Horizon Forbidden West's devs found it "pretty easy to ignore" the backlash against Aloy's kiss with Seyka in Burning Shores.
April saw the Burning Shores DLC finally launch for Horizon Forbidden West, and towards the end of the expansion, the player can have Aloy share an optional kiss with companion Seyka. While some were overjoyed with the moment, others took to review aggregate site Metacritic to review bomb the DLC.
Now though, Guerrilla's narrative and writing staff have said they're not fussed about the negative attention. "We're always looking to make something that’s compelling, something that’s emotionally engaging, so for people who have actually played the game, we were always interested in hearing about those experiences and those thoughts and feedback," lead writer Annie Kitain told VGC in an interview.
"But for people who didn’t play the game, or who are just trying to be negative online, we find that pretty easy to ignore," Kitain continued. It's a relief that the vocal minority isn't taking a toll on the development team at Guerrilla Games.
"We love it when they have constructive feedback about this or that," said narrative lead Ben McCraw of fan feedback. "And we’re perfectly happy when they say they don’t like this or that, with regard to virtually any aspect of the game that they’ve really thought about."
"But yeah, when there's just this kind of blatant negativity, I personally find it pretty easy to just compartmentalise and realise that this is a mindset I can never really jive with, and that sort of thing," the narrative lead on Horizon Forbidden West continued.
Overall though, McCraw says Guerrilla is "enormously pleased with the reaction." The developer explains the studio worries over every little detail when crafting a brand new story, and to see a overall positive reaction to the finished product is a nice end result.
In the aftermath of the review bombing, Metacritic promised stricter moderation for user reviews, to prevent review bombing over non-issues in the future. Elsewhere, Guerrilla has confirmed Aloy's adventures will continue as they look towards the next game in the Horizon series.
Check out our extensive upcoming PS5 games guide for a look ahead at all the other exclusives in store for the new-gen console.
