Horizon Forbidden West Relic Ruins Guide (Locations & Walkthrough)

Horizon Forbidden West has 9 Relic Ruins Locations. Relic Ruins are a type of Collectable. You need at least three of them for the trophy “Completed 3 Relic Ruins”. They are puzzle ruins where you must find a relic hidden behind a locked door. To open the door you need a key module and the door code, both of which are found in the ruins and require solving some puzzles.

Some of the Relic Ruins require the ability to destroy Firegleams (unlocked from Main Quest 5: Death’s Door) and the ability to destroy Metal Flowers (unlocked from Main Quest 12: Seeds of the Past). It’s best to do the ruins after getting both of these abilities.

None of the Relic Ruins are missable. You can still find and complete all of them after the story in free-roam. Only 8 of the ruins show up on the map, the 9th is hidden underground and is part of Side Quest “Nights of Lights“.

This guide lists them in the same order as the in-game Collectables Menu so you can easily reference the ones you are missing.

Relic Ruins #1: The Daunt

• Location: south of Chainscrape
   
• Solution: Relic Ruins: The Daunt Walkthrough

Relic Ruins #2: No Man’s Land

• Location: south-west of Barren Light
   
• Solution: Relic Ruins: No Man’s Land Walkthrough

Relic Ruins #3: Restless Weald

• Location: North-west of Plainsong
   
• Solution: Relic Ruins: Restless Weald Walkthrough

Relic Ruins #4: The Dry Yearn

• Location: West of The Base
   
• Solution: Relic Ruins: The Dry Yearn Walkthrough

Relic Ruins #5: The Stillsands

• Location: In the desert area in the south of the map
   
• Solution: Relic Ruins: The Stillsands Walkthrough

Relic Ruins #6: Runner’s Wild

• Location: South-east of The Bulwark
   
• Solution: Relic Ruins: Runner’s Wild Walkthrough

Relic Ruins #7: The Long Coast

• Location: North-east of Thornmarsh
   
• Solution: Relic Ruins: The Long Coast Walkthrough

Relic Ruins #8: Isle of Spires

• Location: On the island in the far west of the map
   
• Solution: Relic Ruins: Isle of Spires Walkthrough

Relic Ruins #9: Errand Quest – Nights of Lights

• Location: These relic ruins are part of the Errand Quest “Nights of Lights“. You automatically collect the 9th Relic during the Errand. It’s started at Hidden Ember in the desert area in the south of the map. Talk to the man (called “Stemmur”) on the rooftop of Hidden Ember to start it (requires story progress).
   
  
• Solution:  Simply track the quest from your quest log and follow the waypoints. It will lead you underground, through the shaft inside the Hidden Ember building. Follow the waypoints until you reach a code console. Enter code “739135”, grab the relic behind the door, return to the quest giver. There are waypoint markers for all of it. Upon returning this Relic to him, Aloy will automatically hand in the other 8 Relics to him if this is your last one. If it’s not your last one you can return to the quest giver later to give him the remaining Relic Ornaments.
   

Reward

Talk to Stemmur in Hidden Ember, the quest giver of the 9th Relic. For each Relic you unlock a different animation for the night sky in the desert area. There are 9 Relics, so there are also 9 different night skies. These are things like fireworks that will show up in the sky. It’s just a cosmetic, nothing actually useful.

Additionally, after completing the Nights of Lights Errand for the 9th Relic you can loot the supply crate in front of Stemmur for a Legendary Shredder Gauntlet “Ancestor’s Return”:

For everything else needed to 100% completion, check out the full Horizon Forbidden West Wiki & Strategy Guide.