Horizon Forbidden West War Totem Guide: How To Find The God Of War Collectibles

The thing about big first-party PlayStation games is that they love to acknowledge each other, giving fans some fun callbacks and Easter eggs to hunt down within their games. Horizon Forbidden West follows in the footsteps of Ghost of Tsushima, which threw in a Horizon Forbidden West armor set to go with the big PlayStation Easter eggs in its Iki Island expansion. In Horizon, there are some extremely tough-to-find PlayStation collectibles, in this case referencing Sony Santa Monica's God of War and God of War: Ragnarok.

Though the three God of War Easter eggs are called War Totems, and while they're tracked on your Collectibles tab in the Notebook menu, they're not marked by any quests in the game. The only way to find them is to wander around certain areas of the map, where you might start to notice clues hinting at their existence. They can be tough to nab, too, as they're usually surrounded by machines that will put up a fight before letting you claim their nearby War Totems. Here's where you'll need to go to find all three War Totems, what you can do to find them, and what you might face when you get there.

Horizon Forbidden West War Totem Collectible Locations

Totems of Brotherhood

You can find the first of the three sets of God of War totems down at the edge of the map south of Plainsong, near the coordinates you use to track Sylens in the main story. When you reach this area, you'll find a big lake here filled with tough machines, so this might be a location you want to return to once you've leveled up some more.

Out in the lake as you approach, you'll see a small island that's also a Glinthawk roost, which is a good indication you're in the right area. Look on the beach for a dead Widemaw with a hammer sticking out of its face. Aloy will talk about the hammer and you can examine it for more information, and that'll lead you out to the small island.

Totem of War

The second totem requires you to scale a mountain, so you might want to go after it later in the game when your traversal options will be improved. You're looking for a spot southwest of The Bulwark, where a frozen mountain river makes its way down the slope to create a waterfall. The spot is actually a Sunwing site, though, and they aren't going to take kindly to your arrival.

You'll need to go about halfway up the waterfall to find the spot you're looking for--a recreation of Kratos's cabin from God of War 2018. It's a bit tough to spot at first, as it's covered in snow and nestled up against a cliff face. Look for it on the north side of the river and get ready to fight some Sunwings when you arrive.

Once you clear out the Sunwings, head over to the cabin, which you'll recognize as being very similar to the one where Kratos and Atreus live at the beginning of God of War. You can't go inside, but you don't need to if you want to nab the totem. Head to the left side of the cabin and check under the overhanging roof there; the Kratos totem is lying in the snow.

Totem of Youth

The last totem is probably the toughest to find because it's hiding in plain sight but with seemingly nothing to guide you toward it. You'll need to go far to the west, near Legacy's Landfall and the ruins of San Francisco. You want the park just south of the ruins of the Golden Gate Bridge, which is also a Stormbird site--so keep that in mind.

When you arrive at the spot near the Golden Gate Bridge, look for a looping path and some rusting school buses not far away. If you stay away from the northern edge of the area, you should manage to keep the Stormbird that lives here from attacking you. The bus you want is one that's stuck under a destroyed ruin of a bridge, which has a grapple point on it that will pull you up on top of it. When you're there, face north toward the bridge and look for the totem on the railing; it's very easy to miss.

Finding all three Totems of War unlocks your overall reward: a new face paint pattern called the Mark of War. As you might expect, it mimics Kratos's look. You can buy it from a Face Painter in one of the settlements, such as Scalding Spear.

For more on Sony's huge sequel, don't miss our tips for beginners, as well as a look at the best skills to get early, a complete guide to the mounts you can unlock in the game, a list of all Cauldron locations, and a rundown of legendary weapons and what seems like the game's best armor. You can also read our Horizon Forbidden West review.