Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores ending sparks fan debate
Spoilers.
Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores only released yesterday, but many players have already completed the DLC, and one particular moment during its ending has evoked a strong reaction from some fans.
Please note, there are spoilers for Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores below. If you want to head into the game as fresh as you can, this is your cue to head elsewhere.
During the events of Burning Shores, Aloy meets Seyka, an "ambitious marine of the Quen tribe who has stepped up to help her people survive". Ahead of the DLC's release, Seyka was touted as a character that would be Aloy's equal, with actress Ashley Birch even saying "Aloy may have met her match".
Towards the end of Burning Shores, there is the choice to make this match a more romantic one, and players can select a dialogue option that will lead to Aloy and Seyka sharing a kiss.
Many have praised this decision by developer Guerilla Games. After various hints in the past, many fans had assumed that Aloy was gay, and this in their eyes confirms it.
However, others feel that while it's a good piece of representation, the moment is undermined by the developer's choice of sticking to its rather mechanical game design.
Throughout Horizon Forbidden West, the player (as Aloy) is often presented with three dialogue options, each denoted by a symbol: Brain, Heart or Fist. The Brain option typically allows Aloy to use her insight to try and find a more clever, or less obvious, solution to any situation presented to her. If players select Heart, Aloy will show more compassion or voice her "deepest convictions". Choosing the Fist, meanwhile, sees Aloy confront a challenge head on.
As you can see in the image below, these three symbols are present ahead of Aloy's last moment with Seyka, with just the one (the Heart) leading to the two characters kissing.
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Following moments of romantic tension between the two earlier in the game (for example in a sequence embedded in the tweet below), some fans see the choice to opt out of expressing that romance openly as a bit of a cop-out by the developers. Additionally, while the Fist symbol is used throughout the game, some feel it could have been switched for something less aggressive here.
You can see how each of the gameplay options play out between Aloy and Seyka in the video below.
Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores is out now on PlayStation 5. If you are heading back into the world of Aloy and co, but need a little extra hand, be sure to check out our guides. Here is one on The Splinter Within sidequest to get you started.