Between Horizon Forbidden West and its predecessor Zero Dawn, Guerrilla Games has done a remarkable job constructing a vibrant and believable universe. One of the ways that the studio has managed to achieve this is through the creation of an extensive cast of engaging characters. As the player and Aloy venture through its latest post-apocalyptic adventure on PS4 and PS5, they’ll subsequently come across intriguing people at a decent frequency. Unlike some of the other narrative-driven RPGs out there, it’s often easy to envision these characters having led full-lives before the encounter.

Being a series of games set within the ruins of humanity’s golden age, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Aloy will often indirectly run into characters that are long since dead as well. Even though these types of encounters have been a part of the Horizon universe since the opening mission of Zero Dawn, for the game’s sequel, Guerrilla Games has arguably taken things a step further. No group depicts this in action within Horizon Forbidden West better than the "Ten," a group of enigmatic ancient humans who are still shaping the world over a thousand years after their deaths.

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Horizon: JTF-10 in the 21st Century

Horizon-Old-Ones (1)

Despite the fact that it’s easy to get lost in the Horizon universe’s predominantly post-apocalyptic narrative, the story of how humanity got to that point is often just as fascinating. Thanks to Horizon Forbidden West, there’s a sense that Guerrilla Games is aware of this, due to how the studio has taken its sequel as an opportunity to provide more details about the exploits of the ancient human race. Even though fans have been aware of how much trouble the Earth was in during the 21st century, the studio has created the Ten as a way to provide deeper context for why this is the case.

During the Horizon universe’s version of the 2030s, humanity was rocked by multiple global catastrophes. Disasters created by unchecked global warming, such as flooding, famine, and population displacement, all threatened to end the human race long before the robotic singularity showed up on the scene. This is where the Ten, or "Joint Task Force Ten" as they were known during that time, come into the fold. While the exact circumstances of their creation are left up in the air, it’s known that JTF-10 were a military squad that likely combined parts of the United States’ Navy and Air Force.

With the planet facing existential threats from multiple angles the squad was frequently deployed, both domestically and internationally, whenever humanity was in danger. In terms of numbers and structure, little is known about the exact composition of the Ten. Based on the United States’ real-world Task Forces though, it’s highly unlikely that the squad was made up of just 10 people like the Tenakth eventually theorized. Despite this, only the group’s leader Colonel Edward De La Hoya is ever specifically name-dropped during Horizon Forbidden West.

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The Hot Zone Crisis

How Joint Task Force Ten’s earliest missions unfolded is left unexplored by Guerrilla Games in Horizon Forbidden West. However, their biggest conflict, dubbed "The Hot Zone Crisis of 2037," is explored in great detail. Due to rampant climate change, it’s known that during the 2030s Nevada’s ecosystem was damaged in a manner that made it uninhabitable for human life. In order to save as many lives as possible, the Federal US government enacted Executive Order 73-H to evacuate the nearby cities of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.

Faced with the prospect of leaving behind everything they’d spent their lives building, most people refused to budge though. Amidst the backdrop of protests, the head of the Rare Earth organization Robertto Medina, and his relative Colonel Edward De La Hoya, plotted to defend the region from the US Government. How altruistic their intentions really were is left up in the air though, as Medina stood to benefit financially as the world’s tech corporations were keen to see the region's resources remain accessible. Regardless of this under the backing of Rare Earth, JTF-10 were deployed to the region to block the government’s evacuation attempts.

What followed proved to be a significant turning point for the Horizon universe. Not only did the ensuing conflict represent the first war on US soil since the Civil War, it was also the first time that automated robotic forces were deployed against human soldiers. Despite the overwhelming odds, JTF-10 were able to valiantly outwit the government’s G-Syn battle drones on multiple occasions.

That is, until the Battle of the Mojave on August 20, 2037. What had started as an attempt to capture the war’s conspirators alive, rapidly devolved into tragedy after a robot’s power casing was punctured by a soldier. Triggering a fission-based reaction, JTF-10 and 900 refugees were all killed in the explosion.

The Ten in the Forbidden West

A Horizon Forbidden West Meme Involving Kotallo and Metal Gear

In the aftermath of the nuclear detonation, an armistice was quickly signed between the US Government and the protestors. It’s never explicitly stated in-game, but it’s highly likely that the loss of human life was one of the catalysts that prompted the world’s militaries to become completely automated. In some respects then, JTF-10s demise ultimately paved the way for the apocalyptic Faro Plague to happen. Before that crisis could strike though, a museum to commemorate the Task Force was built around the crater where they fell. By the time of Horizon Forbidden West, this site has been adopted by the Tenakth as their capital city, Memorial Grove.

Thanks to the museum's barely functional exhibits, the tribe’s belief systems were eventually shaped around the Tenakth’s loose understanding of the Ten and their sacrifice. Their main place of celebration, the Arena, is even the crater where the group perished. In the eyes of the tribe’s leader Hekarro, each of the exhibits is a "Vision" and a way for the tribe to shed its war-like past.

In an attempt to emulate the Ten’s virtues, the Tenakth have subsequently adopted language associated with the Task Force into their own societal makeup. The term Marshal for example, given to warriors like Kotallo, is derived from the peacekeeping force that stepped into Nevada after the death of JTF-10.

Despite never being physically shown on screen in Forbidden West, the Ten continue to play a significant role in the Horizon universe 1000 years after their deaths. What role they’ll have in future franchise installments remains to be seen though. With Guerrilla Games allegedly working on a multiplayer game, their backstory could be the perfect premise for a theoretical Killzone-like prequel title. Either way, having played a part in the process that destabilized the world and allowed robots to seize control, it’s fitting that during the in-game present the Ten are indirectly helping to create unity and peace.

Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5.

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