I don't know if this was mentioned before but I noticed something Aloy said in the trailer that I thought was interesting
When she first speaks about the old ones, she says:
We know, we werent the first ones here. Our stories speak of the ones that came before the old ones. The world of the old ones was so different than ours. They had built incredible cities, with towers that reaches the stars. But a darkness came, and their cities turned to graves. And without them, the land.. started to change. Their great cities faded away, and in their place, came new life."
"The stories don't tell where the old ones went. They don't tell us why the machines rule these lands. But they warn us, that this balance cannot last."
Notice how she first says that their cities turned into graves, which in my eyes is implying that the majority of humanity had died because of whatever happened.
Then, she says: "The stories don't tell where the old ones
went" - Isn't that weird?
In order for the current population to exist, some people must have survived what happened all those years ago, but she also speaks of the "old ones" as if they were some sort of group or entity?
I don't know what to make of this! This game mixes so many different things, it's really hard to tell what direction the story will go, but there's such a strong emphasis on the earth and nature and the tribes resembling native americans.. I have theories - maybe the earth is somehow self aware in this universe? maybe "the old ones" polluted the earth so much that it cause whatever happened? I know it's a common theme to use in post-apocalyptic games - "Nature clamed back the earth", but even the way Aloy speaks of this is different "And without them, the land.. started to change. Their great cities faded away, and in their place, came new life." - it makes it sound as if once the cities and "the old ones" and all they were was gone, things were somehow... better? Did some of "the old ones" manage to survive? maybe they populated another planet?
Also, did you notice what Aloy was hunting in the demo? those were canisters on the deer-like creature containing some sort of material inside of them, but why does he produce that material, and how? we know he eats, we saw him eat some grass in the demo so that means these creatures still eat and in my mind, they are some how connected to the earth and they are part of its eco-system, they are not robo-killers that are only trying to kill us, they live on this earth just like our animals do and are part of nature