Aloy's sexuality (spoilers)

[Placenta Salad]

Now I'm not going to complain about Aloy being concluded as a lesbian (or perhaps bisexual?) during the events of the DLC. People here will argue that you can avoid that romance but it's obvious what the developers were trying to convey (even though Alva is already representing the lesbian ladies) and that it's going to be treated as canon in Horizon 3. I already predicted that at some point during the franchise, as is usually the case with any game that has a playable female character, that she'd be announced as a lesbian so I'm not surprised. But if we have to represent every group and orientation equally . . . then where's the gay men? Notice how they're always excluded but lesbians are everywhere, perhaps because they can be more easily sexualized? It should be insulting to people.

What's mostly odd to me is just the pacing of it. Aloy is a well-loved and respected woman ever since proving herself in the first game, and has come to meet and be rather familiar with a variety of people between both genders. One of the very first decisions in this game is when Sun-King Avad propositions Aloy with an offer of residing together after her journey, to which you can respond positively, negatively, or neutrally just like with Seyka in the DLC. But this is such pointless dialogue after the events of the DLC, particularly if you respond positively to Avad, and it makes me wonder why it was even included. Either it wasn't initially planned that Aloy would be made to kiss Seyka in the DLC and they quickly decided on it for those bonus woke points, or they perhaps planned for Aloy to get to choose between multiple potential partners and then scraped that idea in favor of the above.

Varl seemed to have thrown some signals Aloy's way before meeting Zo, and obviously Erend was into Aloy as well. Even the big chick Petra who became the defacto leader of Chainscrape was obviously into Aloy just to name a few potential romances.

So she meets Seyka on a beach and it's somehow a "love at first sight" type of thing? They spend what amounts to maybe a few days or a week together hunting down the last Zenith and Aloy suddenly decides that her home is with Seyka?

It's a bit hamfisted and seems like it was a rushed decision because they wanted to give Aloy a happy ending and show that she is finally opening up to the idea of reciprocating somebody's love, mixed in with obvious virtue signaling for non-hetero relations as if heterosexuality is ever a thing in video games these days because any time there is a heterosexual couple, the dude dies (see: Varl) and the woman is once again left single.

We all know Seyka has become a major character after the DLC, and that she'll be in a third game as Aloy's girlfriend whether you wanted that choice or not. I enjoyed the first two games, but sadly, I don't think I'll play the third game if Seyka is involved.

[Ellis_Cake]

Well, this is a story about Aloy,
That is what horizon is. Its not a custom story about the player and their character - so it is up to everyone if they want to play a game about aloys story, or if they do not - in the end.

[MancSoulja]

Imagine writing all this and it not being satire, actually being mad because a drawing on the internet is gay 🤣

[Sphere]

". . . then where's the gay men?" I'm guessing you haven't done many side quests.

[a passerby]

On my first playthrough, I gradually accepted the "romance" story because of the circumstances surrounding Aloy. She's basically a young person inexperienced in romance, who saw many of her friends and even her "mother" in romantic relationships. It made sense to me that she would crave something for herself. I didn't really care about her sexuality.

But on my 2nd playthrough, I'm back to my original opinion, that is just too far out of character for the highly independent and introverted Aloy to be someone so suddenly upfront and overeager about her romantic feelings. There is a very clear disconnect between Aloy of the main story and Aloy of Burning Shores.

IMO, this plotline serves as an attempt at fan service. Seyka was not written to be her own character so much as she was written solely to be Aloy's love interest. I really don't think we'll be seeing much of Seyka, if at all, in the next game.

[medusatransducer]

Ngl when I first played Burning Shores on PS5 I didn't see it coming at all, and not in a good way. It wasn't developed at all in the first 2 games, felt like a tacked on decision. Didn't feel organic at all.

[Thornok]

she is no sex symbol, more like the saviour of the world .

[TH3R4BB!T]

All that was missing, is more moments of 'touching by accident' and a glance to each other to make it more real. Of course there are moments you see Aloy having doubts or something, but there was no chemistry in an other way than friends. The whole story felt like with Talanah, distant and more friendship like instead of romance like. Even the flying part when they are hugging each other... nothing like blushing or stutter while talking, or maybe nervous jabber

[TheAspieFox]

TL;DR, Seyka sucks. Aloy should get with Avad; they have way more chemistry.

[Bear^]

Maybe because they write the story out from Aloy's perspective and aren't really aiming to "represent" everyone in any way or form.

The relationship between Seyka and Aloy develops throughout the story, and they share a lot in common. I don't feel it's forced and I think it's rather sweet that Aloy comes out of her shell more and are comfortable enough to have an option to face it.

I don't feel it being forcefully added or need more developing. I personally hate stories where the creators try to keep people "in suspence" with the painfully obvious, then add it as a "shocking revelation" after a long time. Aloy meeting Seyka and grows fond of her fits perfectly in the span of a DLC.

[TasmańskiZwierz]

Originally posted by a passerby:

But on my 2nd playthrough, I'm back to my original opinion, that is just too far out of character for the highly independent and introverted Aloy to be someone so suddenly upfront and overeager about her romantic feelings. There is a very clear disconnect between Aloy of the main story and Aloy of Burning Shores.

IMO, this plotline serves as an attempt at fan service. Seyka was not written to be her own character so much as she was written solely to be Aloy's love interest. I really don't think we'll be seeing much of Seyka, if at all, in the next game.

Seems like you missed out entire Aloy's character developement that happened over course of HFW, and her gradual change of attidute towards people.
Fast recap for ya:

-she goes like "me and me alone" up to Death's Door, where she'd die weren't Varl follow her against her wishes;
-after this point, and restoring GAIA, she let a close inner circle of friends form around her;
-when she rescues Beta, she start to have deep troubles of Beta not being exacly like her, issue that is prevalent over course of game up to Cauldron GEMINI
-just before GEMINI she comes to conclusion that she cannot meansure others only by comparison to herself, neither should she do compare herself to Sobek
-this leds her to accept Beta as sister, and leds her to view people from different angle
-then, Varl dies, Beta get kidnapped, and Aloy barely survives thank to Tilda
-afterwards, she gets a new resolve and motivation to not only save Beta, but also to start actually teamworking instead of keeping people at arm's distance
-then, after Beta is rescued, they learn about Nemesis, and this also lead to Aloy's insight about things, and makes her finally embrace idea of working with people

Then, in Burning Shores:

-when Aloy meets Seyka, she is still conflicted between "go alone, allign with people only to further Mission" and "be open about everything"
-Seyka herself somewhat shares Aloy's character traits and situation regarding tribal indentity, which makes Aloy look at her as a kindred spirit, or soulmate
-both are intrigued with each other from very beginning
-Seyka is terrible lonely due to events concerning her tribal position, and Aloy only recently started to let herself to actually feel emotions instead of suppressing them
-they both have to rely on each other to achive their objectives, and see each other as hope for actually positive outcome of stuff
-they share quite a few emotional intense experiences (search for Seyka's sister, ambush at defensive turret, fight against brainwashed Quen at Londra's bunker, discovery at Pangea Park and fight there to save Kina, and final fight against Horus), that binds them together

In the end, Aloy's find in Seyka someone very like herself (and thats usually how loves start), while Seyka finds in Aloy someone who not only accepted her as she is (and praised her for that), but also person, who brought her hope and stood side to side with her when she was alone (which is also good starting point for love). They have chemistry with each other (look how they react to touch of one another when they are shaking hands in cutscenes), and they both sort things regarding them over time (if you go sit with Varl after each Burning Shore main quest, Aloy will confess that she have feelings toward Seyka which she try to sort out). And this can be addressed in choice in final quest finale - both Heart and Brain answers are fully plausible when you consider Aloy's character, and it's up to you to decide whenever you view her developement sufficent to actually make that kiss, or that she still needs time.

And I strongly disagree that Seyka was made purely as Aloy's romantic interest. If anything, she's more like an more aggresive, openly discontent and actually acting Alva, or Ikrie from Frozen Wilds.

[Hydra_360ci]

It's just another developer trying to shock their audience by catering to the minor minority who likely won't even buy their game.

I don't even like normal romance in games.. 'cause it's gringy as hell. But gay just to be edgy.. is 1000 times worse.

[oldeschool]

I chose they gay ending and got friend zoned, a hug and a kiss -- I went to a workbench to see if there was a quest toy to craft, but alas, no such thing , so that's it, I go gay and get a hug...

[Suzaku]

Originally posted by Hydra_360ci:

It's just another developer trying to shock their audience by catering to the minor minority who likely won't even buy their game.

I don't even like normal romance in games.. 'cause it's gringy as hell. But gay just to be edgy.. is 1000 times worse.

You might have a point... if it wasn't 100% the player's choice.

Just choose no. No shock, no catering, no "gringy", no gay, no edge.

[HoboCop]

Originally posted by Suzaku:

if it wasn't 100% the player's choice.

Player's choice doesn't matter. Canon for the next game is always set in advance. Your artificial freedom mean nothing and these kind of arguments are pointless.

[MockingjayRising]

Originally posted by TasmańskiZwierz:

Originally posted by a passerby:

But on my 2nd playthrough, I'm back to my original opinion, that is just too far out of character for the highly independent and introverted Aloy to be someone so suddenly upfront and overeager about her romantic feelings. There is a very clear disconnect between Aloy of the main story and Aloy of Burning Shores.

IMO, this plotline serves as an attempt at fan service. Seyka was not written to be her own character so much as she was written solely to be Aloy's love interest. I really don't think we'll be seeing much of Seyka, if at all, in the next game.

Seems like you missed out entire Aloy's character developement that happened over course of HFW, and her gradual change of attidute towards people.
Fast recap for ya:

-she goes like "me and me alone" up to Death's Door, where she'd die weren't Varl follow her against her wishes;
-after this point, and restoring GAIA, she let a close inner circle of friends form around her;
-when she rescues Beta, she start to have deep troubles of Beta not being exacly like her, issue that is prevalent over course of game up to Cauldron GEMINI
-just before GEMINI she comes to conclusion that she cannot meansure others only by comparison to herself, neither should she do compare herself to Sobek
-this leds her to accept Beta as sister, and leds her to view people from different angle
-then, Varl dies, Beta get kidnapped, and Aloy barely survives thank to Tilda
-afterwards, she gets a new resolve and motivation to not only save Beta, but also to start actually teamworking instead of keeping people at arm's distance
-then, after Beta is rescued, they learn about Nemesis, and this also lead to Aloy's insight about things, and makes her finally embrace idea of working with people

Then, in Burning Shores:

-when Aloy meets Seyka, she is still conflicted between "go alone, allign with people only to further Mission" and "be open about everything"
-Seyka herself somewhat shares Aloy's character traits and situation regarding tribal indentity, which makes Aloy look at her as a kindred spirit, or soulmate
-both are intrigued with each other from very beginning
-Seyka is terrible lonely due to events concerning her tribal position, and Aloy only recently started to let herself to actually feel emotions instead of suppressing them
-they both have to rely on each other to achive their objectives, and see each other as hope for actually positive outcome of stuff
-they share quite a few emotional intense experiences (search for Seyka's sister, ambush at defensive turret, fight against brainwashed Quen at Londra's bunker, discovery at Pangea Park and fight there to save Kina, and final fight against Horus), that binds them together

In the end, Aloy's find in Seyka someone very like herself (and thats usually how loves start), while Seyka finds in Aloy someone who not only accepted her as she is (and praised her for that), but also person, who brought her hope and stood side to side with her when she was alone (which is also good starting point for love). They have chemistry with each other (look how they react to touch of one another when they are shaking hands in cutscenes), and they both sort things regarding them over time (if you go sit with Varl after each Burning Shore main quest, Aloy will confess that she have feelings toward Seyka which she try to sort out). And this can be addressed in choice in final quest finale - both Heart and Brain answers are fully plausible when you consider Aloy's character, and it's up to you to decide whenever you view her developement sufficent to actually make that kiss, or that she still needs time.

And I strongly disagree that Seyka was made purely as Aloy's romantic interest. If anything, she's more like an more aggresive, openly discontent and actually acting Alva, or Ikrie from Frozen Wilds.

FINALLY someone gets it! the reason why she doesn't get with anyone (other than a few common ships just being a bad match) its all about timing and character growth, plus seyloy is so cute!

P.S. just because its gay doesn't mean it's 'pandering' or 'forced' it's just two people in love, nothing else to it