This is a personal comedy article on a favorite NPC that I enountered in the video game Horizon: Zero Dawn. It contains minor spoilers for the Frozen Wilds DLC, and a mention of main-plot spoilers.
Horizon: Zero Dawn has a great world, and a lot of fascinating NPCs. Did you fall in hate with the villain Helis? Grudgingly take advice from Sylens? Wish you could date Avad or Talanah, or deck Lansra in the face? They’re all quite fascinating characters, I will not contest that. But there is unequivocally one best NPC in Horizon: Zero Dawn, and his name is Enjuk. I will elaborate, and then I will not accept constructive criticism on this opinion.
“I have this theory about foxes. Why do they have red fur? Think about what they eat!” -Enjuk
Enjuk is an encounter in the Frozen Wilds DLC of Horizon. He’s the NPC you trade your collectibles to in order to receive sweet rewards. But the real reward of turning in your hard-earned collectibles to Enjuk is his dialogue.
What Enjuk collects are animal figurines. You can find them while running around the Cut, the landmass added to the map. Enjuk lives in a rather centrally located collapsed building (classy!) that you, the player, find used to be a visitation center in the land that used to be known as Yellowstone National Park. The only thing kicking around this visitation center, though, is old recordings showing animals that became extinct in the gap between the old world and the world of Horizon. And Enjuk really loves these animals.
Enjuk believes that the place was built by a man called Montana Recreations (because all the tapes say “brought to you by Montana recreations” at the end of them) and is trying to piece together the last few tapes- activated by placing the figurines you collect on their proper pedestal, of course. You can then view the tapes- a short loop of the animal standing in place- as the Montana Recreations announcer reads out their name and the same enthusiastic vocal watermark.
Enjuk tells you when you meet that he thinks people study machines more than animals- and that animals are important too. I think he does this just to guilt the player, because I only looked at animals before this to upgrade my carry capacity. Then he shares some of his thoughts about animals, and asks you to help him by bringing him any figurines you find like the one he’s already got.
Because I’m a nice guy- but I’m also not great at figuring out long puzzles in open world games- I opened up a tutorial and cracked on with it. And I got the best dialogue in the game.
You see, when you turn the figurines in and then play the associated footage, Enjuk provides his own thoughts on animal morphology. And though he puts in so much effort, he’s so very off the mark, and it’s all very fun to be amused by. He’s one of the better examples of the effects of the knowledge that was lost on a massive scale when (spoiler) Ted Faro destroyed APOLLO archives and murdered the alphas. But that’s the main plot, and we’re not talking about the main plot. We’re talking about Enjuk.
Aloy: Those claws look like they could rip someone apart.
Enjuk: Perhaps in its youth. But you heard Montana Recreations. It’s grizzled. Old. Its hunting days are behind it.
-dialogue on the Grizzly Bear figurine
Enjuk is the best NPC because not only does he answer questions about the universe (confirming that the majority of apex predators are extinct) but also adding some comedy that’s…really only available to the player. There’s no way Aloy would be able to correct Enjuk on any of this. She’s never seen a grizzly bear before, either. So the game doesn’t give you any way to communicate with him. Which is almost too bad, but it makes perfect sense, and traps you on this side of dramatic irony, so you can just appreciate how little he really knows about animals.
“Its coat is sand-colored. Could it have been a burrowing animal? Perhaps those fearsome teeth were only used for digging.” -Enjuk, commenting on the cougar figurine
Enjuk has the spirit. He really does. So I can’t really laugh at him maliciously, but I do kind of wish he had more to work with to figure out more about old animals. And that he ended up with some idea of animal traits and how they correlate to experience. Because really, how does he make these connections? I’m going to start a petition to Guerrilla games to get me right up in Enjuk’s head and understand his line of logic, because then I’ll be able to die happy.
And you know what? The best part about Enjuk is that he got so close to actually thinking of something, once. He gets so close. He brushes up against the theory of evolution, albeit in completely the wrong way, and then dismisses the entire idea.
“Could it be that these wolves and our foxes are the same somehow? Perhaps after hundreds of years…no, that’s ridiculous.” -Enjuk, commenting on the wolf figurine
No! Go back! Enjuk, you were almost on to a legitimate thing! Oh no, he’s gone the complete opposite direction right back into being terribly inaccurate again. Oh, the humanity!
“Not built like a predator, but…perhaps it needed those horns to take down prey, in absence of sharp fangs.” -Enjuk, commenting on the deer figurine
How the hell do you know what a predator looks like, sir? You couldn’t recognize several predators previously. You thought a cougar was a burrowing animal.
Although Google is telling me that deer can scavenge meat in a pinch. Maybe you win this one, Enjuk. It’s not exactly a full victory for either of us, alright. Just remember that you still have zero wins, here. At this rate you’ll never be granted the name Enjuk Recreations after your weird technological mentor.
Keep doing your best, Enjuk. It’s not fantastic, but it is kind of fun to watch- like a train wreck in very, very slow motion. Where the train doesn’t even know it’s in a wreck.
Good job, you magnificent loser, at being the best NPC in the entire game.
[on the black bear] “I suspect I would like [to be cornered by one] very much indeed. What a beautiful beast you were.” -Enjuk.
A Dreaming Writer 