Horizon Zero Dawn: How to Override Machines

Game Rant

Horizon Zero Dawn's Override ability is one of the game's most important, but even so, it isn't introduced until several hours into the game.

Horizon Zero Dawn is densely packed with mechanics from modding weapons to crafting resources to all of the combat tricks needed to best the game's many machines. Still, one mechanic can help make the game easier: Override. While the pacing of the first few hours is pretty solid, it does take a while for some important gameplay elements like Override to be introduced for Aloy to use and make the most out of the wilds.

One thing that players new and old might find about Horizon Zero Dawn's early hours is that the game requires Aloy to run everywhere. Although she's a relatively fast sprinter as far as open-world games are concerned, the nature of Horizon's large map means that players will quickly catch themselves wondering if there's a faster method of transportation available that they're missing out on. As it turns out, there is: players are able to mount a select number of machines and ride them like horses, but before they're able to do that, Aloy needs the Override ability.

How to Get Override in Horizon Zero Dawn

Obtaining the Override upgrade is quite simple: all the player needs to do is progress through the story until Aloy is given the rank of Seeker shortly after the Proving. Before she can depart on her journey, players will need to win a boss fight against a "Demon" and some corrupted machines. Following the fight, Aloy takes a piece off of the "Demon" and adds it to her spear allowing her to Override a handful of machines. To do so, the player needs to sneak up on an unsuspecting mechanical beast and hold down the triangle button for a few seconds when prompted.

Overriding is useful for turning some machines into mounts, as mentioned above, but it also helps make combat easier as doing so turns a machine into an ally for a limited amount of time in battle. To start, Aloy can only Override a few machines but clearing out Cauldrons allows her to affect more. The list of machines available for Override paired with the Cauldron necessary to unlock them can be seen below: