Get to know the Quen of Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores

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Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores takes Aloy to the ruins of Los Angeles. The past millennia has seen the metropolis wracked by tectonic and volcanic activity. The result: a dangerous archipelago populated by deadly machines. Among these islands, a large settlement of Quen fight to survive. 

Spoiler Alert: Please note this article may contain some spoilers for Horizon Forbidden West and its storyline.

Aloy first encountered the tribe in Horizon Forbidden West, during her search for one of GAIA’s subordinate functions. “The Quen are a seafaring tribe from across the Pacific ocean,” Annie Kitain, Lead Writer at Guerrilla explains. “Unlike other tribes Aloy’s met, the Quen have built their society around their ability to use the Focus, which enables them to access and read ancient data. This technological advantage has given them an edge against other tribes in their homeland, the Great Delta, but it has also shaped their culture in interesting ways.” 

“Knowledge from the ancient past has allowed the Quen to build an impressive empire. But unlike, say, the Oseram tribe, whose technological prowess is due to their creative inventions, the Quen rely solely on the knowledge they’ve unearthed to drive their advancements. As a result, an important part of their culture revolves around protecting the few Focuses the tribe possesses, as well as strictly controlling who can access the valuable information these devices reveal.” 

“To that end, Diviners play a special role in the tribe. As a highly esteemed class of Quen, only Diviners are allowed to use a Focus to read data. Their job is to find and record ancient knowledge that may benefit the empire, ensuring that it doesn’t fall into the hands of outsiders.”

But the Quen’s