Aloy is queer.There are no ifs or buts, she spends a lot ofHorizon Forbidden West’sDLC flirting with another woman before you’re given the option to kiss her. And this isn’t ‘kiss her to choose that Aloy’s gay’, it’s a choice about whether Aloy is ready to open up. So, of course, bigots got mad and review-bombed the expansion. But the devs aren’t letting that bog them down.
During an interview withVGC(viaEurogamer), narrative director Ben McCaw said, “We love it when [fans] have constructive feedback about this or that. And we’re perfectly happy when they say they don’t like this or that, with regard to virtually any aspect of the game that they’ve really thought about. But when there’s just this kind of blatant negativity, I personally find it pretty easy to just compartmentalize and realise that this is a mindset I can never really jive with.”
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Lead writer Annie Kitain added that Aloy’s feelings for Seyka are “all still true”, and that the option to kiss her at the end of the DLC is about “whether the player thinks Aloy’s ready to take that next step and have this romantic encounter or whether Aloy isn’t there yet”. Whatever you decide, “it’s valid”. As for the homophobic backlash andMetacritic review bombing, Kitain said that it’s “pretty easy to ignore”.
Gamers didn’t just review bomb Horizon’s DLC, theysent abusive DMsover the romance to Burning Shores' vocalist Julie Elven.
She revealed as much on Twitter when she posted, “I’ve continuously received angry DMs from gamers, as my vocals are featured on a scene in the DLC they see as ‘LGBTQ propaganda’” The mere option of a queer kiss was enough to send bigots into a frenzy, but Elven added that “The positive comments and influx of love absolutely outweigh the negative ones”. Though, she states that the DMs “show how much still needs to change”.
One lingering question that many had is which ending is canon, kissing Seyka or choosing not to. McCaw said, “[Burning Shore’s final choices] are really a continuation of a theme that we have in both games, about her not being ready for various types of social contact, because of her upbringing, but also because of the enormous challenges that she faces ahead.”
So, there’s no concrete ‘canon’ choice - whatever you choose is fair game and within character for Aloy’s story.
And Aloy’s story isn’t over yet, so there’s still room for Guerilla to explore her character and, in turn, her queerness. We found out last month thata Forbidden West sequel is in development, and that it will “[expand] the world of Horizon with Aloy’s next adventure”.
