#maker's end

Maker’s End

Or: the place where the sun is forever tired, and I found the depth of field option in photo mode. Also, who left all those Odyssey-related datapoints there?

It’s the beginning of the end, as Bashar Mati put it, or, in a sense, the end of the beginning, at least where the main storyline is concerned. Which can be ridiculously late into the game, depending on how great your need for continuing the story is. It is, if I recall correctly, a lvl 12 (or 14?) quest, but so is The City of the Sun, which also ties into Erend’s questline, or, if you’re like me and didn’t even make it out of the Sacred Land until level 25, Revenge of the Nora. And while all of those quests are not too far off the beaten path, Maker’s End leads you through the farthest corners of the Sundom, filled to the brim with diversions. And while looking for an image of “that woman” Aloy saw broadcasted by HADES Olin claimed he saw in some ruins next to a door is undoubtedly important to her, clearing out some corrupted zones and acquiring the knowledge to override a Thunderjaw is...equally important. I’m sure. The first time around I completed the entirety of Frozen Wilds before tackling Maker’s End. Which meant I was level 54, fully equipped with the best weapons the game has to offer, facing down a damaged Deathbringer in a supposedly challenging fight, and that thing dropped dead at a glance. (It got even more ridiculous on NG+, because I’d hoped for Very Hard to make a difference, but I set it on fire and the fight was over in thirty seconds.)

In the ruins of Maker’s End, Aloy’s search for her mother takes on an entirely new dimension, and slowly but surely turns into a quest to save the world.The cutscene you get upon entering the facility is one of my favourites, along with Aloy exiting the Cradle facility, and the ending cutscene. Partly that is (again) due to the soundtrack, Identification, which is also among my favourites, but there are so many small details in that cutscene, and especially Aloy’s facial animation, while she goes from annoyance to resignation to hope to disbelief to excitement, that I enjoy watching it over and over again. Not to mention all the glorious close-ups.

Climbing the facility can be somewhat nerve-wrecking since there are cracks in the floor I always fear to get stuck in, or worse, fall through with no floor to catch me in sight, and part of the climb is on the outside of the building with Aloy not always registering the handholds if you jump at them. (This is mostly noticeable on small ledges, when the direction of the jump is somewhat up and forward instead of only up, because she faces sideways to the handholds and doesn’t pick them up.) Throughout the building, there are datapoints hinting at the catastrophe, FAS’ struggle and eventual failure to contain the situation (those poor dolphins!), and finally, at the top, a first glimpse at the truth.

(HORIZON ZERO DAWN)