When you thought that players may very well be regular about two queers sharing a passionate kiss in 2023, you then can be very unsuitable. Horizon Forbidden West’s new story DLC, Burning Shores, incorporates a scene during which Aloy can select to kiss a girl named Seyka, and it appears some PlayStation followers weren’t completely satisfied. Certainly, some gamers have been so offended at being given this selection that they mass review-bombed the DLC on Metacritic. Whereas the Metascore, which relies on critic’s evaluations, at the moment sits at an 82, the person rating is at simply 3.2.
Burning Shores is a DLC that, for technical causes, is barely obtainable on PlayStation 5s. It brings vital high quality of life enhancements comparable to simpler looting, although it’s apparently particulars just like the better-looking clouds that rendered it a PS5 unique. The replace additionally supplies gamers with the chance to have Aloy pursue a romantic relationship with somebody good, which has been a fan request for years. And I’m completely satisfied for her. Seyka looks like a pleasant woman, and Aloy deserves to confide in somebody after operating round and saving the world for 2 consecutive video games. The primary people who find themselves mad proper now are the homophobes, who seemingly can’t stand the considered any homosexual content material within the Horizon collection in any respect—even when whether or not or not Aloy acts on her emotions is totally non-compulsory.
The bar is on the ground, y’all. But it surely doesn’t cease bigots from operating face-first into it. Current gamers complained on Metacritic that “homosexuals” have been placing ahead a “soiled agenda” that “sabotaged” what might have been an attractive story. Practically all the evaluations with a “0” rating complained that they shouldn’t be compelled to see homosexual ladies exist on the earth of Horizon. One participant known as the sport “woke propaganda” for permitting Aloy to fall in love with somebody she simply met—as if that isn’t how human romantic attraction so typically works. “[Guerilla Games] retconned the primary character for LGBTQ nonsense,” bemoaned one other so-called fan who appears to have utterly missed that there have been sparks between Aloy and Petra in Horizon Zero Daybreak. “Aloy by no means confirmed indicators of being a lesbian,” complained one participant who appears to have performed a totally completely different recreation.
This isn’t the primary time {that a} PlayStation first-party franchise was attacked for that includes brazenly queer characters. This February, homophobes evaluate bombed The Final of Us on HBO as a result of they have been compelled to endure the insufferable sight of queer tenderness on tv. Hopefully with sufficient repeated publicity, players will come to understand that queer online game characters are right here to remain. As a result of tradition is transferring on, both with or with out them.