All of the Horizon Forbidden West lens locations

Horizon Forbidden West lenses are items you can collect in the Daunt, and there are six of them in total to find – the Lens of Dawn, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Evening, and Twilight. In return for tracking them down, you'll receive some additional resources as well as cash, so it's worth your time to do so. There are six watchtowers within the initial main area of Horizon Forbidden West, and each of them holds a lens. If you've been exploring this opening location then you may have already visited one of those structures and found the collectible within, though what you need to do with them won't become clear until you encounter a mountain climber named Raynah.

To help you figure this out a lot faster, get all six lenses, as well as discover what rewards you'll receive for all of your efforts, here's our Horizon Forbidden West lenses guide to explain everything.

Horizon Forbidden West lenses locations

Lens of Dawn
Lens of Morning
Lens of Midday
Lens of Afternoon
Lens of Twilight
Lens of Evening

There are six Horizon Forbidden West lenses that can be found by finding and climbing a tower, and removing the lens you find at the top. These towers are all around the edges of the Daunt, so look up towards the cliff edges and mountain tops to see them. All of them can be climbed without any additional gear, although you find a few Metal Flowers or Firegleam crystals along the way that you might have to return to when you have the special gear you find later in the story.

The Lens of Afternoon, number 4, is blocked by people who've barred the way and you'll need to start the mission Twilight Path by talking to Petra, in the bar in Chainscrape. This might take a few dialogue options but eventually she should mention some refugees, which will unlock the side quest. Once that happens visit the refugees who will then let you through to climb the tower.

The final Horizon Forbidden West lens, number 6, the Lens of Evening will trigger the mission, Signals of the Sun, when you get near. Look for a guard trying to drag a body to begin it, which will start you off trying to rescue a mountain climber called Raynah.

Once you've found her she'll take all the lenses you already have, including the one on the tower she's next to - so maybe climb that quick before speaking to her while you're there.

In return for giving her all six lenses you'll get the following rewards:

90 metal shards
2 Greenshine fragments
2 Bronze Ingots
Dune Shadow dye

Later on you can also catch up with her at the campsite in Barren Light, where she'll give you these rewards:

10 Greenshine slivers
2 Bronze Ingots

It's not the biggest haul in the grand scheme of things but it's a good way to get a head start if you do it right at the beginning, before you leave the Daunt. That cash should get some better gear earlier, while the Horizon Forbidden West Greenshine will be extremely useful for certain weapon and gear upgrades, or to buy hard-to-get machines parts from merchants.