One of the crucial gameplay aspects of Horizon Zero Dawn, and indeed a concept that has been traced over to Horizon Forbidden West, is that of Hunting Grounds. These areas are typically connected to the Lodges, where various trials take place to test Aloy's skills. It's also perfect to allow players to hone their craft.
Not all of these Hunting Grounds boast trials that are straightforward. While some might be easy with a few challenging aspects, others take a great deal of skill to complete. It may well be that players will have to take a few attempts at these areas in order to complete them.
Spurflints
Each of the Hunting Grounds is based upon a different skill and set of weaponry within the player's arsenal. For Spurflints, which would have undoubtedly had some gorgeous concept art considering how stunningly it has been designed, it's all about stealth and moving quickly through this stunning landscape. The challenge is most likely lost if the player simply isn't going through the motions fast enough.
Players can therefore race through the challenges with relative ease, as long as they stay out of sight. The trials themselves involve both stealth killing and stealth looting, but the number of enemies the player has to face is always very limited. With the right gear including the Nora stealth attire, this should be a breeze.
Sun Forrows
The Sun Forrows Hunting Ground is part of one of the most barren areas on the map. The desolate landscape is home to some truly deadly creatures, but that shouldn't dismay fans looking to complete the trials here. For the most part, these have been designed as a test of how well Aloy is able to control some of the beasts of this region, with the hacking elements fans should be familiar with becoming vital here.
Each trial is dedicated to forcing the player into the relatively simple procedure of overriding the controls of these monstrous robots and using them to fight one another. Throughout the course of the trials, the player will need to control both Ravagers and a Thunderjaw if they are to succeed. With a speedy delivery, Aloy will stay out of danger, even when utilizing the Ravager cannon.
Nora
For the forested Nora Hunting Grounds, players will meet a slightly tougher range of challenges, as this lodge attempts to greet Aloy with challenges aimed at pushing her skills in the tool department. A capable hunter will use their weapons and their hunting tools in unison to be able to make a kill.
Whether it's setting snares or using the crushing force of logs, the trials look to get the player to use the environment to their advantage. Blazing canisters, setting log pile traps, and making use of the tripcaster are all ways that the player can succeed in their mission here. The enemy types are mostly Grazers but the player has to keep a watchful eye that they are setting up their next move sufficiently, to avoid running into trouble.
Valleymeet
The lodge at Valleymeet requires a bit more from Aloy: a test of her elemental skills. Those weapons that play with elemental attacks like fire arrows will come into play here. Mastering them in the wilds before getting involved in the trials is absolutely advised, otherwise, it may take some replaying in order to complete everything within the time frame set out.
Bellowbacks, Striders, and other machines are involved in these tasks, and players will be using their fire arrows and shooting canisters to deal the most damage. Stunning the enemy isn't enough here either, as freezing them also comes into play in the final challenge. Juggling so many types of offense might be a lot the first time around, but on a second try, it's far more viable. The most important thing to focus on here to make it easier is timing and dealing the most amount of damage with the resources available.
Greatrun
Speed and stamina are the names of the game here, as the player must execute a number of tricky maneuvers in order to pass the trials of the Greatrun Hunting Grounds. Watchers, Tramplers, and Glinthawks are all involved in this more difficult series of events, which push the player to work faster than usual. That can easily lead to mistakes so although efficiency is advised it's best to keep focus and avoid obvious errors.
Of course, these Hunting side quests are great at boosting a player's abilities in the outside world and this challenge encourages innovation more than most others. Looting rapidly across this area of the map, using the ropecaster to tie down the machines, and using the critical strike on these beasts are all elements of Aloy's game that the audience is going to have to get to grips with.
Snowchant
Most of the other events are found through the lodges, but Snowchant is a specialist Hunting Ground designed only for the best of the best. Some chiefs in the region struggle with the challenges set out here and they are created in order to observe every single aspect of the player's skills. That means that all of the other Hunting Ground challenges have essentially been training the audience to prepare for this extremely difficult task.
There's a different way of ranking the player in this system as well and the judgment is based upon killing waves of machines, sometimes with very specific weapon types. There's even a further trial which is arguably the hardest in the game, that's built only for the true leaders in the wilderness to complete. It's unlikely that any player will be able to fulfill Aloy's destiny and beat all of these trials in first place in their initial attempt.