6 Philosophical Ideas That Make Horizon Zero Dawn Even Better
2. Plato's Cave
In Book VII of The Republic, Plato presents a group of prisoners chained in a cave, forced to watch shadows across a stone wall. They've been there since birth, with no knowledge of the outside world.
When something or someone passes by the entry of the cave, they see the shadows or hear sounds, which allow them to classify the things in their own way, in turns creating within the prisoners, the illusion of the outside world. It's only when they're able to leave the cave that they learn what the real world looks like.
While Plato compared that experience to that of a philosopher, it's applicable to Aloy as well. She has seen through the illusion of the Nora's religion - or any religion, at that - created by the unknowing people to both organize the primitive society and mask the lack of knowledge of the world.
Aloy's findings allow her to break her "chains", and in turn free the society as well.