DEVIL'S THIRST
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, USA
A Statue, a Museum, and a Mystery
Because I visited Colorado before I ever played the game, I don't have pictures of my own of specific landmarks we know from the ruins Aloy explores in Devil's Thirst...
2015 photo from Wikimedia Commons
by Carol M. Highsmith
What would I look for if I could? That monument (as seen in the last post I reblogged) of two cowboys on horseback, for one thing. It's just under the southern vantage point, near the Tallneck, more or less in the middle of a street.
Believe it or not, I actually came across a website that lists equestrian statues. Searching “Colorado Springs,” I found three: Kit Carson, Casey Tibbs, and William Jackson Palmer… the last of which, to some locals’ bemusement, is in the middle of an intersection.
"That’s William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs,” said Matt Mayberry, the director of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum. (article below)
That brings us to the other landmark I'll stop by if I have a chance to pass through Colorado Springs again. The northern Devil's Thirst vantage point refers to it as the Colorado Springs Explorer Museum.
The statue of the city's founder is north of the museum, whereas the statue in the game is south of it; but if it's meant to be the same location, it wouldn't be the only example of Guerrilla playing fast and loose with geography.
So is the statue in Devil's Grief a different statue entirely; or did Guerilla Games decide to double the horsemen in the road, to hint at changes from our era to the Zero Dawn era or to make some specific reference? I wouldn't be surprised if these two were characters from another game or an homage to someone.
If you have any information on this, I'd love to know!
Have you ever been curious about why that statue sits in the middle of downtown Colorado Springs? In this week’s Curious Colorado Question,
