Horizon Zero Dawn Mounts & Overriding Enemies

Hacking hostile robots is one of the more interesting mechanics in this game. Overriding them makes them safe to be around, and you can even use some of them as mounts to get around faster. In this guide, we’ll show you how to override enemies in Horizon Zero Dawn, which ones you can use as mounts, and more.

NOTE: This guide is a work in progress. We’ll keep updating it with more information when the game comes out.

How to Override Robot Animals in Horizon Zero Dawn

It doesn’t seem that you can override every mechanical animal in the game. Also, you can’t ride all of them. However, to override them at all, you need to get a special tool. You get this Override Tool as the story progresses, in one of the missions. After you use the Override stick, it needs to recharge for a while. You can see the meter in the lower right corner.

We don’t know exactly what effect overriding has on each beast. Perhaps some of them might even turn to your side and attack other enemies for you. We do, however, know that overriding makes them benign, at least for a while. In order to pull it off, though, you’ll have to be clever and cautious about it. You have to approach the enemy quietly, without it noticing you. They must remain oblivious, because if you alert them, they’ll start attacking.

By far the most useful robot to hack is the Strider. Once you override one of them, you can use it as a mount and traverse the world in style. Your mount will stay with you until it’s destroyed somehow, or you get separated in some way. If you decide to dismount, you’ll have the option to call the beast back by selecting it on your D-pad.

Mount Controls

• Triangle – Mount / Dismount
• Tap X – Increase Mount Speed
• Tap O – Decrease Mount Speed
• Hold O – Quick Stop
• R1 – Use mount’s melee attack

List of Animals to Override

• Striders
• Watchers
• Thunderjaws

There might be more machines that you can use as mounts, but we only know about the Strider for now. We’ll see how overriding works overall once the full game is out. Meanwhile, you can find out more about this topic in this Horizon Zero Dawn video.