Horizon Forbidden West: How to Destroy Metal Flowers
Metal Flowers can be found throughout Horizon Forbidden West, but they can't be destroyed until the Vine Cutter is unlocked and crafted. Metal Flowers will need to be cleared for a variety of activities, such as main story missions, side quests, and finding collectibles. Although players will likely come across Metal Flowers throughout the game, they won't be able to destroy them until getting through a large portion of the story.
During the "Seeds of the Past" story mission in Horizon Forbidden West, Aloy will be tasked with crafting the Vine Cutter. In this mission, creating the Special Gear is the only way to get past the vines blocking the path forward. After finding the necessary resources and crafting the Vine Cutter, Aloy will immediately test it out by using it on the Metal Flower blocking the way out. Once the Metal Flower is destroyed, the nearby vines will crumble allowing Aloy to progress.
"Seeds of the Past" is the twelfth story mission in Horizon Forbidden West, and it has a level recommendation of 24. Once this main mission is completed, players will be able to take the Vine Cutter anywhere in the Forbidden West to break open Metal Flowers and destroy vine blockades. The Special Gear item will only need to be crafted once before becoming a permanent attachment to Aloy's Champion Spear.
With the Vine Cuttter, players can backtrack to any previously visited area where a Metal Flower was found. Since unlocking the Vine Cutter in Horizon Forbidden West comes in the second half of the game, it is likely that players taking some time to explore will discover Metal Flowers long before they're able to get rid of them. After obtaining the Vine Cutter, whenever a Metal Flower is approached there will be an indication to let players know it can be destroyed.
In order to break open Metal Flowers, Aloy will need to strike them several times with the Champion's Spear. Metal Flowers need to be hit three times before a prompt appears indicating players can install the Vine Cutter module. Aloy will plunge the Champion's Spear into the center of the open Metal Flower, then the vines attached to it will disappear. The process is the same for any of these structures found around the map.
Metal Flowers appear on the map as question marks, but they aren't the only structure or activity that takes on this symbol. Players will need to thoroughly explore every area of the Forbidden West to destroy all of the Metal Flowers. Vines can often be found in areas with collectibles, like the Isle of Spires Ruin in Horizon Forbidden West, or they may be guarding valuable resources around the map. Once Aloy has the Vine Cutter, any Metal Flower can be destroyed in Horizon Forbidden West.
Horizon Forbidden West is available for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.