Presented Spoiler-free

Platted That! is an ongoing series from Handsome Phantom giving gamers a review of unlocking the Platinum Trophy for PlayStation 4 titles.

This week we’re looking at Horizon Zero Dawn, an exclusive title filled with dinosaurs, gingers, and a post-apocalyptic mystery for the ages. Horizon Zero Dawn just released The Frozen Wilds expansion, and nominations for Game of the Year are starting to flood in. For players who have yet to creep through the deserts and tundra of HZD, this week’s Black Friday sales may offer some great deals for getting the game cheap. For new gamers and those already familiar with the title, here’s a quick run down of what to expect from HZD’s Platinum Trophy.

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Organic

Horizon Zero Dawn is a pretty breezey Platinum Trophy. Players can unlock most trophies organically while pursuing the main mission. Taking time to stop, smell the roses, kill some robots and edge through some side quests will leave all but a few trophies unlocked. The key here is one that comes up a lot when giving platinum tips; enjoy the game.

For gamers who don’t want to scrub through every activity in the game, the platinum can be unlocked without completing to one hundred percent. Not every side quest contributes to a trophy, neither will most weapon or armor upgrades. So if one is trying to get through HZD with minimal effort, there are some corners to cut.

Mop-up

There are most likely going to be four or five trophies that don’t unlock organically for most players; that is, these trophies won’t unlock without a conscious effort: “10 Vulnerable machine kills,” “Downed 23 Grazer dummies,” and “All (blank) machines killed.”

The “All (blank) machines killed” trophy requires killing one of each machine, divided into four categories: acquisition, recon, combat, transport. Mop-up for this trophy either requires some guess work to find out which machine hasn’t been killed, or simply running around the map killing one of each machine again to be safe. Thankfully the game marks clusters of machines on the map, very accurately.

“Downing 23 Grazer dummies” involves smashing up target dummies scattered around the snowier segments of the map. Handsome Phanton recommends this great video from PowerPyx. Clean up here is a breeze, but keeping a wary eye out for these tall boys during the initial run through might bag this trophy early on.

It’s possible for gamers to unlock “10 Vulnerable machine kills” during the campaign. Machine enemies are vulnerable to certain elements (flame, ice, lightening, those old friends). This trophy has players killing fire vulnerable machines while they’re on fire, or freeze vulnerable enemies while they’re frozen. Pretty simple stuff.

And that’s it, that’s the Platinum Trophy for Horizon Zero Dawn. In the end, it’s a pretty sweet deal. Developer Guerrilla Games has put out one of the best PlayStation exclusive titles of this generation, and a great game in the canon of gaming. The game play borrows liberally from predecessors, but presents the mechanics in a polished, fun format. Aloy’s world is packed with adventure, emotion, and a new world for gamers to to explore and try to make sense of. Handsome Phantom highly recommends Horizon Zero Dawn, and you might as well get the Plat while you’re there.

As always, let us know what you think! Have you platted Horizon Zero Dawn? Were there any trophies that gave you trouble? Is HZD on your list for possible Game of the Year? What other Platinum Trophies are you working on? Will HZD start a dangerous new trend of putting gingers in games? Let Handsome Phantom know your thoughts and you could get a shoutout on Adventure Mode!

Be sure to check out our recent review of Call of Duty: WWII or our review of Super Mario: Odyssey!