Aloy is queer. She spends a lot of time flirting with other women DLC in Horizon Forbidden West before you give her the option to kiss her. And this isn’t about ‘kissing her to Aloy’s choosing her gay’, it’s about whether Aloy is ready to open up to her. So, of course, bigots went mad and review-bombed the expansion. But the developers won’t let that bog them down.
In an interview with VGC (via Eurogamer), Narrative Director Ben McCaw said: [fans] Get constructive feedback on this and that. And we’re totally happy when they say they don’t like this or that, with regard to just about every aspect of the game they really thought they were. But when there is this kind of blatant denial, I find it quite easy to compartmentalize personally and realize that this is a mindset I can never quite sympathize with.”
Senior writer Annie Keitain said that Aloy’s feelings for Seika are “still true” and that the option to kiss her at the end of the DLC “will determine whether or not the player thinks Aloy is ready to take it to the next level and have this romantic rendezvous.” “, he added. Whatever you decide, “it’s valid”. Of the homophobic backlash and Metacritic review bombing, Kitain said it was “very easy to ignore”.
Gamers not only reviewed the bombshell Horizon’s DLC, but sent Burning Shores vocalist Julie Elven an abusive DM about romance.
“I have received angry DMs from gamers over and over again because my vocals are featured in a scene in the DLC that is viewed as ‘propaganda for LGBTQ people,’” she wrote on Twitter. It drives bigots into a frenzy, but Elven adds that “positive comments and an influx of love absolutely outweigh the negative”. However, she says the DM “shows how much change is needed”.
One lingering question many people have is which ending, kissing Seyka or choosing not to, is canon. McCaw said “[Burning Shore’s final choices] It’s a continuation of a theme we have in both games because of her upbringing, that she’s not ready for many types of social contact, and the enormous challenges she’ll face in the future.”
So there is no specific ‘standard’ choice. Whichever you choose is fair game and it’s within character for Aloy’s story.
And since Aloy’s story isn’t over yet, there’s still room for Guerrilla to explore her character and her queerness. Last month, a Forbidden West sequel was in development and “[expand] The World of Horizon” with Aloy’s next adventure.