horizontober 2023 | 15: train (watch out grazer training dummies!)

(bonus below the cut)

I finished HFW: Burning Shores and I have some thoughts below the cut, but be warned, there's spoilers

First things first I liked the story and I like how it ties in with the story of the base game. The new map was pretty, though it felt a little, hm, empty for its size. I am a bit disappointed by the new machines, mainly because the new machines in Frozen Wilds were so fucking cool so this felt somewhat underwhelming (and my god, the bileguts are a pain to fight, I hate fighting any machine that launches at me like that (looking at you, clamberjaws)). Diving with the waterwing is fun, but other than the one quest that needed me to use it underwater, I haven't really used the feature much.

What I actually wanted to talk about though was the romance storyline. Aloy is incredibly cute when she gets a little crush and I greatly enjoyed watching her like that, and man, she sure knows how to pick 'em - Seyka is SO pretty! Not gonna lie though, I'm a little sad about the development because Aloy has been dear to me as an aroace and I've always headcanoned her as such, so I'm a bit sad at having to let that go (not that my headcanon can't still exist, but it's still different after having canon confirm something else, and I liked playing the games without her showing interest in anyone, that felt really nice and validating).

Also, I've seen articles discuss it like "Burning Shores adds what Forbidden West was lacking" and "Burning Shores finally adds the romance Aloy needed" in reference to that development, and hoo boy that sure pisses me off. I can't stand the way it's framed as something negative that she never showed interest in anyone before and that it's something this DLC finally "fixed". Sometimes, it's easy to forget that most people don't even know aromanticism exists, and things like these bring me back to reality in a very unpleasant way.

I don't really know how to end this post, I just had a few thoughts and while I'm certainly pleasantly surprised by this development, I can't help but feel a sense of loss too, and I wanted to try putting that into words, but I don't feel like I've done a very good job, haha.