Horizon Forbidden West DLC gets review bombed by haters
It seems the fragile ego of the gaming world has been knocked again, as apparently, two women being in a happy relationship is too "woke" for 2023. The Horizon Forbidden West DLC has only just dropped, and already, it's being review bombed by exactly the kind of people you'd expect.
Despite Guerilla Games delivering a pair of absolute bangers with its Horizon games, Ashly Burch's Aloy has become a figure of hate. Unlike God of War's Kratos being a celebrated icon, Aloy is dragged across the coals - largely just for being a woman.
Why is Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores being review bombed?
Click to enlargeYou might remember when Horizon Forbidden West was released in 2022 and debuted to a slew of negative reviews. Although critics largely loved it, the general public slated the sequel for no reason and went as far as panning Aloy for having a "hairy" face.
As you can imagine, the haters have doubled down on antagonising Aloy, as the Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores DLC is being slapped with some of the worst scores we've seen. Over on Metacritic, Burning Shores has an abysmal 3.3/10 user score.
So, what have you said? Looking at the negativity, one wrote, "Stinky lgbt + ruined everything again, How long can you shove useless into games?" while another added, "Shame on you Guerrilla/Sony
you have destroyed the game with your agenda."
A third said, "Same-sex attraction is clearly the norm in the fictional world of Horizon, even to the point of giving Aloy a "trans-flag" war paint option (why the hell would there be a trans flag 1000 years in the future, exactly?)"
Others didn't even play and still had their thoughts. A fourth concluded, "They put on a lesbian dating just to please the woke culture. Aloy never showed signs of being a lesbian. Thanks, because because of that I didn't buy the DLC and saved my money. For me, the franchise died."
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores proves Metacritic has a problem
Click to enlargeDespite there being some general complaints about Burning Shores' graphics and combat - as well as it not being available on PS4 - the real beef here is that Aloy gets a love interest and shares a same-sex kiss with Kylie Liya Page's Seyka.
It's led to complaints about how Metacritic handles its review process and whether review bombing should be allowed. Some claim their reviews have been deleted, and they've had to reupload them, suggesting that Metacritic is trying to do something but is largely failing.
We already knew Aloy's genetic ancestor was a lesbian, while Sony has been proudly flying the LGBTQ+ flag in her honour. Still, that hasn't stopped Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores from being review bombed amidst complaints of a "political agenda."
Given that the pros have awarded it a glorious 82/100, it's clear there's a big divide here. It's a sad state of affairs that reminds us of when Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II was panned for same-sex romances and a transgender character.
We doubt Sony and Guerilla are bothered about pandering to those who have a problem with the LGBTQ+ community, but with tumbling review scores, it makes us question whether this could affect the bottom line and put a mythical Horizon 3 in danger.