Horizon Forbidden West Cradle of Echoes Walkthrough

Cradle of Echoes is the 10th Main Story Quest in Horizon Forbidden West (HZFW). This walkthrough will guide you through all objectives of the Cradle of Echoes main mission.

Starting Location: The Base
Quest Giver: GAIA (automatically triggered upon completing The Kulrut)
Quest Level: Level 20
Requirement: having completed The Kulrut
Reward: +10000 XP, +2 Skill Points
Mission Info: GAIA has picked up a distress signal, seemingly sent by ELEUTHIA – another of her missing subordinate functions. With help from Erend and Varl, Aloy must investigate.

Objectives:

• Talk to Varl
• Examine the Zenith’s Corpse
• Investigate the Battlefield
• Return to Erend
• Talk to Varl
• Investigate the Facility
• Examine the Central Processor
• Search the Facility for the Asset
• Examine the Console
• Prepare for Battle
• Kill the Specter
• Exit the Facility
• Kill the Specter
• Examine the Weapon
• Talk to Varl and the Clone
• Talk to GAIA

Starting Location: The Base

Talk to Varl

From GAIA’s control room, meet with Varl and Erend downstairs to talk to him and go back outside.

Examine the Zenith’s Corpse

Approach the Zenith’s corpse to find out more information as to why she was there in the first place.

Investigate the Battlefield

First, examine the Specter machine nearby.

Now go up the cliff and investigate the Oseram corpse and the charred weapon.

From the charred weapon’s location, turn around 180° degrees and investigate the camping gear between the bushes.

Return to Erend

Now return to Erend to inform him of your finds.

Talk to Varl

Now join Varl back to inform him as well.

Investigate the Facility

Time to enter the facility to find out more about why the Zenith was there.

Go down the tunnel and the rubble and then keep following the linear path to venture further into the facility, then enter the door.

Examine the Central Processor

Go downstairs and then use the green-lit access console.

Search the Facility for the Asset

Open the door to reach another area with some stairs in front of you. Go up the stairs, through the door, and then enter the door on the right. Walk across the shattered glass and then drop down into the large, open storage room.

Examine the Console

At the opposite end of where you came in from is a console panel you can examine and interact with. The number you need to put in is 237.

Prepare for Battle

The Zenith and their Specters have found out where Aloy is, so time to prepare for battle. Seize this opportunity to craft Acid arrows and traps if possible, the Specter’s main elemental weakness.

Kill the Specter

As explained above, the Specter is weak to Acid Damage, so fire those Acid Arrows away and take cover behind the canisters and dodge to avoid its attacks.

Exit the Facility

Time to return above ground to help Erend deal with the second Specter.

Kill the Specter

As before, dodge its attacks and prioritize attacks that focus on its vulnerabilities (Acid and Plasma). If you manage to remove its cannon, you can use it against it.

Examine the Weapon

Now that the weapon that killed the Zenith from before has cooled off, we can safely examine it. Approach its location to start examining it.

After examining it, you’ll automatically teleport back to the Base.

Talk to Varl and the Clone

Go downstairs and interact with Varl by the door to access the server room where Beta is and have a conversation with her about the Zenith and Aloy’s progress.

Talk to GAIA

Now go up to GAIA to talk to her to update her on your findings. We can now resume our search for the remaining subordinate functions, starting with POSEIDON.

This finishes Cradle of Echoes Main Quest in Horizon: Forbidden West.

For all other Side Quests and Main Quests, check out the complete Horizon Forbidden West Walkthrough.