Horizon: Burning Shores Taking Flak for Romance Plot [UPDATE]
The Burning Shores DLC for last year's Horizon: Forbidden West, released a few days ago, was met with an unexpected wave of criticism. The reason turned out to be a certain romance present in the plot.
Update
In information provided to Eurogamer, representatives of Metacritic reported that they are aware of the practice of issuing offensive reviews for Horizon: Burning Shores. They also announced that they are currently working on:
"[...] developing of processes and tools to implement stricter moderation in the coming months."
Original post [April 21, 2023].
SPOILER WARNING
This message contains spoilers regarding the events of the Burning Shores DLC for Horizon: Forbidden West.
A couple of days ago, the Burning Shores DLC arrived on virtual store shelves - a large, story expansion for the great Horizon: Forbidden West. The new chapter of Aloy's adventures met with a warm reception from critics, as evidenced by the high average press ratings on Metacritic.
Unfortunately, the release of the DLC was also not without controversy. This is because Burning Shores fell victim to review bombing from part of the community. One of the main reasons for players' dissatisfaction turned out to be the homosexual romantic plot between the main character and her companion..
A flood of bad reviews
When browsing the negative reviews, issued by users of Metacritic, it's hard not to notice a certain underlying theme. Developed in the DLC's plot, the love relationship between Aloy and her companion Seyka proved extremely frustrating for a certain group of players.. They found an outlet for their negative emotions in the ratings and comments section, which was quickly filled with posts full of prejudice and hatred, such as:
"Unbelievable embarrassment. Another lesbian protagonist with super stupid dialogue lines. Thanks Sony! [...]," wrote Its_My_Alias
"Four hours of lesbian LGBT bu****t. No matter how I enjoyed Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, I will NEVER spend money on this brand again. Goodbye!," wrote JuanRaul13
"Oh brother, this DLC reeks!!! For the record, the "woke" culture hits big in this DLC," PrChewii
The flood of negative reviews of the DLC has brought its current average player rating on the website to a mere 2.7. By comparison, the basic version of the game received a score of 8.0 while the first part of the game is already scored at around 8.4. It is worth remembering, however, that the rating of Burning Shores represents an averaging of 1151 reviews (the score of the base game is already an average of almost 10,000 individual ratings). This score is therefore subject to change over the coming weeks.
It is worth recalling that this is not the first time the series from Guerrilla Games has come under criticism for rather strange reasons. Last year we saw waves made among the gaming community by the controversy related to... the hairiness of the main protagonist.
Constructive criticism and reception of the DLC
Unsubstantive comments related to the presence of a homosexual plot in the game are the domain of a minority. A large proportion of players and critics were inclined to an constructive discussion regarding the actual quality of Burning Shores.
Among the merits cited is first and foremost an ambitious plot, which was enriched by interestingly written characters. Also praised were new mechanics, diversifying the gameplay known from the base game.
Disadvantages, on the other hand, were pointed out, among others, poor balancing of boss fights and the length of the DLC itself (about 4 hours). Owners of older consoles also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that, in pursuit of visual novelties, the PlayStation 4 edition of the DLC was abandoned.
