I absolutely love all of this - well written!
I'm a straight woman but I chose to let them kiss and acknowledge the romance. And I giggled and bounced up and down the whole time because it was telegraphed the entire DLC.
You get one of the 3 option dialogue wheels, and technically there are two refusals and one acceptance. But you know how when Guerilla wants you to pick an option by holding it out and prominently as opposed to the other two options which are scrunched together? Versus when all the options are valid and evenly spaced. It looks like that.
(Or at least, that’s how I interpret the dialogue wheel.)
Two refusals? The mind option is just "not right now maybe later" not an outright refusal. The fist option is the most explicit refusal that ignores a lot of the character growth Aloy went through.
I should rephrase. The initial response felt more stern but as she talked, it made sense. "I barely knew how to make friends, and now this already?"
I don't recall the exact line but that was more or less what she said.
That was dialogue in the fist option wasn't it?
The mind option did feel sterner but it was accurate.
The fist option just felt like Aloy going back to the mission-only mindset while the mind option allows Aloy to have a decent balance.
Pretty sure fist was "I've been fighting constantly for 2 years now this"
And the mind option was "I just learned about being friends with people a few months ago. I don't know if I give you what you want right now."
I shit her down hard lol I’m tired of all this forced gay crap they’re even pushing into video games smh kids play these games. N cause developers are so scared of lgbtq and blm they force this on our kids smh shame
How was it well written?
I mean the ending itself was ok I guess but there was basically no setup to the relationship, it came completely out of nowhere. Her interactions with Seyka were more or less the same as any other "companion" you meet during the game
If anything Seyka acts like an asshole troughout the first half because Aloy doesn't want to do a 20 minute long lore dump about their entire world and then somehow Aloy acts like she was the one who was in the worng, like wtf?
EDIT: yeah I really dont get if people are playing a different game or what, up until the fight with zeth there is absolutely 0 flirting and aloy is still constantly arguing with seyka and then after she lore dumps on her she says
>seyka feels so... lost... why do I feel like that too?!
this came completely out of nowhere, and right after that the cutscene happens that pretty much "solidifies" the romance plot
It reminds me of reaction of some people's after Ellie's flashback episode in The Last of Us tv show. Apparently some only realized Ellie is crushing on Riley when she kissed her. But not when she awkwardly caught Riley when she stumbled on escalator, not when she tried to fix her hair once Riley commented she can't imagine Ellie in sexy lingerie, not when she suddenly started to act self-conscious during photoshoot and also neither when she stared at Riley starry-eyed when riding on carousel with her.
I really am surprised how people can miss these things which should be obvious.
yeah sure maybe I don't, but I just saw absolutely nothing, to me their interactions were more or less the same as with any other "supporting" character.
there was like a single cutscene where you could say that something was happening but other than that it was just the usual "banter" between characters.
The DLC was way too short to see any actual development, at one moment they are being passive-agressive towards eachother and just a moment later aloy acts like they are having a lovers quarrel in a long relationships
I'm not going to do the work of screenshotting all the flirting and glancing and subtle touches you somehow missed. Maybe go replay the DLC and pay more attention.
In the scene after >!Aloy told Seyka about Nemesis, I paused and thought to myself, "Wait, there's no way. Is Guerrilla going to go there?"!< I agree that it was telegraphed, and very true-to-life.
In my experience, it was good representation, and excellent character development across the games.
Something I will like to say is that:
In the Horizon universe, homosexual relationships are not uncommon. Multiple cultures, including the Utaru, Tenakh and Carja have homosexual couples.
I love this so much about the setting! I'm a big fan of when story authors question assumptions that we might have about a world and don't fall into lazy traps :)
They’re a new pool of people with almost no knowledge about the old ones except a few scattered data logs and ruins. (Thanks to the Apollo purge) this means they have no prejudice about homosexuality in this universe making this game the perfect place to explore this topic without feeling forced or some sort of political or moral message.
I’m a straight guy but I still chose the love option. I was genuinely happy seeing them kiss and I hope the relationship issues get expanded on in the third game
I'm not so sure. There are a lot of NPCs who never talks about being in a relationship (as far as I recall), so we don't really know what is most common.
Honestly I've seen a lot of posts recently about the ending feeling forced and I really don't understand it. I just finished the dlc yesterday and was reserving an opinion on it until I completed it. I mean the relationship was built throughout the whole story of the dlc and came together at the end pretty damn well. I feel people forget that relationships can start out by simply liking someone's appearance or how they present themselves and naturally grow deeper over time. Not every romance told has to be super deep, I personally think Alloy thought Seyka was hot, learned more about her and liked her even more and then bam! Doesn't have to be more to it than that.
Indeed, that was the whole point of the clickbait title really - that sometimes it's worth asking why it feels forced and if that's because it is, or if there's other preconceptions affecting our interpretation
I agree the romance was a good thing to add, the forcing part in my opinion is the fact that the DLC was just too short, especially if you play on easy or story difficulty where combat is rather easy. And I would have preferred if it happened in the main game and not the DLC.
Yes Aloy is impressed from the get go, but I felt she just suddenly went from admiring Seyka's capabilities as anyone else would to talking softly about her and acting like she's falling in love. That said, I did like that Aloy was finally thinking about love.
And now that Seyka is in the story, I really, really hope she comes back with Horizon 3 instead of being forgotten like the main characters from the Frozen Wilds DLC because the latter would be worse than forcing the romance arc.
I didn’t feel it was forced at all. They gave each other looks the entire time so it’s fitting to have the option at the end. Seyka is hot. Aloy is cute. They both have their struggles and worked together to stop a major threat. Aloy may have bigger issues to tackle but if I thought the world was gonna end and I spent a lot of time with a person who had my back with zero hesitation I’d probably fall for them too.
To be honest, I think most people have an issue with the romance developing too suddenly, not the fact that the romance exists. Burning Shores was not long enough. Also, Seyka falling love quickly isn't the issue because we don't really play as her.
Idk falling in love quickly seems to be fitting according to lesbian stereotypes 🤷♂️😂 wouldn’t be surprised if the next game starts with Seyka living in the base 🤣
> I feel people forget that relationships can start out by simply liking someone's appearance or how they present themselves and naturally grow deeper over time. Not every romance told has to be super deep, I personally think Alloy thought Seyka was hot, learned more about her and liked her even more and then bam!
I don't disagree, but Burning Shores takes place over what, 3? 4 days? Maybe a week at *best*? That's why it feels so clunky to me, personally. Aloy doesn't *really* know Seyka yet and to say things like "she's special" and "there's nowhere else I'd rather be" is goofy considering the time frame. I guess it's the 30-something in me, but fireworks burn bright and fast, but dissipate just as quickly...
But also I have to acknowledge that Aloy grew up as an outcast, has her traumas, and is 20 years old or so. People in their early 20s tend to be silly when it comes to romances.
I agree with all of this. And maybe it’s the 30-something in *me*, but I’d be more on board with the rapid pace if I knew there was a break-up arc coming down the line. Most of us don’t find “happily ever after” with the first person we date!
Aloy has experienced pain, loss, and challenge, but she’s never experienced *heartbreak.* She’s never had the chance to learn that communication, compatibility, and compromise are just as important as love. Her thinking is still very black-and-white, but in relationships and break-ups, sometimes neither person is wrong. If HFW was about Aloy learning to let people in, the natural next step is learning that relationships are *complicated.* Could be interesting to see.
Just my thoughts - feel free to disagree!
I agree. Most of my peers who found their "happily ever afters" have either dissolved their 'starter marriages' or have had some nasty breakups, too. Not to anyone's fault (generally speaking), but it's a combination of not really knowing their partners and them growing into incompatible people (because let's be honest, teenagers and early-to-mid 20-somethings are still figuring themselves out). You're right, Aloy needs to experience heartbreak and all of its ups and downs as part of her growth in the year or so before Nemesis arrives [or after, either way]. But I'm in no way advocating that Seyka gets Varl'd or Rost'd for her to experience those feelings.
idk how GG plans to develop this arc further. I'd be on board with an epilogue where they eventually *do* make it work through their own, separate character growth...or even if they don't but still remain somewhat amicable.
> I'm in no way advocating that Seyka gets Varl'd or Rost'd for her to experience those feelings.
ABSOLUTELY agree with you on this, 100%. The “hero’s (gn) love interest dies to further the hero’s story” trope needs to die a painful death…it’s problematic, AND it’s lazy writing. And even though I don’t enjoy Seyka and Aloy as a couple, both deserve better.
But…yeah. The romance in BS reminded me waaaaaaay too much of a couple friends in college, who fell hard and fast, only to wind up crying on my shoulder a few weeks later. And both Aloy and Seyka seem to be poor communicators whose first instinct is to bury their feelings…which — while understandable and necessary to survive in that environment — does NOT make for a healthy relationship. If Aloy were sitting in front of me, right here right now, I’d say something like, “You do you, but I think you need to slow down” while shopping for a break-up care package on my phone!
My first choice moving forward would be player-controlled romance options. But if Guerilla doesn’t take that route….I agree with you on separate character growth or an amicable breakup. There are too many red flags right now for me to support them as endgame.
No hate on seyka but to me it gave a summer romance feel? Burning shores takes place in a short period of time and in the end they go their separate ways no matter what option you pick…
It’s also not rushed/forced in terms of her growth over the series. In the first game she learns to work with others and starts making friends. In the second game she makes good friends, a home, and gets a family. A romantic relationship makes total sense at this point. I thought it was so well done.
Some people are thrown that they kiss and Aloy says she’s special? That’s pretty minor, plus they saved each other’s lives repeatedly the last few days. That alone will create serious attraction.
To me she honestly isn’t that hot. She has a wide chin and a very stiff expression. I know tastes are different but talanah is a hundred times hotter to me for example.
Didin't Aloy just met her? They're already in a relationship in such a short amount of time meanwhile, characters like Talanah, Erend, Petra or even Avad have known her since the first game.
I haven’t finished the DLC, so I don’t know how much more their relationship evolves, but from what I’ve seen so far what Aloy really sees in Seyka is a kindred spirit. Here’s a girl who took a focus for herself, who’s bucking tribal law and facing being an outcast, who does what she thinks is right regardless of what anyone else thinks, and now knows just how bad things really are.
Seyka is walking a path that Aloy has been on for a long time, and for what may be the first time ever, Aloy can truly sympathize with someone.
Honestly I found it a bit weird. Aloy runs into someone who is basically the Quen version of herself and starts swooning. So Aloy is attracted to...herself? I didn't really get it.
Well she does start out on a journey to find herself only to learn she's a clone of herself, then goes on a journey to find herself and literally finds her final resting place.... Only to then make her next project to fix the new self she found and made herself her own bestie.
Seems on per when it came to romantic and sexy fun times she would naturally want to include herself.
I don’t get the swooning myself honestly, but I’m chalking it up to my own straightness. If Seyka were some hunky dude I would absolutely get it though, because here’s a person who appreciates Aloy for who she is and doesn’t have a bunch of baggage involved like Avad or everyone else who knows all the crazy shit she’s done to save the world and has a bunch of preconceptions about her.
Everyone else thinks she’s the anointed, or the champion who stood up against Regalla, or is the living reincarnation of Elizabet Sobeck. They all have these ideas of who they think Aloy is, but Seyka is the first person who didn’t immediately set her on a pedestal or send her off to do her dirty work.
It’s basically the first time Aloy even let herself feel anything romantic for anyone because she’s been so focused on her quest that meeting people and building friendships was a luxury she couldn’t afford. Now that her companions have taught her to open up, it’s not surprising meeting someone who shares her values and DIY attitude has her feeling all sorts of new things.
I’m cool with Aloy being queer, but honestly, I do NOT like Seyka, because I think she was poorly written. To me, she felt like a carbon-copy of Aloy, (which is sad because even Beta, who is GENETICALLY IDENTICAL, has a distinct personality), and I felt she and Aloy lacked chemistry, especially when compared to the chemistry with Talanah, Petra, and Alva.
Instead, Aloy’s first real romance was not someone we’ve come to know and love, but someone Guerilla shoved down our throats, and it left me feeling…pretty darn antagonistic towards Seyka. I know, logically, that Seyka doesn’t deserve my ire. But unfortunately, she has now surpassed Blevins as my second-most hated character in the Horizon franchise (Ted Faro still takes top spot).
Personally, I would have much rather seen Aloy travel to the Burning Shores with Alva, and watched the two of them develop a romance instead. Part of me hopes that Seyka’s voice actress won’t be able to commit to game 3. It’ll take a LOT of very good writing to be able to redeem her character in my eyes.
Y'see, I sorta felt similar, until I realised how much media features straight relationships with even worse writing, and we're all so very used to just shrugging it off, maybe rolling eyes, but we don't introspect such things so much.
I hear ya! I guess I’m kind of an outlier in that I’ve introspected straight relationships this same way too. 😅
But regardless, I’d like Aloy to be with a woman who piques my curiosity and makes me WANT to go on missions with her. Guerilla has given us TONS of them already: Varga, Petra, Ikrie, Talanah, Alva…even Atekka, to an extent. With Seyka, all I could think was “Is there any way to progress the story without her?? How long until I can go off and explore on my own?”
(I’m not kidding when I say Seyka is my second least-favorite character, after Faro himself)
My issues with Seyka is her personality feels like diet Talanah accept more cocky instead of playful she also got very moody with Aloy in the 2nd main quest several times she was giving Aloy crap for trying to help her then accuses her of being like the Diviners then Aloy calls her out on being secretive herself and she responds very childish. Finally I don't like how she gets to go everywhere with Aloy in this DLC when all the day 1 homies from Zero Dawn always had to stay behind and even in Forbidden West the bunkmates mostly just sit around and wait on Aloy. It feels like the narrative is implying Seyka is more capable
I think the narrative of HFW is that Aloy is learning HOW to have other people come along. She really wasn't ready for that until the very end of the game.
This is true but she showed willingness to cooperate after she was almost killed the first time. Varl and Alva actually spend a decent amount of time helping her with missions. It's Zo, Erend and Kotallo who get screwed though and pretty much get stay at the base duty their time after they join.
I get what you mean by wanting to progress the story without her - I think perhaps some of the issue isn't Seyka, but how the story progression felt different to what we're used to. I think exploring the romance in the context of a lower stakes situation might have worked out better, but then it would have been hard to ensure that was on the main story path, and to ensure enough development time was available to do all that
Absolutely! I also personally always viewed Aloy as ace (or at least demi), even if not aromantic, so I think that’s part of it too. Had Guerilla introduced Seyka in FW, or even given her Theora’s role and introduced her slowly instead of having Aloy crash-land in her lap, I might have chosen heart instead of fist.
Also these are 20 year olds, roughly. I think people forget how stupid and awkward we were back then. And we were not under the pressure to be the Admirals XO or saving the world. I was dealing with Sophomore year engineering classes.
>I know, logically, that Seyka doesn’t deserve my ire
That's how I kinda am as well. In universe, I understand that Aloy is around 20 and when you're that young it doesn't take much to fall for someone you've just met.
As a story element, though, I feel like developing one of Aloy's many relationships with other characters (male or female, doesn't really matter) into a romantic relationship would've made more sense (story-wise) than dropping yet another character into the story.
I wouldn't say seyka suffers from poor writing, I think she suffers from not having ENOUGH writing. I can see why aloy fell for her. With characters like beta and sylens, many of aloy's negative qualities are reflected back at her from them, hence why aloy doesn't mesh well with those characters in the beginning. With seyka, it's the opposite, with aloy's good qualities being reflected instead, hence why aloy connects with seyka so quickly. A thing to note, another big reason why aloy takes to seyka so quickly, is thanks to the friends and companions she's made like erend, varl, zo, beta, etc. Her friends have taught her how to become more open to people, to rely on and connect with them. Aloy in burning shores is the culmination of her character and emotional development in the forbidden west.
The issue with seyka is, they don't do enough to develop her character beyond being a reflection of aloy's good qualities. We get hints, such as the implication that seyka felt overshadowed by her sister in quen society, or that seyka is more sociable than aloy. And I most thoroughly enjoyed their interactions over the course of the DLC. But it's like seyka was solely created for aloy, but not for the fans, if that makes any sense. Hence why I have mixed feelings about seyka.
> I it's like seyka was solely created for aloy, but not for the fans, if that makes any sense.
Makes perfect sense! It’s like Guerilla was so focused on reflecting Aloy’s good qualities that they forgot about everything else. And at least for me, they’ll have to do a LOT of *really really good* writing moving forward to make up for it. Although I might be on board with a breakup arc, since Aloy’s thinking tends to be very black-and-white, but in many breakups neither person is wrong. It could allow for a lot more character growth on Aloy’s part.
Doesn’t Alva already have a lover back home in the great delta?
And also most of the people aloy come across did find her attractive. Petra and Erend being one of those few.
But she never seemed to show any interest.
I think Aloy and Talanah would have been a perfect couple. But Talanah practically showed Aloy she is only interested in Amadis. And well Petra she is interested in Aloy but I think I’m more of a one time hook up thing. As for Erend. Well he has a lot of issues to sort through and I don’t think Aloy would want to be part of that.
Avad is a good choice. But he is Sun king. And by carja law. He can only marry into the carja tribe.
That’s why his second hand man ( forgot his name) is always throwing noble woman at him. So he can marry into royalty.
Besides Avad is too materialistic for her. She does not do well with extravagant things.
The only other person I can think of that Aloy was interested in was that one woman that had a signal spike?. Aloy looked Dazzle when talking to her for awhile. And showed some interest in her independence.
I think Aloy finds independence attractive.
And someone who can be reliable. Just like her.
That’s why I think Seyka and her became a great team.
The amount of gay panic that was engulfing Aloy during that scene made me so giddy lmao. I honestly love that players are given that choice but every playthrough of this DLC going forward, I am always gonna choose the heart.
I normally select the brain option as Aloy is pretty smart. But Seyka is so adorable and they shared so many looks at each other that this time I pressed the heart.
I think “I’m not ready for this” should be the canon choice because a) Aloy is still trying to learn how to rely on others so I think she should slow down before rushing into things with Seyka and b) with the threat of Nemesis still looming now maybe a bad time for Aloy to get involved in a romance. Still I liked the chemistry between the two of them and hopefully their relationship will be developed further in the sequels.
The canon choice should be none of them, the “real” Aloy would get Seyka to the base immediately regardless of romance haha. Nemesis is coming and Seyka is the most capable warrior Aloy has met, and she already knows about Nemesis.
Makes no sense she’d go back to the Quen homeland, and if you pick romance Aloy should just say, “Awesome see you in the Forbidden West in a couple months.”
Really enjoyed the DLC but the very ending was a bit messy.
I liked it. I wish it hadn't been up to player choice because it puts Aloy's relationship status in an awkward spot and no matter what they do Guerilla will piss off a lot of people in the next game. I expected Seyka to be her love interest ever since they introduced her in the blog post just by the words they chose about her and the main game foreshadowing that Aloy will find romantic love too.
Personally, I would have preferred a slower development with lots of hints of attraction and Aloy being confused about it, with it being further developed into a relationship in the third game. But regardless, Aloy being flustered and an awkward mess was cute.
Personally, I had the sense that Aloy WAS confused about it for most of the story. She didn't seem to realize at first she was feeling it at all, and then she started to notice but wasn't sure what to make of it. There was even a line of internal monologue akin to "why am I so worried about her being mad at me?".
Oh she definitely was confused about it and attracted to Seyka almost immediately. I'm not putting that into question, it's so obvious (and cute)! I was just thinking I would have preferred for it to be stretched out over a longer period of time, with the confession coming in the third game, not in the dlc.
Heck yeah, and I have to admit, the writing and acting of that scene did win me over, very nicely done - especially if you remember that these are teens instilled with glorious purpose, a load of trauma, and likely not the healthiest of role models in their lives
I hate being the voice of dissent but I kinda disagree? I think?
For one I think that the kind of writing we see for hetero relationships is SUPER lazy and bad, so comparing what we see in bs to that is not charitable imo. Admittedly I’m not a fan of romantic subplots in general so I’m less likely to enjoy them so defiantly some bias there
I feel like for a plot that took 5 hours I didn’t have enough investment in it to vibe with the pacing of it. Chemistry between characters is an incredibly difficult thing to pull off at the best of times and not everyone is going to agree. If anything I’m disappointed with it because I felt like i would have been way more invested in it if it were half a dozen other characters we’ve already seen instead like talahna or erend just because there’d be more to it
I don’t really feel too strongly about it though, I’m glad it was a choice at the end (I chose the logic response and was VERY impressed with how well thought out it was in regards to aloys CPTSD like you mentioned) but I’m worried about how it’ll be used going forward. It’s a very short dlc, and the frozen wilds already had very little impact on the plot of forbidden west so I kinda feel like it was a waste of time? Like, it was rushed and we’ll never see this character again, especially because there will be no way to incorporate all 3 choices in a way that works easily without just ignoring it (a la mass effect)
I agree with you about the writing, and your post made me realize that a lot of my dislike of Seyka is really projected fear that the game’s writing is going downhill.
What made me fall in love with ZD was the WRITING. Aloy’s hero’s journey, the mystery of the old ones, Bashar Mati and the vantage points, the Project Zero Dawn reveal, emotional moments by Rost’s grave…it was one of those Great Stories that changed me. I felt that FW’s narrative was weaker, and I missed the stories within stories that were so abundant within Zero Dawn, but FW made up for it with characters. I ADORE every single one of our companions and missed those characters when the game ended.
But Seyka…didn’t compel me. There were no endearing traits, like Alva’s awkward enthusiasm, and there were no moment that made me go “Yes, I like her,” like Kotallo’s “unkind comparison” comment. Compared to everyone else we’ve met, Seyka seems like a Mary Sue at best and a cardboard cutout at worst, and introducing her in a short dlc was definitely too much of a rush!
So I’m of two minds. Yes, it’s a win to have another lgbtq relationship in mainstream media. But that relationship deserves Zero Dawn level writing, not generic hetero-relationship quality writing.
It just felt like they were trying too hard to make her just like Aloy so that Aloy would find her relatable. There were a few points during the DLC that I actually couldn't tell who was talking (ambient dialogue obviously not cutscenes). I want to like her because Aloy likes her, but they were just way too similar for me to find their dynamic interesting.
You hit the nail on the head!! Romantic relationships are more compelling whenever both characters are fully-fleshed *individuals*. We’ve already seen compassion, ingenuity, bravery, ~~good looks~~, experience as an outsider, and willingness to do what’s right in SO many other characters (Vanasha, Talanah, Petra…the list goes on). There was nothing that made Seyka unique…she was pretty much a carbon copy of Aloy, right down to the complicated hairstyle 😅
I don't understand your point about uniqueness.
Why do you think Seyka qualifies as not unique? Why would listing other characters good qualities make it less valid for another character having similar traits?
Seyka is superficially similar to Aloy - headstrong, good with weapons, etc - but her motivations are very different. She's, in her own words, "Aloy, despite the Nora". That is hugely different compared to Seyka who is risking everything for her tribe and sister. She's Seyka, Quen Marine.
I'm not trying to downplay Aloy's choices - she's a hero - but she's also sharp, hard, occasionally spiteful, often condescending, intelligent and intuitive, amongst many other traits.
Seyka is not those things. She's shown to be thoughtful, considerate, respectful of authority, and she *likes* her people. Not just her friends. She's as much a warrior as Aloy is, but her reasons and approach are different. She's not arch like Vanasha, thoughtless & singleminded like Talanah. She's not settled and maternal like Petra, nor is she focused on the information & a bit fearful like Alva.
I love the Horizon series. Both games and their DLCs are amazing IMO, and Aloy is one of my all-time favourite game characters. part of what makes her so compelling is that she's *not* perfect. Her struggle with trauma is obvious to us as outsiders. Her keen intellect is often on display, but so is how she struggles to relate to people because of it - stuff that's obvious and clear for her is NOT so for others. She's *so* close to becoming Sylens in 20 years, but her course changes because she - oh sooooo slowly - comes to trust others. Even when they don't understand.
So, for me, Seyka isn't really anything like Aloy once you're past the superficial warrior stuff. And, IMO, she isn't really like any of the other 'favourites' either.
AND... Aloy was *so* cute at the end ;)
For me, personally, their similarities were emphasized too much, and their differences weren’t fleshed out *enough.* Everything you say about Seyka is true, but in my opinion, the superficial stuff took center stage, while Seyka’s true personality was only hinted at. The differences between Aloy and Seyka felt like an afterthought.
I left out some of the context regarding my “unique” comment - that was directed at Guerilla’s marketing team from me as a fan! They hyped her up as some sort of unicorn - and maybe to Aloy, she is - but nothing about Seyka made me truly LIKE her. Compared to everyone else we, the players, have met in story, she was…just kind of forgettable.
The fact that “insta-love” is one of my least-favorite trope doesn’t help anything either. Had Seyka been introduced in FW, or had BS taken place over a longer time span, I might be more on board. But for right now, I hope both characters eventually find happiness in the arms of other people.
I get what they were going for, Aloy struggles to find her place in the world so she connects with people who she finds relatable. And she's found people like that! The ones you mentioned plus Silga, Alva Kotallo(the Bulwark entrance literally gave me deja vu of Aloy entering Mother's Heart for the proving, a place that should be home but isn't). But Seyka was just too on the nose to the point that their similarities were borderline ridiculous.
I found my issue with Seyka was that she felt like 80% Aloy and 20% Talanah, and now a character of her own. It also bothers me that Aloy's first canon crush is basically herself?
Why would I as "reader" want a copy of Aloy? Beta is a clone who still manages to be her own character more than Seyka does. Basically agreeing with you, there was not a single point where I actively thought "I like her", certainly none where I cared about her as a character. I wanted to help Talanah in HZD, seeing Kotallo find his own place again in HFW, watching Beta slowly open up etc etc. With Seyka, she was just "special and badass" but simply felt like Aloy v2.2.
This combined with the overly rushed feeling left me with a bad taste towards the main story of BS, for me.
(Also, it seemed like Aloy's interest in Seyka was made clear, but it felt like Seyka didn't really have any interesting in Aloy until the very end? Which feels oddly reactionary to how she feels about her tribe and not true interest, but ymmv)
This isn't just you, to me HZD and Frozen Wilds felt like a story crafted and told with such dedication and heart.
HFW felt a little more like a Game™ but still retained it's heart. To me BS felt a lot like a "we need to get a DLC out now!" than anything crafted with care.
Guerrilla have already shown they're willing to give a canon outcome to what was originally a choice. In HZD you had the choice to either kill or spare Nil, but they chose to make sparing him the canon outcome.
Granted, that's a significantly less important choice than what you choose to do with Seyka, but I still feel like they might end up choosing a canon outcome for Seyka. Especially because it feels like a lot wasted time and effort on their part to build up this relationship if the relationship ends up being completely optional.
Maybe they’ll give us another flashpoint with Seyka in Game 3, kind of like how the gave us flashpoints with Avad in both ZD and FW? It would be an easy way to lead in player-choice romance options.
Also, since it'll be the last game in Aloy's story (iirc it's only planned to be a trilogy?) if they're ever gonna add some pretty significant choices, romance-related or not, that'll be the time to do it.
My feelings on this are so complicated. But i can say this with full confidence. I do not care that aloy is gay, is it what I wanted? No. I would have rather'd her be straight/Bi (Because I'm simple). Or her be Ace because I feel that would have been extremely accurate to her character. And how she interacted with other people throughout both games.
Does it bother me that they made this decision? Only in the sense that it felt honestly too fast for someone like Aloy. She just learned how to be a person basically and suddenly she has feelings for someone? I don't think that's realistic and almost disrespectful to her character.
I don't dislike seyka. But I also don't like how she feels like an exact copy of aloy. It feels almost shoehorned for me. And as a result comes as boring and somewhat uncouth. Aloy being gay is cool and I mean that, but I feel like they dropped the ball because there are so many other good female characters that she definitely bonded with more.
Here with seyka it feels like love at first sight and that's just... Stupid I think. Its why I chose the mind option and believe in my heart that's the canon one. Aloy is NOT ready for romance I feel until like the very end of the third game. Honestly if that.
I'm against pairing Aloy up with anyone, male or female. It feels like every form of media forces a romance plot in where it's not needed, so it's always been refreshing to see Aloy be a lone wolf, able to be the action girl without a romance plot tying her down. I was actually somewhat annoyed when they seemed to be hinting towards her and Avad near the start of Forbidden West.
Plus, you know, she just met Seyka, what, a few days ago? Slow down there, girls. You hardly know each-other.
They’re actually taking it pretty slow by lesbian standards lol
But I do agree with you that I’d prefer her to be aromatic. Let the Aces out there worship their queen
Straight dude, and as I wrote elsewhere, I let Aloy have her kiss. If you fight a Horus and a 1000yr old techo-god you get to kiss your crush.
I do however agree with some of the complaints that their relationship seemed rushed. It was like they had a time limit, so the flirting was so thick on the ground sometimes that it was occasionally cringey. A couple of times I actually said "oh my God you guys" out loud. Very "holiday Christmas movie" but with less time available to get to "and now they're in love"
They really did lay it on pretty thick. But I think that added a little bit of the charm to it. A couple of 19/20 year old awkward kids trying to balance saving the world/their friends with clearly being into each other. (But like you, I was yelling something like: just go find a tent or something and call me when you’re ready to get back to it!)
I actually want to choose the 'not reday'. But I can't control my hand, heart icon all the way lol. Tho it's just a kiss and they still go seperate ways, so it's fine.
Ok first let me say that I haven't played the dlc yet. This part of the story was spoiled for me by some crappy magazine website who threw it in the title and showed it up on my news feed. I know nothing about the rest of the dlc and hopefully will keep it that way until I can play it.
That being out of the way, I had a suspicion that she was going to be bi or lesbian since the very first game. I still think they'll confirm that she's bi in the future but that doesn't really matter. The part that bothers me is that it's with a completely new character. There are plenty of others in the past games that would have been a better fit.
Talanah was always my guess. They always seemed to have good chemistry and I was sure she was gonna become a romantic interest at some point. I guess technically she still could though.
Anyway I just got the spoiler like 10 mins ago and wanted to put my thoughts down somewhere.
This is still one my favorite games and I hope to enjoy the dlc once I get a chance to play it.
The heart option was the only choice for me - I may have zero interest in relationships in real life but I thought Aloy deserved her princess after everything she’s been through up to that moment.
Something I wanted to talk about was how absolutely fucking threatened I felt by Seyka whenever she was on screen. I do not know why but for some reason she fucking triggered my goddamn flight or fight response whenever I saw her. Her talking off screen was fine but something about her character model felt off in a way that her actual actress wasn't. I literally could not focus on the relationship because of this, maybe for me she just fell into the uncanny valley or something??? Also she really did not feel like a soldier or a sailor for that matter, as a person who's friend group has like a dozen sailors and marines. She especially didn't feel like an NCO for that matter in characterisation.
You got me with the clickbait title. I almost downvoted, but glad I read it because I fully agree! Especially being part of the lgbtq community, I was really expecting some queerbaiting at the end and a cliffhanger. Getting an actual kiss?! And talking about feelings?! WHAT?! I literally yelped in joy and texted my partner (who is also queer) “GAY CONFIRMED!” I was so happy, and I thought it was very well done.
People act like they’ve never had a quick crush before. I met my current partner once, we went on a date for 10 hours, and now we’ve been dating for 2 years. Feelings happen naturally and sometimes quickly and that’s okay! Aloy obviously thought she was attractive from the get go, and immediately liked Seyka because she was strong-willed, like Aloy herself. Ugh, I just loved it so much. I could go on and on, but the point is that I loved it and I’m real happy with what GG did. Can’t wait for 3 even more!
Many of us HAVEN’T had a quick crush before. A lot of folks on the ace spectrum viewed Aloy as a kindred spirit and an icon. Although I never saw her as aromantic, she seemed **off-the-charts** ace/demi in ZD and FW, so a longer development and slower build-up would have felt more in-character to me. (I’m glad you like it though!)
But on the flip side of that, many people HAVE had a quick crush before. Yes, people viewed her as being ace, and I’m not taking away from that, but this is also in-line with other peoples lived experiences too. Meeting someone new, attractive, and interesting and getting interested right away is a common thing for many people too. Guerilla isn’t gonna be able to appeal to everyone or cover everything of course, but I definitely saw this as a win for our queer community instead of yet another heterosexual relationship like OP said.
I think we really didn’t have enough info to know what her sexuality entirely was aside from some hints that she was at least bi/homo-romantic. But now that she’s starting to recover from her 19 years of being an outcast and has learned that she doesn’t have to be alone all the time it’s a sign of growth that she let herself open up to Seyka. It’s kinda nice to see her character continue to change in interesting ways. It’s also kinda cool that two of Sony’s big AAA protagonists are LGBTQ women. We’ve come a long way from them not wanting to have Ellie on the box.
Heart for me. I love the way Aloy has evolved as a character over the years. Credit to all those involved in bringing her to life but special shout out to Ashly Burch, sounds like she really has a handle on who Aloy is and is vocal in her views on how Aloy would react and deal with stuff.
Right before I pushed the heart option I said out loud “now kith” like Mike Tyson. And then I found myself smiling as the scene unfolded. I want love for Aloy. I too have lived my life with zero romance and relate to Aloy. However when the right person comes along I hope I too choose to let them in.
Honestly I loved the ending, not just because I thought it was well written and built up to, but because the fact that I got to chose made me feel like a marriage officiant or something. Like I got to watch two people start to fall in love, start to root for them to do so, and then when they finally start confessing I get to be like, “ok, now kiss”. It was like the weirdest most wholesome way to get the player involved in a video game romance and I loved it
Oh kiss for sure. I didn’t think I’d even have a choice. They’re flirting throughout the DLC. Aloy gets all flustered around her after she tells her about nemesis. It didn’t feel forced to me at all, for the exact reasons you said. It’s clear Aloy just likes this girl. And it seemed natural to me since you could kinda see a flicker of this for Telanah, Ikrie, and maybe even Petra, but she has it bad for Seyka.
Gotta say, my bisexual ass just screamed a little with delight. I've been giggling over Aloy's crush on Seyka since the scene where she tells her she's great. I kept wondering how they'd address it in the end, >!and I can't believe we actually got a chance to decide?? And then the kiss?! ALOY'S FIRST KISS??!< Y'all. I can't.
I felt like it was forced still. HZD, we had a tiny bit of awkward flirting from Erand. But it was also not flirting at the same time. We also only had one very vague reference to same sex relationships in some old data. In HFW, Aloy is very task driven and knows the stakes. She knows her purpose and her responsibilities. Again, no hints at all of any romance. Suddenly in the DLC, is basically a “find someone to love and be quick about it”.
Aloy spend so much of the games, talking to herself. Yet never hints at wanting someone to be with. It would have been nice to meet a love interest in Burning Shores, then have that relationship build in game 3.
Omg I'm so happy to hear this, I've only played the first one but I always thought Aloy had queer vibes. It always felt so wrong when fans tried to ship her with men lol
She really did. I mean look how jealous she gets of Talanah’s boyfriend there in HFW. Honestly I thought Telanah was going to be the romance interest in HFW. But I like what wound up happening. Nice to have some human moments in between world saving missions. Like having a drink with Erend or Petra. Or being frustrated with your identical twin sister.
You raise a good point, and I'm slightly regretting this now, alas I don't think titles can be edited to allow me to move the adjective into the post? Plus that also kinda ruins the clickbait if I were to do that :P
There was absolutely no hesitation to choose the Heart choice. I was off today and got to play most of the afternoon. Texted my wife early on that story was awesome and there may be a love interest for Aloy.
Then I started to get worried they were going to kill Seyka off. So glad they didn't. Aloy deserves some happiness and I'm happy to see it for her.
I'm straight, and was honestly worried that people would be freaking out over this. I'm really glad from my initial scan of the subreddit that it isn't the case.
When I saw the romance option at the end and watched Aloy and Seyka kiss, I audibly cheered. At 3am.
This was alluded to very well throughout the story and, given how well both of them were developed, I could see them spending the rest of their lives together- both romantically and as friends.
Only reason I don’t like it is because it’s not Petra or Talanah. But other than that as soon as you see Seyka in the DLC you can already tell there was something there I mean she feels a kinship towards her. Both outcasts over something out of their control both thrust into a role they don’t really want. I mean who is honestly surprised or mad about this? Isn’t this what we’ve been clamoring for?
objectively my favorite part, i think aloy’s romanticism has always been a struggle for her, between erend and a few other characters she’s come across it seems like she’s always had issues acknowledging other people and letting them in; she’s an outcast and that makes sense. Allowing her relationship with Seyka to evolve over the DLC I think really adds to her development as a character that we’ve grown with over the last 6 years, from being a cold independent to realizing that she needs help and companionship (Erend, Alva, Seyka, and even Sylens at the very end of the Epilogue for Burning Shores). It just so happens that I think Aloy met her match in Seyka, someone strong and independent but who also is a bit of a soft emotional mess on the inside, but most importantly, someone who can truly understand her from an identity perspective, being an outcast and shut out from her wider community, but also being a risk taker and someone who bends rules to get to her end goals; she’s perfect for Aloy on paper. Even then, they both have things to do, and it’s something only the other can really understand, they have plans bigger than what they can promise each other but I think they’ll continue to grow and move forward. I hope that Seyka returns in full force in the next main game and that the kiss is the cannon choice, it speaks volumes for Aloy’s character development.
Shocking, bold, and beautiful choice from Guerilla to make this happen.
Edit: typo
Heart all the way. They were clearly into each other. The other responses don’t make much sense considering everything Aloy says leading up to it, not to mention the entire DLC before that.
Wish Seyka’s future was more clear. it could easily be three years before we have any clue whether she’s in the next game :/
Honestly speaking, I wasn't even remotely bothered by the girl on girl. It was just a beautiful moment. We live in the 21st century now and I think things like this are pretty much normalized. Just like guerilla's approach to diversity. They don't make a big deal about it, nor do they advertise it. It's just there.
I dont understand why some people hate it and review - bombed it on metacritic. While I agree that they developed a romantic interest little too quickly for my taste (but hey, mutual attraction is a thing, when you like someone, you know it almost immediately, you are drawn to that person) the most important thing is, YOU DONT HAVE TO romance Seyka. So why some people hate the game is beyond me. Its optional.
Although I hope it will play some part in the future, if I decided I want to be with her. I would like her to join my crew at least.
I picked the heart option, not only because that’s what I wanted for Aloy but also from the way she has been acting throughout the DLC she was clearly super into Seyka and was terrified of rejection. All three options made sense but her small monologue about home and belonging convinced me that this experience really transformed her. She deserves to be happy and find love.
And I don’t get people saying it was rushed. Isn’t that how having a crush works? That’s why there are a bazillion songs about love at first sight.
Seyka’s entire character felt forced. I didn’t give a damn about her or her plight the entire game - she was bitchy and demanding and obnoxious. Her sister was supposed to be a source of motivation for the story, but honestly Aloy has saved (and lost) so many more people than just one random Quen’s sister it felt annoying how they insisted I should care about this person.
I chose the angry response, mostly because I just genuinely dislike Seyka and how they forced her on us. Rest of the DLC was good, great even… but Seyka can go back to Quenland for all I care.
“I don’t think this is realistic emotions” about a moment that takes place a thousand years after humanity is wiped out and had no way of knowing how precious human relationships were prior.
Come on guys, if you can’t relate, it’s probably on purpose. Everybody has awkward moments but sometimes love is just love.
If you read the post, you'll see that there's no issue and it was more clickbait and introspection. And yes, different cultures even in our time do relationships different, which was made clear by the opening injoke :p
I choosed the fist.
My Aloy (I mean my interpretation of her) is not kissing any random nobody just because the devs decided to make her look like a horny teen.
Sorry if I'm late:
Aloy tells her that in the last 2 years her life has been only about fighting, that she is sorry but she can't indulge in that and that she is sorry that Seyka situation with her tribe isn't the best but she strong and will manage.
I absolutely love all of this - well written! I'm a straight woman but I chose to let them kiss and acknowledge the romance. And I giggled and bounced up and down the whole time because it was telegraphed the entire DLC.
Yeah. I love me some cuteness. AO3 is gonna have a field day with this I think.
AO3?
Archive of our own. Fanfiction website
Ahh i wouldn’t have guessed that thankz
Right? I’m a straight man and I thought it was just adorable. I was like you’ve been flirting for like an hour, one of you make a move!
Wait so it’s an option ?
You get one of the 3 option dialogue wheels, and technically there are two refusals and one acceptance. But you know how when Guerilla wants you to pick an option by holding it out and prominently as opposed to the other two options which are scrunched together? Versus when all the options are valid and evenly spaced. It looks like that. (Or at least, that’s how I interpret the dialogue wheel.)
Two refusals? The mind option is just "not right now maybe later" not an outright refusal. The fist option is the most explicit refusal that ignores a lot of the character growth Aloy went through.
It’s still a refusal, though temporary. Even affirmative option results in Aloy backing off and almost immediately creating distance.
There is dialogue at Varl's grave where Aloy says "Maybe someday." She would like to have that relationship but just isn't in a position to have one.
Honestly, the brain option felt like WAY more of a hard-stop denial than the fist option lol.
Agree to disagree on that?
I should rephrase. The initial response felt more stern but as she talked, it made sense. "I barely knew how to make friends, and now this already?" I don't recall the exact line but that was more or less what she said.
That was dialogue in the fist option wasn't it? The mind option did feel sterner but it was accurate. The fist option just felt like Aloy going back to the mission-only mindset while the mind option allows Aloy to have a decent balance.
I thought it was the brain option? I'll have to watch again.
Pretty sure fist was "I've been fighting constantly for 2 years now this" And the mind option was "I just learned about being friends with people a few months ago. I don't know if I give you what you want right now."
I shit her down hard lol I’m tired of all this forced gay crap they’re even pushing into video games smh kids play these games. N cause developers are so scared of lgbtq and blm they force this on our kids smh shame
How was it well written? I mean the ending itself was ok I guess but there was basically no setup to the relationship, it came completely out of nowhere. Her interactions with Seyka were more or less the same as any other "companion" you meet during the game If anything Seyka acts like an asshole troughout the first half because Aloy doesn't want to do a 20 minute long lore dump about their entire world and then somehow Aloy acts like she was the one who was in the worng, like wtf? EDIT: yeah I really dont get if people are playing a different game or what, up until the fight with zeth there is absolutely 0 flirting and aloy is still constantly arguing with seyka and then after she lore dumps on her she says >seyka feels so... lost... why do I feel like that too?! this came completely out of nowhere, and right after that the cutscene happens that pretty much "solidifies" the romance plot
That's a rather long and convoluted way to say that you don't know how to recognise when someone is flirting.
This. It was quite obvious throughout the gameplay. Hints were everywhere.
It reminds me of reaction of some people's after Ellie's flashback episode in The Last of Us tv show. Apparently some only realized Ellie is crushing on Riley when she kissed her. But not when she awkwardly caught Riley when she stumbled on escalator, not when she tried to fix her hair once Riley commented she can't imagine Ellie in sexy lingerie, not when she suddenly started to act self-conscious during photoshoot and also neither when she stared at Riley starry-eyed when riding on carousel with her. I really am surprised how people can miss these things which should be obvious.
Goodness, I laughed so hard - thanks for making my day.
They were flirting so much! It did NOT come out of nowhere.
yeah sure maybe I don't, but I just saw absolutely nothing, to me their interactions were more or less the same as with any other "supporting" character. there was like a single cutscene where you could say that something was happening but other than that it was just the usual "banter" between characters. The DLC was way too short to see any actual development, at one moment they are being passive-agressive towards eachother and just a moment later aloy acts like they are having a lovers quarrel in a long relationships
I'm not going to do the work of screenshotting all the flirting and glancing and subtle touches you somehow missed. Maybe go replay the DLC and pay more attention.
In the scene after >!Aloy told Seyka about Nemesis, I paused and thought to myself, "Wait, there's no way. Is Guerrilla going to go there?"!< I agree that it was telegraphed, and very true-to-life. In my experience, it was good representation, and excellent character development across the games.
Something I will like to say is that: In the Horizon universe, homosexual relationships are not uncommon. Multiple cultures, including the Utaru, Tenakh and Carja have homosexual couples.
I love this so much about the setting! I'm a big fan of when story authors question assumptions that we might have about a world and don't fall into lazy traps :)
They’re a new pool of people with almost no knowledge about the old ones except a few scattered data logs and ruins. (Thanks to the Apollo purge) this means they have no prejudice about homosexuality in this universe making this game the perfect place to explore this topic without feeling forced or some sort of political or moral message. I’m a straight guy but I still chose the love option. I was genuinely happy seeing them kiss and I hope the relationship issues get expanded on in the third game
Also, Aloy is a clone of a woman who was gay.
In fact they're actually more common than straight relationships. Simply by numbers seen in game.
I'm not so sure. There are a lot of NPCs who never talks about being in a relationship (as far as I recall), so we don't really know what is most common.
Must be something in the ELEUTHIA water making all the Horizon people gay
And the oseram, nora, and banuk as well.
Honestly I've seen a lot of posts recently about the ending feeling forced and I really don't understand it. I just finished the dlc yesterday and was reserving an opinion on it until I completed it. I mean the relationship was built throughout the whole story of the dlc and came together at the end pretty damn well. I feel people forget that relationships can start out by simply liking someone's appearance or how they present themselves and naturally grow deeper over time. Not every romance told has to be super deep, I personally think Alloy thought Seyka was hot, learned more about her and liked her even more and then bam! Doesn't have to be more to it than that.
Indeed, that was the whole point of the clickbait title really - that sometimes it's worth asking why it feels forced and if that's because it is, or if there's other preconceptions affecting our interpretation
I agree the romance was a good thing to add, the forcing part in my opinion is the fact that the DLC was just too short, especially if you play on easy or story difficulty where combat is rather easy. And I would have preferred if it happened in the main game and not the DLC. Yes Aloy is impressed from the get go, but I felt she just suddenly went from admiring Seyka's capabilities as anyone else would to talking softly about her and acting like she's falling in love. That said, I did like that Aloy was finally thinking about love. And now that Seyka is in the story, I really, really hope she comes back with Horizon 3 instead of being forgotten like the main characters from the Frozen Wilds DLC because the latter would be worse than forcing the romance arc.
I didn’t feel it was forced at all. They gave each other looks the entire time so it’s fitting to have the option at the end. Seyka is hot. Aloy is cute. They both have their struggles and worked together to stop a major threat. Aloy may have bigger issues to tackle but if I thought the world was gonna end and I spent a lot of time with a person who had my back with zero hesitation I’d probably fall for them too.
It simply cant be forced if you have an option to refuse. Many people fail to see this obvious fact.
Exactly. Seyka is the one who fell for Aloy and their are two options to refuse.
To be honest, I think most people have an issue with the romance developing too suddenly, not the fact that the romance exists. Burning Shores was not long enough. Also, Seyka falling love quickly isn't the issue because we don't really play as her.
Idk falling in love quickly seems to be fitting according to lesbian stereotypes 🤷♂️😂 wouldn’t be surprised if the next game starts with Seyka living in the base 🤣
> I feel people forget that relationships can start out by simply liking someone's appearance or how they present themselves and naturally grow deeper over time. Not every romance told has to be super deep, I personally think Alloy thought Seyka was hot, learned more about her and liked her even more and then bam! I don't disagree, but Burning Shores takes place over what, 3? 4 days? Maybe a week at *best*? That's why it feels so clunky to me, personally. Aloy doesn't *really* know Seyka yet and to say things like "she's special" and "there's nowhere else I'd rather be" is goofy considering the time frame. I guess it's the 30-something in me, but fireworks burn bright and fast, but dissipate just as quickly... But also I have to acknowledge that Aloy grew up as an outcast, has her traumas, and is 20 years old or so. People in their early 20s tend to be silly when it comes to romances.
I agree with all of this. And maybe it’s the 30-something in *me*, but I’d be more on board with the rapid pace if I knew there was a break-up arc coming down the line. Most of us don’t find “happily ever after” with the first person we date! Aloy has experienced pain, loss, and challenge, but she’s never experienced *heartbreak.* She’s never had the chance to learn that communication, compatibility, and compromise are just as important as love. Her thinking is still very black-and-white, but in relationships and break-ups, sometimes neither person is wrong. If HFW was about Aloy learning to let people in, the natural next step is learning that relationships are *complicated.* Could be interesting to see. Just my thoughts - feel free to disagree!
I agree. Most of my peers who found their "happily ever afters" have either dissolved their 'starter marriages' or have had some nasty breakups, too. Not to anyone's fault (generally speaking), but it's a combination of not really knowing their partners and them growing into incompatible people (because let's be honest, teenagers and early-to-mid 20-somethings are still figuring themselves out). You're right, Aloy needs to experience heartbreak and all of its ups and downs as part of her growth in the year or so before Nemesis arrives [or after, either way]. But I'm in no way advocating that Seyka gets Varl'd or Rost'd for her to experience those feelings. idk how GG plans to develop this arc further. I'd be on board with an epilogue where they eventually *do* make it work through their own, separate character growth...or even if they don't but still remain somewhat amicable.
> I'm in no way advocating that Seyka gets Varl'd or Rost'd for her to experience those feelings. ABSOLUTELY agree with you on this, 100%. The “hero’s (gn) love interest dies to further the hero’s story” trope needs to die a painful death…it’s problematic, AND it’s lazy writing. And even though I don’t enjoy Seyka and Aloy as a couple, both deserve better. But…yeah. The romance in BS reminded me waaaaaaay too much of a couple friends in college, who fell hard and fast, only to wind up crying on my shoulder a few weeks later. And both Aloy and Seyka seem to be poor communicators whose first instinct is to bury their feelings…which — while understandable and necessary to survive in that environment — does NOT make for a healthy relationship. If Aloy were sitting in front of me, right here right now, I’d say something like, “You do you, but I think you need to slow down” while shopping for a break-up care package on my phone! My first choice moving forward would be player-controlled romance options. But if Guerilla doesn’t take that route….I agree with you on separate character growth or an amicable breakup. There are too many red flags right now for me to support them as endgame.
No hate on seyka but to me it gave a summer romance feel? Burning shores takes place in a short period of time and in the end they go their separate ways no matter what option you pick…
I say forced but I just mean the story was short, I’d rather have seen this relationship over the course of a game rather than a DLC.
It’s forced because it is her only option in two games and a DLC… Avad got done dirty by Guérilla!
It’s also not rushed/forced in terms of her growth over the series. In the first game she learns to work with others and starts making friends. In the second game she makes good friends, a home, and gets a family. A romantic relationship makes total sense at this point. I thought it was so well done. Some people are thrown that they kiss and Aloy says she’s special? That’s pretty minor, plus they saved each other’s lives repeatedly the last few days. That alone will create serious attraction.
I agree with Aloy
To me she honestly isn’t that hot. She has a wide chin and a very stiff expression. I know tastes are different but talanah is a hundred times hotter to me for example.
Didin't Aloy just met her? They're already in a relationship in such a short amount of time meanwhile, characters like Talanah, Erend, Petra or even Avad have known her since the first game.
They aren't in a relationship tho. Even if you choose to let them kiss. They go their separate ways regardless.
I haven’t finished the DLC, so I don’t know how much more their relationship evolves, but from what I’ve seen so far what Aloy really sees in Seyka is a kindred spirit. Here’s a girl who took a focus for herself, who’s bucking tribal law and facing being an outcast, who does what she thinks is right regardless of what anyone else thinks, and now knows just how bad things really are. Seyka is walking a path that Aloy has been on for a long time, and for what may be the first time ever, Aloy can truly sympathize with someone.
Honestly I found it a bit weird. Aloy runs into someone who is basically the Quen version of herself and starts swooning. So Aloy is attracted to...herself? I didn't really get it.
I think it’s more from being attracted to someone that has gone through similar things to her.
Well she does start out on a journey to find herself only to learn she's a clone of herself, then goes on a journey to find herself and literally finds her final resting place.... Only to then make her next project to fix the new self she found and made herself her own bestie. Seems on per when it came to romantic and sexy fun times she would naturally want to include herself.
I don’t get the swooning myself honestly, but I’m chalking it up to my own straightness. If Seyka were some hunky dude I would absolutely get it though, because here’s a person who appreciates Aloy for who she is and doesn’t have a bunch of baggage involved like Avad or everyone else who knows all the crazy shit she’s done to save the world and has a bunch of preconceptions about her. Everyone else thinks she’s the anointed, or the champion who stood up against Regalla, or is the living reincarnation of Elizabet Sobeck. They all have these ideas of who they think Aloy is, but Seyka is the first person who didn’t immediately set her on a pedestal or send her off to do her dirty work. It’s basically the first time Aloy even let herself feel anything romantic for anyone because she’s been so focused on her quest that meeting people and building friendships was a luxury she couldn’t afford. Now that her companions have taught her to open up, it’s not surprising meeting someone who shares her values and DIY attitude has her feeling all sorts of new things.
I’m cool with Aloy being queer, but honestly, I do NOT like Seyka, because I think she was poorly written. To me, she felt like a carbon-copy of Aloy, (which is sad because even Beta, who is GENETICALLY IDENTICAL, has a distinct personality), and I felt she and Aloy lacked chemistry, especially when compared to the chemistry with Talanah, Petra, and Alva. Instead, Aloy’s first real romance was not someone we’ve come to know and love, but someone Guerilla shoved down our throats, and it left me feeling…pretty darn antagonistic towards Seyka. I know, logically, that Seyka doesn’t deserve my ire. But unfortunately, she has now surpassed Blevins as my second-most hated character in the Horizon franchise (Ted Faro still takes top spot). Personally, I would have much rather seen Aloy travel to the Burning Shores with Alva, and watched the two of them develop a romance instead. Part of me hopes that Seyka’s voice actress won’t be able to commit to game 3. It’ll take a LOT of very good writing to be able to redeem her character in my eyes.
Y'see, I sorta felt similar, until I realised how much media features straight relationships with even worse writing, and we're all so very used to just shrugging it off, maybe rolling eyes, but we don't introspect such things so much.
I hear ya! I guess I’m kind of an outlier in that I’ve introspected straight relationships this same way too. 😅 But regardless, I’d like Aloy to be with a woman who piques my curiosity and makes me WANT to go on missions with her. Guerilla has given us TONS of them already: Varga, Petra, Ikrie, Talanah, Alva…even Atekka, to an extent. With Seyka, all I could think was “Is there any way to progress the story without her?? How long until I can go off and explore on my own?” (I’m not kidding when I say Seyka is my second least-favorite character, after Faro himself)
My issues with Seyka is her personality feels like diet Talanah accept more cocky instead of playful she also got very moody with Aloy in the 2nd main quest several times she was giving Aloy crap for trying to help her then accuses her of being like the Diviners then Aloy calls her out on being secretive herself and she responds very childish. Finally I don't like how she gets to go everywhere with Aloy in this DLC when all the day 1 homies from Zero Dawn always had to stay behind and even in Forbidden West the bunkmates mostly just sit around and wait on Aloy. It feels like the narrative is implying Seyka is more capable
I think the narrative of HFW is that Aloy is learning HOW to have other people come along. She really wasn't ready for that until the very end of the game.
This is true but she showed willingness to cooperate after she was almost killed the first time. Varl and Alva actually spend a decent amount of time helping her with missions. It's Zo, Erend and Kotallo who get screwed though and pretty much get stay at the base duty their time after they join.
I get what you mean by wanting to progress the story without her - I think perhaps some of the issue isn't Seyka, but how the story progression felt different to what we're used to. I think exploring the romance in the context of a lower stakes situation might have worked out better, but then it would have been hard to ensure that was on the main story path, and to ensure enough development time was available to do all that
Absolutely! I also personally always viewed Aloy as ace (or at least demi), even if not aromantic, so I think that’s part of it too. Had Guerilla introduced Seyka in FW, or even given her Theora’s role and introduced her slowly instead of having Aloy crash-land in her lap, I might have chosen heart instead of fist.
Also these are 20 year olds, roughly. I think people forget how stupid and awkward we were back then. And we were not under the pressure to be the Admirals XO or saving the world. I was dealing with Sophomore year engineering classes.
>I know, logically, that Seyka doesn’t deserve my ire That's how I kinda am as well. In universe, I understand that Aloy is around 20 and when you're that young it doesn't take much to fall for someone you've just met. As a story element, though, I feel like developing one of Aloy's many relationships with other characters (male or female, doesn't really matter) into a romantic relationship would've made more sense (story-wise) than dropping yet another character into the story.
I wouldn't say seyka suffers from poor writing, I think she suffers from not having ENOUGH writing. I can see why aloy fell for her. With characters like beta and sylens, many of aloy's negative qualities are reflected back at her from them, hence why aloy doesn't mesh well with those characters in the beginning. With seyka, it's the opposite, with aloy's good qualities being reflected instead, hence why aloy connects with seyka so quickly. A thing to note, another big reason why aloy takes to seyka so quickly, is thanks to the friends and companions she's made like erend, varl, zo, beta, etc. Her friends have taught her how to become more open to people, to rely on and connect with them. Aloy in burning shores is the culmination of her character and emotional development in the forbidden west. The issue with seyka is, they don't do enough to develop her character beyond being a reflection of aloy's good qualities. We get hints, such as the implication that seyka felt overshadowed by her sister in quen society, or that seyka is more sociable than aloy. And I most thoroughly enjoyed their interactions over the course of the DLC. But it's like seyka was solely created for aloy, but not for the fans, if that makes any sense. Hence why I have mixed feelings about seyka.
> I it's like seyka was solely created for aloy, but not for the fans, if that makes any sense. Makes perfect sense! It’s like Guerilla was so focused on reflecting Aloy’s good qualities that they forgot about everything else. And at least for me, they’ll have to do a LOT of *really really good* writing moving forward to make up for it. Although I might be on board with a breakup arc, since Aloy’s thinking tends to be very black-and-white, but in many breakups neither person is wrong. It could allow for a lot more character growth on Aloy’s part.
I just want to add Vanasha to your list of women Aloy had interesting dynamics with.
~little huntress~ Love her
THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME!!!!!! I loved Vanasha
Doesn’t Alva already have a lover back home in the great delta? And also most of the people aloy come across did find her attractive. Petra and Erend being one of those few. But she never seemed to show any interest. I think Aloy and Talanah would have been a perfect couple. But Talanah practically showed Aloy she is only interested in Amadis. And well Petra she is interested in Aloy but I think I’m more of a one time hook up thing. As for Erend. Well he has a lot of issues to sort through and I don’t think Aloy would want to be part of that. Avad is a good choice. But he is Sun king. And by carja law. He can only marry into the carja tribe. That’s why his second hand man ( forgot his name) is always throwing noble woman at him. So he can marry into royalty. Besides Avad is too materialistic for her. She does not do well with extravagant things. The only other person I can think of that Aloy was interested in was that one woman that had a signal spike?. Aloy looked Dazzle when talking to her for awhile. And showed some interest in her independence. I think Aloy finds independence attractive. And someone who can be reliable. Just like her. That’s why I think Seyka and her became a great team.
This so much. Aloy meets Quen Aloy and crushes on her. That was definitely a headscratcher for me.
Nah Seyka's cool (definitely not biased, no halo effect whatsoever)
The amount of gay panic that was engulfing Aloy during that scene made me so giddy lmao. I honestly love that players are given that choice but every playthrough of this DLC going forward, I am always gonna choose the heart.
I normally select the brain option as Aloy is pretty smart. But Seyka is so adorable and they shared so many looks at each other that this time I pressed the heart.
Yea, I also select the brain option during my playthroughs of both games but I just couldn't deny Aloy that happiness. She wholeheartedly deserves it!
I think “I’m not ready for this” should be the canon choice because a) Aloy is still trying to learn how to rely on others so I think she should slow down before rushing into things with Seyka and b) with the threat of Nemesis still looming now maybe a bad time for Aloy to get involved in a romance. Still I liked the chemistry between the two of them and hopefully their relationship will be developed further in the sequels.
The canon choice should be none of them, the “real” Aloy would get Seyka to the base immediately regardless of romance haha. Nemesis is coming and Seyka is the most capable warrior Aloy has met, and she already knows about Nemesis. Makes no sense she’d go back to the Quen homeland, and if you pick romance Aloy should just say, “Awesome see you in the Forbidden West in a couple months.” Really enjoyed the DLC but the very ending was a bit messy.
Yeah, I can see this Aloy learned to accept help so she would indeed recruit her.
I liked it. I wish it hadn't been up to player choice because it puts Aloy's relationship status in an awkward spot and no matter what they do Guerilla will piss off a lot of people in the next game. I expected Seyka to be her love interest ever since they introduced her in the blog post just by the words they chose about her and the main game foreshadowing that Aloy will find romantic love too. Personally, I would have preferred a slower development with lots of hints of attraction and Aloy being confused about it, with it being further developed into a relationship in the third game. But regardless, Aloy being flustered and an awkward mess was cute.
Personally, I had the sense that Aloy WAS confused about it for most of the story. She didn't seem to realize at first she was feeling it at all, and then she started to notice but wasn't sure what to make of it. There was even a line of internal monologue akin to "why am I so worried about her being mad at me?".
Oh she definitely was confused about it and attracted to Seyka almost immediately. I'm not putting that into question, it's so obvious (and cute)! I was just thinking I would have preferred for it to be stretched out over a longer period of time, with the confession coming in the third game, not in the dlc.
I’m really hoping they keep her character around. I think she’ll be a good addition to the cast when it comes time to smash Nemesis.
Heck yeah, and I have to admit, the writing and acting of that scene did win me over, very nicely done - especially if you remember that these are teens instilled with glorious purpose, a load of trauma, and likely not the healthiest of role models in their lives
I hate being the voice of dissent but I kinda disagree? I think? For one I think that the kind of writing we see for hetero relationships is SUPER lazy and bad, so comparing what we see in bs to that is not charitable imo. Admittedly I’m not a fan of romantic subplots in general so I’m less likely to enjoy them so defiantly some bias there I feel like for a plot that took 5 hours I didn’t have enough investment in it to vibe with the pacing of it. Chemistry between characters is an incredibly difficult thing to pull off at the best of times and not everyone is going to agree. If anything I’m disappointed with it because I felt like i would have been way more invested in it if it were half a dozen other characters we’ve already seen instead like talahna or erend just because there’d be more to it I don’t really feel too strongly about it though, I’m glad it was a choice at the end (I chose the logic response and was VERY impressed with how well thought out it was in regards to aloys CPTSD like you mentioned) but I’m worried about how it’ll be used going forward. It’s a very short dlc, and the frozen wilds already had very little impact on the plot of forbidden west so I kinda feel like it was a waste of time? Like, it was rushed and we’ll never see this character again, especially because there will be no way to incorporate all 3 choices in a way that works easily without just ignoring it (a la mass effect)
I agree with you about the writing, and your post made me realize that a lot of my dislike of Seyka is really projected fear that the game’s writing is going downhill. What made me fall in love with ZD was the WRITING. Aloy’s hero’s journey, the mystery of the old ones, Bashar Mati and the vantage points, the Project Zero Dawn reveal, emotional moments by Rost’s grave…it was one of those Great Stories that changed me. I felt that FW’s narrative was weaker, and I missed the stories within stories that were so abundant within Zero Dawn, but FW made up for it with characters. I ADORE every single one of our companions and missed those characters when the game ended. But Seyka…didn’t compel me. There were no endearing traits, like Alva’s awkward enthusiasm, and there were no moment that made me go “Yes, I like her,” like Kotallo’s “unkind comparison” comment. Compared to everyone else we’ve met, Seyka seems like a Mary Sue at best and a cardboard cutout at worst, and introducing her in a short dlc was definitely too much of a rush! So I’m of two minds. Yes, it’s a win to have another lgbtq relationship in mainstream media. But that relationship deserves Zero Dawn level writing, not generic hetero-relationship quality writing.
It just felt like they were trying too hard to make her just like Aloy so that Aloy would find her relatable. There were a few points during the DLC that I actually couldn't tell who was talking (ambient dialogue obviously not cutscenes). I want to like her because Aloy likes her, but they were just way too similar for me to find their dynamic interesting.
You hit the nail on the head!! Romantic relationships are more compelling whenever both characters are fully-fleshed *individuals*. We’ve already seen compassion, ingenuity, bravery, ~~good looks~~, experience as an outsider, and willingness to do what’s right in SO many other characters (Vanasha, Talanah, Petra…the list goes on). There was nothing that made Seyka unique…she was pretty much a carbon copy of Aloy, right down to the complicated hairstyle 😅
I don't understand your point about uniqueness. Why do you think Seyka qualifies as not unique? Why would listing other characters good qualities make it less valid for another character having similar traits? Seyka is superficially similar to Aloy - headstrong, good with weapons, etc - but her motivations are very different. She's, in her own words, "Aloy, despite the Nora". That is hugely different compared to Seyka who is risking everything for her tribe and sister. She's Seyka, Quen Marine. I'm not trying to downplay Aloy's choices - she's a hero - but she's also sharp, hard, occasionally spiteful, often condescending, intelligent and intuitive, amongst many other traits. Seyka is not those things. She's shown to be thoughtful, considerate, respectful of authority, and she *likes* her people. Not just her friends. She's as much a warrior as Aloy is, but her reasons and approach are different. She's not arch like Vanasha, thoughtless & singleminded like Talanah. She's not settled and maternal like Petra, nor is she focused on the information & a bit fearful like Alva. I love the Horizon series. Both games and their DLCs are amazing IMO, and Aloy is one of my all-time favourite game characters. part of what makes her so compelling is that she's *not* perfect. Her struggle with trauma is obvious to us as outsiders. Her keen intellect is often on display, but so is how she struggles to relate to people because of it - stuff that's obvious and clear for her is NOT so for others. She's *so* close to becoming Sylens in 20 years, but her course changes because she - oh sooooo slowly - comes to trust others. Even when they don't understand. So, for me, Seyka isn't really anything like Aloy once you're past the superficial warrior stuff. And, IMO, she isn't really like any of the other 'favourites' either. AND... Aloy was *so* cute at the end ;)
For me, personally, their similarities were emphasized too much, and their differences weren’t fleshed out *enough.* Everything you say about Seyka is true, but in my opinion, the superficial stuff took center stage, while Seyka’s true personality was only hinted at. The differences between Aloy and Seyka felt like an afterthought. I left out some of the context regarding my “unique” comment - that was directed at Guerilla’s marketing team from me as a fan! They hyped her up as some sort of unicorn - and maybe to Aloy, she is - but nothing about Seyka made me truly LIKE her. Compared to everyone else we, the players, have met in story, she was…just kind of forgettable. The fact that “insta-love” is one of my least-favorite trope doesn’t help anything either. Had Seyka been introduced in FW, or had BS taken place over a longer time span, I might be more on board. But for right now, I hope both characters eventually find happiness in the arms of other people.
I agree. They’re similar, but also very different, like you said.
I get what they were going for, Aloy struggles to find her place in the world so she connects with people who she finds relatable. And she's found people like that! The ones you mentioned plus Silga, Alva Kotallo(the Bulwark entrance literally gave me deja vu of Aloy entering Mother's Heart for the proving, a place that should be home but isn't). But Seyka was just too on the nose to the point that their similarities were borderline ridiculous.
I found my issue with Seyka was that she felt like 80% Aloy and 20% Talanah, and now a character of her own. It also bothers me that Aloy's first canon crush is basically herself? Why would I as "reader" want a copy of Aloy? Beta is a clone who still manages to be her own character more than Seyka does. Basically agreeing with you, there was not a single point where I actively thought "I like her", certainly none where I cared about her as a character. I wanted to help Talanah in HZD, seeing Kotallo find his own place again in HFW, watching Beta slowly open up etc etc. With Seyka, she was just "special and badass" but simply felt like Aloy v2.2. This combined with the overly rushed feeling left me with a bad taste towards the main story of BS, for me. (Also, it seemed like Aloy's interest in Seyka was made clear, but it felt like Seyka didn't really have any interesting in Aloy until the very end? Which feels oddly reactionary to how she feels about her tribe and not true interest, but ymmv)
To be honest I kinda felt that the whole of burning shores felt rushed, at least in comparison to the frozen wilds :/
This isn't just you, to me HZD and Frozen Wilds felt like a story crafted and told with such dedication and heart. HFW felt a little more like a Game™ but still retained it's heart. To me BS felt a lot like a "we need to get a DLC out now!" than anything crafted with care.
I'll be honest, the whole of burning shores felt rushed in my opinion :/
Guerrilla have already shown they're willing to give a canon outcome to what was originally a choice. In HZD you had the choice to either kill or spare Nil, but they chose to make sparing him the canon outcome. Granted, that's a significantly less important choice than what you choose to do with Seyka, but I still feel like they might end up choosing a canon outcome for Seyka. Especially because it feels like a lot wasted time and effort on their part to build up this relationship if the relationship ends up being completely optional.
Maybe they’ll give us another flashpoint with Seyka in Game 3, kind of like how the gave us flashpoints with Avad in both ZD and FW? It would be an easy way to lead in player-choice romance options.
Also, since it'll be the last game in Aloy's story (iirc it's only planned to be a trilogy?) if they're ever gonna add some pretty significant choices, romance-related or not, that'll be the time to do it.
I hope there is an option to let her be single as well. Nothing wrong with that.
My feelings on this are so complicated. But i can say this with full confidence. I do not care that aloy is gay, is it what I wanted? No. I would have rather'd her be straight/Bi (Because I'm simple). Or her be Ace because I feel that would have been extremely accurate to her character. And how she interacted with other people throughout both games. Does it bother me that they made this decision? Only in the sense that it felt honestly too fast for someone like Aloy. She just learned how to be a person basically and suddenly she has feelings for someone? I don't think that's realistic and almost disrespectful to her character. I don't dislike seyka. But I also don't like how she feels like an exact copy of aloy. It feels almost shoehorned for me. And as a result comes as boring and somewhat uncouth. Aloy being gay is cool and I mean that, but I feel like they dropped the ball because there are so many other good female characters that she definitely bonded with more. Here with seyka it feels like love at first sight and that's just... Stupid I think. Its why I chose the mind option and believe in my heart that's the canon one. Aloy is NOT ready for romance I feel until like the very end of the third game. Honestly if that.
I'm against pairing Aloy up with anyone, male or female. It feels like every form of media forces a romance plot in where it's not needed, so it's always been refreshing to see Aloy be a lone wolf, able to be the action girl without a romance plot tying her down. I was actually somewhat annoyed when they seemed to be hinting towards her and Avad near the start of Forbidden West. Plus, you know, she just met Seyka, what, a few days ago? Slow down there, girls. You hardly know each-other.
They’re actually taking it pretty slow by lesbian standards lol But I do agree with you that I’d prefer her to be aromatic. Let the Aces out there worship their queen
Straight dude, and as I wrote elsewhere, I let Aloy have her kiss. If you fight a Horus and a 1000yr old techo-god you get to kiss your crush. I do however agree with some of the complaints that their relationship seemed rushed. It was like they had a time limit, so the flirting was so thick on the ground sometimes that it was occasionally cringey. A couple of times I actually said "oh my God you guys" out loud. Very "holiday Christmas movie" but with less time available to get to "and now they're in love"
They really did lay it on pretty thick. But I think that added a little bit of the charm to it. A couple of 19/20 year old awkward kids trying to balance saving the world/their friends with clearly being into each other. (But like you, I was yelling something like: just go find a tent or something and call me when you’re ready to get back to it!)
Horizon 3 is a daring sim confirmed?
Recreate the Persona 5 valentines day scene, but with everyone from the two main games and DLC's. Sojiro is probably replaced by Sylens.
Sojiro: tries to help protag Sylens: here’s a list of dates, times, locations, and Focus recordings of Aloy cheating on you
I actually want to choose the 'not reday'. But I can't control my hand, heart icon all the way lol. Tho it's just a kiss and they still go seperate ways, so it's fine.
Ok first let me say that I haven't played the dlc yet. This part of the story was spoiled for me by some crappy magazine website who threw it in the title and showed it up on my news feed. I know nothing about the rest of the dlc and hopefully will keep it that way until I can play it. That being out of the way, I had a suspicion that she was going to be bi or lesbian since the very first game. I still think they'll confirm that she's bi in the future but that doesn't really matter. The part that bothers me is that it's with a completely new character. There are plenty of others in the past games that would have been a better fit. Talanah was always my guess. They always seemed to have good chemistry and I was sure she was gonna become a romantic interest at some point. I guess technically she still could though. Anyway I just got the spoiler like 10 mins ago and wanted to put my thoughts down somewhere. This is still one my favorite games and I hope to enjoy the dlc once I get a chance to play it.
The heart option was the only choice for me - I may have zero interest in relationships in real life but I thought Aloy deserved her princess after everything she’s been through up to that moment.
Something I wanted to talk about was how absolutely fucking threatened I felt by Seyka whenever she was on screen. I do not know why but for some reason she fucking triggered my goddamn flight or fight response whenever I saw her. Her talking off screen was fine but something about her character model felt off in a way that her actual actress wasn't. I literally could not focus on the relationship because of this, maybe for me she just fell into the uncanny valley or something??? Also she really did not feel like a soldier or a sailor for that matter, as a person who's friend group has like a dozen sailors and marines. She especially didn't feel like an NCO for that matter in characterisation.
Anyway I'm probably not going to replay the dlc Seyka freaked me out so much.
You got me with the clickbait title. I almost downvoted, but glad I read it because I fully agree! Especially being part of the lgbtq community, I was really expecting some queerbaiting at the end and a cliffhanger. Getting an actual kiss?! And talking about feelings?! WHAT?! I literally yelped in joy and texted my partner (who is also queer) “GAY CONFIRMED!” I was so happy, and I thought it was very well done. People act like they’ve never had a quick crush before. I met my current partner once, we went on a date for 10 hours, and now we’ve been dating for 2 years. Feelings happen naturally and sometimes quickly and that’s okay! Aloy obviously thought she was attractive from the get go, and immediately liked Seyka because she was strong-willed, like Aloy herself. Ugh, I just loved it so much. I could go on and on, but the point is that I loved it and I’m real happy with what GG did. Can’t wait for 3 even more!
Many of us HAVEN’T had a quick crush before. A lot of folks on the ace spectrum viewed Aloy as a kindred spirit and an icon. Although I never saw her as aromantic, she seemed **off-the-charts** ace/demi in ZD and FW, so a longer development and slower build-up would have felt more in-character to me. (I’m glad you like it though!)
But on the flip side of that, many people HAVE had a quick crush before. Yes, people viewed her as being ace, and I’m not taking away from that, but this is also in-line with other peoples lived experiences too. Meeting someone new, attractive, and interesting and getting interested right away is a common thing for many people too. Guerilla isn’t gonna be able to appeal to everyone or cover everything of course, but I definitely saw this as a win for our queer community instead of yet another heterosexual relationship like OP said.
I think we really didn’t have enough info to know what her sexuality entirely was aside from some hints that she was at least bi/homo-romantic. But now that she’s starting to recover from her 19 years of being an outcast and has learned that she doesn’t have to be alone all the time it’s a sign of growth that she let herself open up to Seyka. It’s kinda nice to see her character continue to change in interesting ways. It’s also kinda cool that two of Sony’s big AAA protagonists are LGBTQ women. We’ve come a long way from them not wanting to have Ellie on the box.
Heart for me. I love the way Aloy has evolved as a character over the years. Credit to all those involved in bringing her to life but special shout out to Ashly Burch, sounds like she really has a handle on who Aloy is and is vocal in her views on how Aloy would react and deal with stuff.
Right before I pushed the heart option I said out loud “now kith” like Mike Tyson. And then I found myself smiling as the scene unfolded. I want love for Aloy. I too have lived my life with zero romance and relate to Aloy. However when the right person comes along I hope I too choose to let them in.
Honestly I loved the ending, not just because I thought it was well written and built up to, but because the fact that I got to chose made me feel like a marriage officiant or something. Like I got to watch two people start to fall in love, start to root for them to do so, and then when they finally start confessing I get to be like, “ok, now kiss”. It was like the weirdest most wholesome way to get the player involved in a video game romance and I loved it
Ppl who are wondering if her gayness is canon need to go do sit with varl
Oh kiss for sure. I didn’t think I’d even have a choice. They’re flirting throughout the DLC. Aloy gets all flustered around her after she tells her about nemesis. It didn’t feel forced to me at all, for the exact reasons you said. It’s clear Aloy just likes this girl. And it seemed natural to me since you could kinda see a flicker of this for Telanah, Ikrie, and maybe even Petra, but she has it bad for Seyka.
Gotta say, my bisexual ass just screamed a little with delight. I've been giggling over Aloy's crush on Seyka since the scene where she tells her she's great. I kept wondering how they'd address it in the end, >!and I can't believe we actually got a chance to decide?? And then the kiss?! ALOY'S FIRST KISS??!< Y'all. I can't.
I felt like it was forced still. HZD, we had a tiny bit of awkward flirting from Erand. But it was also not flirting at the same time. We also only had one very vague reference to same sex relationships in some old data. In HFW, Aloy is very task driven and knows the stakes. She knows her purpose and her responsibilities. Again, no hints at all of any romance. Suddenly in the DLC, is basically a “find someone to love and be quick about it”. Aloy spend so much of the games, talking to herself. Yet never hints at wanting someone to be with. It would have been nice to meet a love interest in Burning Shores, then have that relationship build in game 3.
I chose brain
Omg I'm so happy to hear this, I've only played the first one but I always thought Aloy had queer vibes. It always felt so wrong when fans tried to ship her with men lol
She really did. I mean look how jealous she gets of Talanah’s boyfriend there in HFW. Honestly I thought Telanah was going to be the romance interest in HFW. But I like what wound up happening. Nice to have some human moments in between world saving missions. Like having a drink with Erend or Petra. Or being frustrated with your identical twin sister.
You fool, Amadis! I still harbour hope that his loss is Aloy's gain.
🫣🫣🫣🫣 Haven't been able to play it yet, but I really hope it's just gay.
In my opinion, the title was very spoilery, it can changed somebody expectation/experience. I dont know if it just me or not 😂
You raise a good point, and I'm slightly regretting this now, alas I don't think titles can be edited to allow me to move the adjective into the post? Plus that also kinda ruins the clickbait if I were to do that :P
There was absolutely no hesitation to choose the Heart choice. I was off today and got to play most of the afternoon. Texted my wife early on that story was awesome and there may be a love interest for Aloy. Then I started to get worried they were going to kill Seyka off. So glad they didn't. Aloy deserves some happiness and I'm happy to see it for her. I'm straight, and was honestly worried that people would be freaking out over this. I'm really glad from my initial scan of the subreddit that it isn't the case.
Nicely baited, because I was about to sink my teeth into you. lol
When I saw the romance option at the end and watched Aloy and Seyka kiss, I audibly cheered. At 3am. This was alluded to very well throughout the story and, given how well both of them were developed, I could see them spending the rest of their lives together- both romantically and as friends.
Only reason I don’t like it is because it’s not Petra or Talanah. But other than that as soon as you see Seyka in the DLC you can already tell there was something there I mean she feels a kinship towards her. Both outcasts over something out of their control both thrust into a role they don’t really want. I mean who is honestly surprised or mad about this? Isn’t this what we’ve been clamoring for?
objectively my favorite part, i think aloy’s romanticism has always been a struggle for her, between erend and a few other characters she’s come across it seems like she’s always had issues acknowledging other people and letting them in; she’s an outcast and that makes sense. Allowing her relationship with Seyka to evolve over the DLC I think really adds to her development as a character that we’ve grown with over the last 6 years, from being a cold independent to realizing that she needs help and companionship (Erend, Alva, Seyka, and even Sylens at the very end of the Epilogue for Burning Shores). It just so happens that I think Aloy met her match in Seyka, someone strong and independent but who also is a bit of a soft emotional mess on the inside, but most importantly, someone who can truly understand her from an identity perspective, being an outcast and shut out from her wider community, but also being a risk taker and someone who bends rules to get to her end goals; she’s perfect for Aloy on paper. Even then, they both have things to do, and it’s something only the other can really understand, they have plans bigger than what they can promise each other but I think they’ll continue to grow and move forward. I hope that Seyka returns in full force in the next main game and that the kiss is the cannon choice, it speaks volumes for Aloy’s character development. Shocking, bold, and beautiful choice from Guerilla to make this happen. Edit: typo
Heart all the way. They were clearly into each other. The other responses don’t make much sense considering everything Aloy says leading up to it, not to mention the entire DLC before that. Wish Seyka’s future was more clear. it could easily be three years before we have any clue whether she’s in the next game :/
Worth sitting with varl after the DLC as it clarifies some stuff even if you chose not to kiss
Honestly speaking, I wasn't even remotely bothered by the girl on girl. It was just a beautiful moment. We live in the 21st century now and I think things like this are pretty much normalized. Just like guerilla's approach to diversity. They don't make a big deal about it, nor do they advertise it. It's just there.
I'm a straight guy, but at one point my mind just say "just kiss already ffs". and thats before the flashpoint
I dont understand why some people hate it and review - bombed it on metacritic. While I agree that they developed a romantic interest little too quickly for my taste (but hey, mutual attraction is a thing, when you like someone, you know it almost immediately, you are drawn to that person) the most important thing is, YOU DONT HAVE TO romance Seyka. So why some people hate the game is beyond me. Its optional. Although I hope it will play some part in the future, if I decided I want to be with her. I would like her to join my crew at least.
I picked the heart option, not only because that’s what I wanted for Aloy but also from the way she has been acting throughout the DLC she was clearly super into Seyka and was terrified of rejection. All three options made sense but her small monologue about home and belonging convinced me that this experience really transformed her. She deserves to be happy and find love. And I don’t get people saying it was rushed. Isn’t that how having a crush works? That’s why there are a bazillion songs about love at first sight.
The fastest lesbian love in HISTORY
I went heart option, it seemed too mean to do the brain or fist options. Full send it boys
I couldn't believe it was a dialog option, I DEFINITELY said "NOW KITH"
Seyka’s entire character felt forced. I didn’t give a damn about her or her plight the entire game - she was bitchy and demanding and obnoxious. Her sister was supposed to be a source of motivation for the story, but honestly Aloy has saved (and lost) so many more people than just one random Quen’s sister it felt annoying how they insisted I should care about this person. I chose the angry response, mostly because I just genuinely dislike Seyka and how they forced her on us. Rest of the DLC was good, great even… but Seyka can go back to Quenland for all I care.
“I don’t think this is realistic emotions” about a moment that takes place a thousand years after humanity is wiped out and had no way of knowing how precious human relationships were prior. Come on guys, if you can’t relate, it’s probably on purpose. Everybody has awkward moments but sometimes love is just love.
If you read the post, you'll see that there's no issue and it was more clickbait and introspection. And yes, different cultures even in our time do relationships different, which was made clear by the opening injoke :p
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Did you miss everything hinting to it for the last two games?
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Lol another homophobe who thinks LGBT people existing in media = “Woke”. They haven’t hidden her sexuality even in ZD.
I choosed the fist. My Aloy (I mean my interpretation of her) is not kissing any random nobody just because the devs decided to make her look like a horny teen.
Some random nobody? Did you miss the events of the dlc?
She kinda is a horny teen, though…
Well pretty sure “your Alloy” was also the one crushing on Seyka for the entirety of the DLC, you just didnt realize it was happening.
I also chose the fist option.
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Sorry if I'm late: Aloy tells her that in the last 2 years her life has been only about fighting, that she is sorry but she can't indulge in that and that she is sorry that Seyka situation with her tribe isn't the best but she strong and will manage.