Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores ending sparks debate among fans -By Fsk

Horizon Forbidden West’s Burning Shores was just released yesterday, but many players have already completed the DLC, and one particular moment during its ending has sparked a strong reaction from some fans.

Please note, the below contains spoilers for Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores. If you want to get as fresh as possible into the game, here is a sign for you to go elsewhere.

During the events of Burning Shores, Aloy meets Seyka, “an ambitious Marine from the Quen tribe who has stepped up to help her people survive”. Prior to the release of the DLC, Seika was touted as a character who would be Aloy’s equal, with actress Ashley Birch also stating that “Aloy may have found her match”.

At the end of Burning Shores, there is an option to make this match more romantic, and players can select a dialogue option that will cause Aloy and Seika to share a kiss.

This decision of developer Guerrilla Games has been praised by many. After various hints in the past, many fans had assumed that Aloy was gay, and this confirms it in their eyes.

However, others feel that while it is a fine piece of representation, the moment is undermined by the developer’s choice to stick to mechanical game design.

Throughout Horizon Forbidden West, the player (as Aloy) is often presented with three dialogue options, each represented by a symbol: brain, heart, or fist. Brain Substitutes typically allow Aloy to use her insight to try to find a more clever, or less obvious, solution to any given situation. If players choose Heart, Aloy will show more compassion or voice her “deepest convictions”. Meanwhile, the choosing of the Fist sees Aloy facing a challenge.

As you can see in the image below, all three of these symbols are present before Aloy’s final moment with Saika, in which only one (the heart) leads the two characters to kiss.

After moments of romantic tension between the two earlier in the game (e.g. in the sequence embedded in the tweet below), some fans choose to openly express that romance as a cop-out by the developers. option appears. Additionally, while the fist symbol is used throughout the game, some feel it could have been switched out for something less offensive here.

You can see how each gameplay option between Aloy and Seika works out in the video below.

Horizon Forbidden Waste Burning Shores is out now on PlayStation 5. If you’re venturing back into the world of Alloy & Co but need a little extra hand, be sure to check out our guide. Here’s one on The Splinter Within sidequest that will help get you started.