In an interview with Jordan Middler of VCG, the narrative director of Horizon Forbidden West, Ben McCaw, and lead writer on the Guerrilla Games title Annie Kitain spoke on a number of topics ranging from the future of the Horizon series as well as the latest DLC installment in the series, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores.
Note: The following contains spoilers for both Horizon Forbidden West and Burning Shores.
When speaking on Burning Shores McCaw noted that he couldn’t “recall when exactly it was certain that we [Guerrilla Games] were doing DLC, but it was kind of always in the back of our minds.” Speaking from a narrative perspective Kitain said it was really exciting to continue the story of Aloy past the end of Forbidden West.
She goes from being someone who at the start of Forbidden West is trying to put the burden of saving the world entirely on herself, to by the end of it [being] someone who’s able to accept her friends and accept Beta as her sister. So having that be the foundation of where we take her character next was just a really exciting opportunity for us.
Annie Kitain – Lead Writer on Horizon Forbidden West
Speaking on the introduction of Seyka to Aloy’s story McCaw said “What we really wanted to make sure with Seyka was that Aloy had met her match, that it was someone that she could really respect on a whole new level. So it had to be someone who really grabbed her attention.” The optional kiss between Aloy and Seyka at the end of the DLC led to a lot of online homophobic backlash that resulted in the Metacritic score for the game getting review bombed. Speaking on the homophobic backlash both Kitain and McCaw mentioned that it was very easy to shut out that criticism.
We love getting feedback from our fans. We love it when they have constructive feedback about this or that. 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. But overall, we’re just enormously pleased with the reaction, because I feel like when we’re making this, we worry over every detail, and then to see that we’re getting such a positive reaction is really great.
Ben McCaw – Narrative Director on Horizon Forbidden West
Speaking on the future of the Horizon Series McCaw said:
There is actually material in the Burning Shores about this. I mean, we really tried to drop some hints, particularly in the epilogue of the Burning Shores. We’re just so excited to embark on the next chapter and have the audience come along with us. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
Ben McCaw – Narrative Director on Horizon Forbidden West
