Horizon Zero Dawn: A Gift from the Past - Young Aloy, how to find Rost, and the first Datapoints
Complete story walkthrough plus guides, tips, and tricks for Horizon Zero Dawn.
A Gift from the Past kicks off PlayStation 4's biggest exclusive for some time, Horizon: Zero Dawn, which gives us an introduction to Young Aloy, her friend Rost, and the game's story.
If you're after help for other parts of the game, consult our complete Horizon Zero Dawn walkthrough and guide.
Young Aloy and how to find Rost
Horizon kicks off with a sequence as a much younger version of Aloy. After a couple of opening cinematics, you'll find yourself plopped into an underground cavern that is, in fact, filled with stuff from the 'Metal Age'. It's your job to escape the cave and find your way back to Rost - but there are a few things to look out for along the way.
First up, it's a simple case of progressing through the cavern, following the waypoints set out for you and navigating the fairly obvious paths ahead. After a little while, you'll encounter a long-dead body, with a small piece of technology - a Focus - attached to the side of its head. Young Aloy decides to take it, and you now have access to a kind of HUD-scanner.
Activate your Focus by pressing R3, and you can now use it to scan all kinds of objects - both biological and synthetic - out in the wild. Scan the locked door up ahead, then the surrounding neon-tinged objects, and follow the waypoints once more to progress.
A little further on, you'll find a doorway that asks you to 'squeeze through the gap'. Immediately after you get through, don't carry on straight ahead - instead, turn to your right, where there's a little side room with a desk inside
First Datapoints
There, you'll find your first Datapoint of the 64 in total. We counted seven in the cavern, meanwhile, most of which are found in the next room, which appears to be a kind of medbay:
- Connor Chasson - a device on the desk, in the room the right of the 'squeeze through' doors
- Full Stop - The body seen with the scanner near Datapoint 1
- Connor Chasson - A body lying on some kind of platform, in the next room
- Jackson Frye - Body in the same room
- Ella Pontes - Body in the same room
- Mia Sayed - Body in the same room
- Skylar Rivera - Body in the same room
For more tips, explainers and advice on Horizon be sure to check out our main Horizon Zero Dawn guide and walkthrough hub, which includes advice for things like Horizon Zero Dawn's override Cauldrons and which machines they let you control, getting hold of the Golden Fast Travel Pack for unlimited fast travel, finding and unlocking the very powerful Horizon Zero Dawn Shield Weave Armour and Power Cell locations, and then for DLC players there's our main Horizon Zero Dawn Frozen Wilds walkthrough and guide, a page on how to earn Bluegleam quickly, and finally, a page on the handy A Secret Shared quest and how to upgrade your spear in Horizon Frozen Wilds.
After the somewhat morbid experience of the medbay, you'll hear Rost calling you. Follow this sound of his voice (or the waypoint, on your screen) to a ramp that will take you up and out of the cavern. Lessons from the Wild follows, giving you some of the basics of combat and survival.
