If you were to ask me what my favorite game series is outside of The Legend of Zelda, I would say Fire Emblem. But then closely following that — and I mean very, very, very closely — would be the two Horizon games. I am completely smitten with this series, and I honestly think a lot of Zelda players would enjoy these games immensely. Perhaps that’s because the developers are also fans of the series and take inspiration from it in a few different ways. Need proof? Well, if you look closely, you’ll find a few symbols of their love for Zelda sprinkled throughout both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West.
It’s not unusual to see a trio of triangles in logos and designs that may or may not resemble a familiar Zelda relic, so when I first spotted these designs in Zero Dawn, I was curious but not overly excited. Breath of the Wild was released around the same time, so it could possibly be a loving tribute to the series. Or it could just be three triangles arranged in this particular pattern. Who really knows for sure except for the developers?
Still, you can find these “Triforce” patterns etched on cliff walls in a few different locations scattered throughout the game.
While we can’t really confirm that the triangular symbols in the first game are definitely the Triforce, the sequel, Forbidden West, explicitly pays homage to our friends in Hyrule. In this game, there are four optional Cauldrons (Horizon-speak for dungeons), and inside those Cauldrons are doors with that special little symbol carved at the top. They glow crisp and clear, making them very easy to see. But Aloy, the main protagonist of the series, can not open these doors simply by turning a knob or pushing on them. Instead, she must rely on an old Hylian trick.
In Ocarina of Time, players gradually learned that playing “Zelda’s Lullaby” could trigger special events, reveal hidden secrets, and — you guessed it — open up doors. Now, Aloy isn’t really the musical type, so how exactly does she open the doors using this method? Well, that’s up to the player. If you tap in those six special notes on the D-pad (left, up, right, left, up, right), the door will open!
And that’s not all! The treasure rooms aren’t that spectacular, only containing one large stockpile (or “treasure chest”) with another triangle pattern on it. However, when you open said stockpile, Aloy has a little special something to say. She states that “it’s dangerous to go alone without supplies”, which is a clear reference to the famous first words of the Zelda franchise (with a few extra words thrown in there to spice things up).
Horizon Zero Dawn and its sequel are two of the greatest games I’ve ever played, and Zelda will always be the beloved franchise that kicked off my love of high fantasy adventures. So to see that the developers at Guerrilla also have a deep appreciation for the series and paid loving tribute to it by leaving behind a creative little Easter egg is simply amazing! Funny story, actually: I attended a Comic-Con one year where Ashly Burch, the voice actress for Aloy, was doing a panel (for something unrelated to the game), and she mentioned that she too was having a blast playing Breath of the Wild. So it seems the love for the series is pretty widespread among the team!
As I mentioned before, Horizon is a wonderful series, and if you enjoyed playing Breath of the Wild, chances are you’ll love this game too. (And you might just love it even more, like I did. Yeah, I said it.) I would also say that the tragedy and emotion in the narrative are comparable to that of Majora’s Mask. Regardless, now you know that whether you’re saving Hyrule from Calamity Ganon or taking down Thunderjaws in the Forbidden West, you can find hidden Triforces in both epic adventures.
