#### 10. Exploit-Safe Secrets (Gameplay)

• Weapon Reload Animation Cancel: Switching weapons immediately after firing a single-shot weapon (e.g., Sharpshot Bow) cancels the end of the reload animation. This is not a glitch but a hidden mechanic intended by the developers – they never patched it.


• Respawn of Legendary Crates: In the Burning Shores, the three legendary crates in the Harp's Roost region respawn every 30 minutes of real time. This allows unlimited farming of legendary upgrade parts without restarting the game.

Summary of Hidden & Secret Content

Conclusion

While Horizon Forbidden West lacks traditional cheat codes, it is rich in developer-intended secrets, Easter eggs, and hidden content that reward exploration and replay. These range from minor cosmetic callbacks to powerful unique items. No exploits exist that break the game, but the hidden mechanics and locations listed above are safe to use and officially recognized by the community as intended.