#hfw:bs

I don’t even personally ship Seyloy if that’s what you’re mad about 😂

Anyway you’ve missed the point of what I said there entirely. So allow me explain!

Tl;dr: Seyka’s stubbornness and drive is harsh like Aloy’s, Talanah’s isn’t (and Ikrie isn’t a companion so she didn’t have the same impact), they are different, and I thought narratively that Seyka’s would have had a bigger impact than it did.

This is what I said in literally the next line: “Aloy got to see what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that instead of the perpetrator.”

I said at first I thought Seyka’s character was created to act as a mirror of Aloy, (with the similar personality traits, both mission driven, finding a focus and younger sister rescue) so that Aloy could experience firsthand how she has previously acted towards others with her own drive and stubbornness making her leave them behind and letting her know how that felt from an outside perspective. Let’s be honest, Aloy can he harsh at times because of her mission and weight of it and that comes across in her drive, we’ve seen companions like Varl and Erend comment on this before. Seyka was written to be the same way. She’s quite brash and rude at times towards Aloy, whereas no other companion has been to that extent before. She’s not afraid to snap at Aloy.

I believed as the dlc went on that Aloy would have an epiphany moment - since Varl isn’t there to explain these things to her anymore - like “oh damn this is how they all felt”, further pushing Aloy towards letting people in and changing her mentality to be more open in H3, and in turn helping Seyka open up too. It was her whole character arc in HFW so I assumed it would continue into the dlc. BUT, that isn’t what happened sadly. It was romance coded instead.

As the DLC went on, I clicked that Seyka was written to be our first love interest, and not her own character like all the other companions. And I’ll stand by that conclusion. People can all argue until the cows come home that Seyka’s her own character, but this is my opinion and I don’t think she is right now, 90% of her character is Aloy’s recycled, mashed up with everything we’d seen from our previous companions to make her this “all rounder”, and it’s just not as good. Which is why the character mirror theme would’ve made more sense to me narratively. (It’s also why I can’t ship it, I think they’d clash long term. Too similar ya know?Anyway, I’m off topic.)

Aloy is pushed into the supporting role at times with Seyka, which is jarring to us as the players. (That might also account for why I felt like a major third wheel the entire main plot of the dlc lol, I didn’t feel like I was in Aloy’s place anymore, but I digress).

In regards to Talanah and Ikrie, Talanah is a huge positive force from the get go in HZD, her banter is cheerful, and she willingly helps Aloy. There’s no real pushback in HFW after a brief conversation (eg. Talanah agrees to go back when she’s hurt, whereas Aloy tries to push onward until she’s physically forced to stop by her wounds after the Hades proving lab), Talanah’s stubbornness and drive is admirable but it is different from Aloy’s and that’s just fact. Ikrie is a DLC side character (not a companion ergo she won’t have the same impact on the story) that I genuinely don’t remember much of so I can’t comment there, but I know even she didn’t act like Seyka does towards Aloy, (which as I said before, comes across a little rude at times).

I genuinely hope that clears things up for you about what I meant from that line.

I was trying to be positive in my wording in that review, so that anons, such as yourself, didn’t jump down my throat for “not liking Seyka or Seyloy” since discourse was rampant then. But as always people find something to be mad at! 😂

But a word of advice if I may? Clearly you prefer Talanah and Ikrie for Aloy, or as characters in general, which is fine. Ships ahoy! But ships aren’t the be all and end all of fandoms nor should they be, and this game is so much more than ship discourse and I’d hate to see it reduced to such now that romance has been confirmed in whatever extent that may be, it’s a phenomenal game series and I could write about the themes and narrative behind it (or potential themes lol) until my fingers bleed. I didn’t like Seyloy because it didn’t make sense to me narratively, not because “omg a new girl kissed Aloy and my ship is now dead nooo wahhh”. Some people like Seyka and/or Seyloy, some people don’t, and I’m indifferent to it all mostly. And that is ALL okay (as long as you’re not like, one of those homophobes who tanked the reviews of course because of it).

And it’s not really surprising to me at all now that I’ve gone over it properly, and I’d love other WLW’s input as well!

It’s simple: there’s no main female companions aside from maybe Talanah (which as we’ve seen is the biggest f/f ship in Horizon) and even she was sidelined in HFW (I think it was due to covid complications but still such a shame)

Think about it, we have awesome female characters but there’s always barriers that prevent ships from properly forming, let me walk through it:

Talanah - a fan favourite, who was sidelined in HFW and was chasing after Amadis anyway (aka a relationship block)

Petra - she’s around and flirty but we never linger with her for long, we’re off doing quests for her instead of with her.

Ikrie - DLC side character that we never hear from again, need I say more?

Alva - a companion, but she’s in an established relationship and arrived a lot later in game.

Zo - again, a companion but in a relationship with Varl and now pregnant.

Whereas the male companions are in abundance and we spend more time with them on quests without a blockage:

Varl - A companion we spent a quest with in HZD and in HFW we spend a lot of time with him at the start (until his relationship establishment) and Gemini.

Erend - A companion we’ve probably spent the most time with across both games, many quests he’s involved with and/or follows you on.

Avad - spent some time with him, he was an important figure in HZD with a clear interest in Aloy.

Nil - All the bandit camp quests we do alongside him on HZD and the races in HFW.

Kotallo - Again, spent a lot of time with him on quests in HFW with no relationship block put in place.

TL;DR All in all I enjoyed the DLC, there were many highlights and interesting moments throughout as well as pitfalls, and I appreciated the option to not rush Aloy romantically if the player was so inclined.

Spoilers ahead of course!

Graphics 10/10

Goes without saying the graphics and motion capture of the cutscenes were phenomenal. The faces alone had so many micro expressions! I enjoyed this aspect in HFW as well, but Guereilla stepped it up even more! The environment exploration was gorgeous too.

Main Story 7/10

It had some good moments and some questionable moments, just like HFW’s main plot did. Some of Aloy’s dialogue felt really off to me at times. Lots of telling, not showing what I as the player am supposed to feel on Aloy’s behalf.

Seyka is an okay character but not my favourite companion. I assumed at first that her role was to act as a mirror of Aloy, which is backed up by Aloy projecting herself onto Seyka upon meeting her, after she was - to a much lesser extent than Aloy with no true consequence - ostracised from her tribe for finding a focus and Aloy wants to help her in the way that she never got. Seyka’s stubbornness and drive rivals Aloy’s which isn’t something she’s really faced with a companions before, so Aloy got to see what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that instead of the perpetrator. I won’t go into the criticisms for the romance or comments other people have made about her, this isn’t the post for that. The actress did a great job bringing Seyka to life and I think that’s worth something regardless of personal feelings on the matter.

The aspect of the missing Quen and the discovery of the ascension cult was interesting, given what we know of their tribe and worshipping Ancestors, it didn’t surprise me at all that they would be the easiest to sway to Londra’s plan. Aloy reciting that phrase to Ascend will forever be the funniest part of that quest. She recited it like cheap theatre, kudos to Ashly Burch for that delivery, it made me laugh!

I enjoyed the atmosphere of the Pangea theme park. All the neon holos and learning more of Londra’s plan and what happened in the past with his wife Evelyn were cool. The part with the MSP discovery was disturbing in the best way, when Aloy finds out she killed mind controlled people, oof. Hit me. (The MSP was a little far fetched but hey, the Zeniths were in general, so it fits).

On Londra, while he had some caricature-esc villain vibes, like all the Zenith’s did to an extent par Tilda, when it came to the final Horus battle he did creep me out a bit. When he’s searching for you in the grass with the corrupters lurking around, very tense. “Are you frightened, Aloy?” “Where are you?” “I’ll find you” etc. You could feel the pressure.

Speaking of, the Horus battle was epic! This Horus wasn’t even remotely close to full power (otherwise Aloy and Seyka wouldn’t have stood a chance let’s be honest, there were only two of them), and it was still devastating in its destruction. I think the way they handled the fight was great, and once you make your way into the Horus and have to fight Londra, the atmosphere was intense and exciting.

Now the final scene with Seyka... I picked the brain option aka “I’m not ready for this yet”, and I thought the writing was perfect for that option. I’ve seen the heart one online, and while I personally didn’t think Aloy was there yet, in her story (given she was just getting used to friendship and hugs at the end of HFW), it was still a heartwarming option and seemed to set up romance as an option for Horizon 3, which is exciting in and of itself. Our girl is growing emotionally and learning how to deal with people! I haven’t tested the fist option yet, so can’t comment on that one.

The Epilogue was a little emotional for me. It’s officially the last time we’re gonna hear Lance Reddick’s voice as Sylens. Bittersweet in its way when he thanked Aloy for her extraordinary contributions. As always, he delivered a stellar performance, Sylens remains a very interesting character that you love and hate at the same time. You’ll be missed Lance.

Side quests 6/10

There was one that stood out for me and that was Gildun’s quest! He’s a fun character and provides comic relief, it was nice to see him again after meeting him in Frozen Wilds. The final scene was sweet, I’m glad Aloy gave him a focus and a hug!

The other Quen side quests were… okay? Nothing major to note, but still interesting enough to play once. Lots of betrayal and greed going on.

But the new Cauldron? Fabulous. It was like something out of a space bug sci-fi, I really enjoyed it. The moving platform above the lava was a nice touch as well. It kept the theme of the Cauldrons while being unique in its own way!

Collectibles 5/10

The Aerial audios were new, we often see the vistas as the pre-apocalypse world, but this time we saw the destruction in progress.

The delvers trinkets were fun! I enjoyed following the map to find the treasure, and slowly piercing together what happened to them.

The toy bow was a fun little addition, I couldn’t help but picture Aloy giving it to Beta upon her return so that she can practice! I do wish it had been involved in a quest however and not just randomly found in a box in a ruin.

Other notes:

I found a scroll written by Ritakka, confirming she was on the Tenakth expedition to the Burning Shores and it mentioned Fashav!

Brin’s motifs we’re cool, but a shame we didn’t see him in person, I wonder if he’ll appear again in Horizon 3.

The notes left behind by our companions upon our return were a nice inclusion, as much as I wish they were still around it was nice to know their next steps in what I assume will be the time jump between now and Horizon 3.

I found Kotallo, Zo and Erend’s ones to be particularly interesting:

We find out that Avad is hosting an embassy IN Meridian which is so cool, and knowing that Kotallo will definitely see Aloy’s statue is hilarious to me.

Erend also handing out focuses to our Meridian companions is exciting too! Talanah will finally get a focus, and hopefully a few others. I hope we get to visit The Claim in Horizon 3 but I’m uncertain, sounds like Erend is going ahead.

I picked the brain option aka “I’m not ready for this” just because, for me, Aloy was just learning how to make and accept friends at the end of HFW and I felt romance was a bit too sudden for her regardless of who it would’ve been, and the dialogue did not disappoint, it was written perfectly! Exactly where I thought she was mentally. Regardless the dialogue about home made me tear up.

It’s set up for romance in Horizon 3 which will be enough of a time jump to actually kick off romance.

Again, this is just my opinion of where I think Aloy is at currently in her arc, I’ve seen others post the kiss option and Aloy’s beaming face is precious. I haven’t tested the fist option yet.

But honestly all the outrage I’ve been seeing, after sitting down and playing it myself, it is blown way out of proportion, like many fandom dramas are!