Horizon: Zero Dawn Sets A New Standard For Representation In Games

We’ve only seen about ten weeks of 2017, and yet Horizon: Zero Dawn has sealed itself as one of the year’s biggest games. Guerilla’s massive open world sci-fi hunting adventure is topping the sales charts, blowing up with critics, and turning heads across the gaming space. Yet by classic gaming standards, it never should've been a hit.

[chrisx]

Aloy is a total Badass

[PixelGateUk]

Representing the ginger fam

[Imalwaysright]

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[MVGeneral]

Yeah, shes always calm her voice and shes witty, and sarcastic. Makes these comments to herself. Gives the character life, shes like the female Drake.

[UCForce]

She is total badass.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Agreed xD

[TWB]

This is probably not a popular opinion, but I feel that her past doesnt really reflect well in her current character. (not really spoilers) Pretty much all interaction she had as a kid was with her foster father, so I would expect that aspect to show up in her dialog, but she's socially butter smooth. Havent played through the game yet, so I dont know if this somehow plays a part in the story/character later on.

Tbh, more social awkwardness would have been pretty endearing.

[Vizigoth04]

I agree totally 100%. I've always felt proud playing a female character. As long as she actually possessed character. Not just a character model. But I also enjoy playing as Nathan Drake because again there is actual character in the person. I just like to enjoy great games though. I dislike though how some random critic chants Horizon Zero Dawn as some successful feminist agenda. An agenda that subconsciously promotes segregation. -Proud husband and father of two girls and a boy. Gamer for life.

[earlygreenway]

I have to finish Zelda before I can dig into this game. But i'm very excited to.

[joab777]

Do not make the mistake I did and try to play both. It won't work.

[GrubsterBeater]

I made the mistake of trying to play Horizon: Zero Dawn, Zelda, and Nier: Automata at the same time....

I am such a fool...

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

That's the same thing I was doing. Trying to play both. BIG MISTAKE. I'm playing though Zelda then going back to Horizon.

[GrubsterBeater]

@BLK

My strategy is playing Nier or Horizon in the morning before work, and then when I get home, I play Zelda in bed while my girl watches Netflix. It's a good strategy so far. Lol

[thorstein]

but....according to many articles you're not allowed (or is it supposed) to play both games! EEEEK!

Definitely a blast. I am as immersed as I was when playing Skyrim.

[joab777]

No kidding! This game is absurdly good!

[MVGeneral]

Yeah the story and world draws you in. The game play makes you stay.

[Nodoze]

The level of detail on offer here is simply astounding. I am about 30 hours in and am STILL finding stuff that amazes me. Absolutely the best game I have played in a long long time.

[joab777]

Yes! I'll admit at first I was awestruck by its 4k glory, but it didn't grab me. But as I have been playing I've been getting more and more immersed and now I am hooked. I started playing Zelda too and I think that kinda ruined it at first because of the nostalgia, but as I kept playing, I only wanted to play Horizon because of the combat and story. I'll go back to Zelda, but the combat and strange difficulty really stand out when playing Horizon. I'll probably just finish on mobile because Zelda is the GREATEST mobile game ever made!!!!

It's kinda like lock on was a great evolution but Horizon takes it a step further for me because it's so damn fluid. I love that it isn't lock on!

[_-EDMIX-_]

As of right now this is one of the best new intellectual properties I've played since God of War in 2005.

Don't get me wrong there's lots of new intellectual properties which I've played over the years which I've adored and really cared for but this is the first new intellectual property I played and such a long time that was almost difficult to describe all the areas in which they've done a good job.

I remember back in 2005 when we were all trying to categorize what and where God of War was I remember reading magazines describing it similar to Prince of Persia but also like an RPG but also like Devil May Cry lol

I'm getting that vibe from Horizon zero Dawn or people want to put it in the category of Assassin's Creed Witcher Far Cry and what that tells me is the game is doing so many things correct that it's difficult to people to come to a consensus on kind of where it fits.

Maybe that's sort of a good thing because when that happened with God of War I think many people realized that it's on comparable that God of War is its own thing and so is Horizon zero Dawn.

Many people will have lots of comparisons to what they think Horizon zero Dawn is like a similar to God of War when it first released, but my only recommendation to people who haven't purchased it is pick it up and play it for yourself.

The pacing and the structure and the design of the world is just simply amazing.

All the areas have their own tribes , have their own settings , and own creature types to justify the existence of those areas.

The cities in between these large areas help the pacing that you never really feel too far away from a safe town.

They've designed the world in a way that even though it is very large I don't really feel that it is overbearing. I feel that easily over time I could understand the geographical area in the way they set up the waypoints allows me to view the area the way somebody would if they were naturally going through there as opposed to glued on a map.

They've done so many things great with this game that I believe this series is already among the top tier of RPGs and just an extremely short amount of time

The fact that it's in the conversation of The Witcher and Zelda mean quite a lot.

How many new intellectual properties have really released where they were so good that they were being compared to the absolute Kings of the genre?

[thejigisup]

What he said

[SardoNumspa]

"Yet by classic gaming standards, it never should've been a hit."

It is sickening to see the SJWs that infest the gaming media trying to hijack this game.

They are actually trying to pretend that a female lead character is some sort of 'victory' for themselves.

[MrDead]

I find the anti SJW, anti feminism and anti LGBT just as bad as the the people they moan about, you're both as annoying as each other.

[UCForce]

Which I why I don't fight with SJW or neither Anti SJW. They are both worthless to me anyway.

[mkis007]

Love these responses. I detest both sides as well. Just play the games people!

[ravinash]

@ MrDead

Thank you!

[joab777]

Everyone is annoying because we are bored and need something to make us important!

As I always bring up in college classes when we get on these moral rants, "when the rubber meets the road and it is not about you anymore, how much are you really willing to sacrifice for your cause?" If you can answer this, then you will know your true motives. Nothing is cut and dry.

[Salooh]

For me i don't like to avoid completely, i can discuss why i would be against or with, only discussion with reasons ,so if they are not following my path than they have the right to follow their own path. I only have the right of opinion to such people unless their path is harming me directly otherwise it's their choices.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Yes!!! Agreed

[Sunny_D]

Couldn't have said it better. I mean if you click on this article knowing full well it may be "pro-sjw" then that's your problem.

[Eonjay]

They are the same thing as everyone already figured out. Its about mind control.

[Goldby]

its sad when people label anything outside the ordinary, a female lead, a gay character, or a LGBT sub plot as SJW. maybe its a thing called representing the gamers who actually play the games, representing issues people face on a day to day basis,

[The 10th Rider]

I didn't take his comment to mean having a female character is sjw, but the implication (in the article) that in the past a female character wouldn't be successful is.

"Yet by classic gaming standards, it never should've been a hit."

Classic gaming includes iconic figured such as Samus aran and Lara Croft.

[Kreisen]

What articles like this do is push propaganda for clicks. Pretending females, gays etc are more valuable and more important then others.

" It’s a society wiped clean of current cultural norms and expectations, forming something uniquely feminist."
The artifcle is riddled with this kinda crap. Twisting a good story into some female empowerment bullshit.

[Mr Lahey]

"female empowerment bullshit"

What's wrong with empowering women? Is it a threat to you? Sure seems like it.

[MRMagoo123]

@Lahey

The game isn't about empowering females ,it's just a game with a female lead. Is every game with man in empowering men ? I think the problem some are having is people trying to turn the fact Aloy is a she into some stance for feminists, which it isn't, it's just another game character like the rest.

[Mr Lahey]

I didn't imply that HZD is about empowering females. I just questioned the negative aspect of empowering females in general. Personally i feel that a game like HZD, with a strong badass female lead character is refreshing. It has been done before but it's not that common. But some people sure sees it as something negative.

Aloy is what she is, a strong female character. Feminists like it, misogynists hate it.

[Mr Lahey]

lol at my disagrees!
The gaming community really like their women weak. Otherwise scary feminist stuff might happen..

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed I believe there are lots of writers and artists and game directors that want to have specific characters to represent a certain demographic so they could tell an Express a story and it's almost as if gamers are not understanding that an artist created this, they want to express themselves and they want to change gaming landscape in a lot of people always have this idea that it's done for some specific political reason, how do you know it's not simply being done because of an artistic reason?

So who in gaming is being helped when they're stifling artist creation? Do you guys want to play with the artist created or with the Marketing Executives wants you to see?

[UCForce]

You Anti SJW and Pro SJW are both waste of my time.

[Kallisti]

Is that their reasoning? Lara Croft's been a hit since her debut in 1996

[Imalwaysright]

The Boss (my favorite video game character of all time), Ellie, female characters in Persona games... There are great representations of female characters in video games.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Yes and you're really only bringing up one character it actually doesn't mean that others shouldn't exist.

There's still room for the medium to grow gaming is still in this almost comical archaic phase right now where we've yet to have lots of demographics represent gaming mainstream like you seen in movies or television and I believe that kind of needs to change in order for the medium to be taken seriously.

I feel like we're almost stuck in the 1940s or 1950s and these movies are being controlled my marketing exacts scared to push a different concept.

if somebody has an idea for a disabled character that could be in a wheelchair I want to see it

If they have an idea for a homosexual character I want to see it

if they have an idea for a character that is an immigrant I want to see it

if they have a key idea for a character that is gay or lesbian I want to see it

I want to see any demographic and any idea that these artists want to push out what is actually the point of playing a game where the artist are essentially scared to express their ideas that they have for these characters?

I don't want to see what these stupid Marketing Executives want to push so they could get their mainstream sales I want to see what the artist has intended for their work this is why we're playing games.

@ima- agreed and more to come.

I just feel that list is far too short and I like the direction that gaming is going now where designers and especially Publishers do not feel threatened that their game will perform poorly simply because of the demographic of the character , they need to understand that for most the game has to be good because we have Publishers that are looking to make their games as cookie cutter and stereotypical as possible if they believe it's going to get them better sales and I believe this practice should be absolutely shuned in gaming.

[joab777]

It's a victory because she wasn't shoehorned in. She is just an amazing character that fits the world and story. Believe it or not some guys love playing as a gorgeous red head for 50+ hrs lol! Don't say that too loud though!

[_-EDMIX-_]

Well to some degree it is still a victory for that demographic to have a female character praise like this to show that it very much indeed can be done that a female character doesn't need to play second fiddle.

Please don't confuse the people that are always looking for trouble with the people that really are trying to see the demographic expressed more in there medium.

Whether you support them or not this is still a victory for lots of people and I believe this is a very positive thing in gaming to have a character like this

On the contrary it proves that the entire industry is not simply just chauvinistic men.

Consider I'm a male gamer and I absolutely love this character and I love that the demographic is different I'm sorry but I'm tired of playing the same boring character thrown up over and over again I like that she has a mind , I like that she's actually expressing views of her gender throughout the game simply because it would be stupid to absolutely ignore this.

I absolutely loved that in The Last of Us that Ellie's character was who she was.

This is something that the gaming medium needs badly because you don't go and watch a movie and all of these things are ignored smh.

We need to allow gaming to grow up and these are amazing steps regardless of whether you agree with some of the extremist.

I mean none of us need to agree with some of the extremists that are always bringing up certain issues that I feel many times are not even real issues, but please don't ignore that we might have some common ground even if some of those people are extremists I don't believe in this situation they're wrong that this is a victory for the demographic and for all of gaming in general.

[thejigisup]

Aloy is a victory for female representation in video games as a leading role because she's a great character and only once in my play through did I encounter a single fleeing moment where it was even an issue that she was a woman occur. The likes of Lara croft couldn't hold candle to Aloy.

The game itself is astounding and I'm going isee more of her, hopefully a guaranteed slot on the next PSABR entry.

[uth11]

Aloy is a believable warrior.

In the TR reboot at least, Lara just wasnt.believable -- Injured girl without apprentice training finds bow and arrow, takes out entire army of heavily armed , hardened military dudes and samurais

[Imalwaysright]

"without apprentice training" Roth was a royal marine, Lara's legal guardian and trained her.

[TricksterArrow]

Yeah, I don't really buy the new Lara, TBH. I kinda miss the old one that trained 24/7 after her parents died. New Lara had time for school, college and friends, old Lara didn't seem to be all that social...

[cberg25]

Modern Laura is positioned as this sort of improbable survivor. She's adeptly skilled, yet in a situation beyond any possible training. Seeing her succeed is classic blockbuster escapism, a flashy hero's journey. It's a bit pulpy, and there's nothing wrong with that.

[_-EDMIX-_]

@ima- correct and correct.

[meka2611]

Lol yet you believe in a girl that got some survival training and can take down robot dinosaurs.

[Goldby]

@Meka,

I wouldn't call living as an outcast and surviving for her entire life as "some survival training"

[opinionated]

This entire article is based on a false premise to shoehorn talking points lol.

"From the business perspective, the assumption is that female heroes are a liability"
How does that make any sense? A liability how?

"Outdated assumptions about market habits have driven a generation of publishers to play it very safe with who they put front and center of their game."
Outdated how? The markets haven't changed drastically.

"Mass Effect crafted a narrative built on diversity, yet still focused on a white male Shepard for their marketing campaigns."
There are reasons for this. It's not to piss feminists off. It's marketing lol. Who is their market by a very wide margin? You talk about enthusiasts being a small fraction compared to the mass audience but the market you want representation for is a fraction of that fraction. It's not "outdated" to market to people who are going to buy your game. There is no racial or gender biases involved, it's purely mathematical.

I can see what you are saying when you you wrote " It’s a society wiped clean of current cultural norms and expectations, forming something uniquely feminist." because you're right. The "matriarchy power structure" is something new and unique but I don't see how it sets a standard for representation. You're just using it as an excuse to throw a bunch of buzzwords around.

[UCForce]

I have serious problems between you Anti SJW and Pro SJW. I feel tired and angry about the conflict. Don't even try to twist my word. Because I had similar like this in past and I'm not tell you what it was, but I got headaches and heartbreak because they forced me to choose side.

[opinionated]

I'm not talking shit I'm asking honest questions about the article. How is marketing a female protagonist a liability if your protagonist is a female? How is marketing outdated? How has the market changed? Why does marketing have to play a significant role in representation when the group that calls for representation is a fraction of the market?

I have no problem that he likes the female protagonist or the unique feminist aspects of the story but the reasoning for the marketing sounded pretty stupid. Fabricated shit just to get a point across.

[opinionated]

"Because I had similar like this in past and I'm not tell you what it was, but I got headaches and heartbreak because they forced me to choose side."

I don't have any clue what you are talking about but it sounds amusing. You can tell me UC, I would never make you choose whatever lol. You'll always be my buddy, spit it out.

[MRMagoo123]

@opinionated

Today on Dr Phil 😂

[warriorcase]

forced to choose sides?..what

[_-EDMIX-_]

@opin- that's the thing like I stated in my post to you prior, you actually need to be asking the top Publishers this question, just because you're asking why does not mean it is not a thing or that it is unrealistic for a company to take this approach the reality is they do believe this when you're dealing with game series that could cost upwards to 100 million dollars you will have these publishers that want to appeal to the highest Market.

Are you legitimately asking these questions because you don't know or you asking these questions in a sarcastic manner?

It has been proven by many Marketing Executives and many marketing firms that these game Publishers will change anything they need to change to fit into the top Market in regards to demographic and representation if they feel it will help them make more money

What sad is how could you question that when you made the statement yourself

"when the group that calls for representation is a fraction of the market?"

Yes a fraction of the market , understand that to a publisher this is very scary , they want to sell their game to the maximum demographic so all the people that are playing their game could connect to the character or they could look on the store shelf and see something that's similar to themselves so having a character that represents a fraction of the market to them they possibly believe would mean them losing out on sales from their core demographics

If you understand they make up a fraction of the market then I'm not entirely sure how you also don't understand how that would be a liability for a publisher or a believed liability anyway.

These guys want to reach the widest Market possible and they're willing to make their character as a stereotypical cookie-cutter as possible if it means they could get the most sales is this seriously how you want to play your games?

I believe for the most part of those Publishers are absolutely wrong and they don't understand that gaming industry absolutely wants something different and the sales of a lot of games are going to show that they want for this type of different character.

Gaming as a whole is more willing to accept this that I think Publishers realize they're just scared to gamble their 100 million dollar properties on such a thing, Zero Dawn having the main character a female is an absolutely huge deal , Sony has probably spent upwards to 100 million dollars and over six years developing this game.

Sony I believe they were confident that if the game is good gamers will play regardless but other Publishers would not make that decision because as you say they are "a fraction" of the market so why risk so much money on a market that's not the majority represented?

This is how those top Publishers think

[meka2611]

Ah so your the neutral one that doesn't pick a side. Trust me when I say that video games need defended; if the older generation had not defended gaming back when it was "just for nerds" it wouldn't be where it is today. And the article is looking for validation and shoehorning. Hell we have had female leads for awhile, starting with Samus. My point is defend your gaming hobby.

[cberg25]

The point I attempted to make in the peice was that Horizon is a collection of factors that typically make games seen as a risky investment in the AAA space. It's a new IP. It's got a woman on the cover. It's largely free of guns. It's all single player, without back-end Microtransactions. Compare this to something like Wildlands - a checklist of themes and formats proven to work.

Sony put a lot of money into a game that other studios might have seen as a risky gamble. And since it's paying off, the industry might need to reevaluate the perceived odds.

[opinionated]

Everything is risky compared to a military shooter lol. There is no comparison to a fantasy game. You dismiss the risk of dishonored 2 marketing a female, why? Why is it not risky to change your protagonist in the sequel? The things you mention are not new though even for Sony so I'm trying to figure out how come to the conclusion that it sets a standard. You can see many females on Sony game covers. Games with single player only, no guns, no micros etc.

Until dawn, beyond two souls, heavenly sword, heavy rain to name a few off of the top of my head. It's not risky to have a female protagonist. It kind of seems you want marketing to be activism instead of marketing.

[cberg25]

Heavenly Sword wasn't exactly a chart-topping hit, though. Plus, both Heavy Rain & Until Dawn were more focused on selling those games respective narrative genres (thriller, horror) rather than their female characters. Beyond Two Souls focused on its female lead, but that was mostly because she was a major movie star.

[opinionated]

But they meet the criteria you mentioned. They have female protagonists, they are on the cover, single player only, no micros, no guns.

Horizon wasnt focused on Aloy in the marketing any more than those other titles. The females were pushed, why does it matter if she's an actress? Why does it matter if the game didn't become a blockbuster hit? That's like me saying "the marketing was more about the dinosaurs than it was about a female protagonist". It's cherry picking.

[cberg25]

Horizon is important because the sales lesson directly translates to countless other AAA games. It's an action game that put an unrecognized woman on its cover, and succeeded at market.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Absolutely agreed!!!!

This is something that you were not going to see many Publishers dare attempt to do.

I also disagree on your remarks regarding Beyond Two Souls Beyond Two Souls focuses on the main character simply because the concept of the entire story as surrounding this character regardless of Ellen Page said yes or no to the deal.

Sony has given that team so much creative freedom but I don't really believe that they would cut funding or stop supporting the game simply because Ellen Page didn't take the deal.

@opin- Ellen Page matters in something like Beyond Two Souls simply because the publisher may have not felt comfortable going forward if they did not have somebody instantly recognizable .

But because this is Sony were talking about they've been known to take lots of risk so I think they were very comfortable moving forward

In fact one could argue that Heavy Rain selling low numbers as well as Heavenly sword selling no numbers could go on to reaffirm to a publisher like Sony that these demographics do not move huge numbers compared to their male counterparts but that never stopped Sony from continuing to allow developers to have their freedom.

Regardless of how you're trying to look at this the reality is there are lots of Publishers that might attribute the failure of some of these games based on the character was not recognizable to the core demographic.

Reality is like you stated it is a "fraction" of the market so I'm not entirely sure how you could not understand how other big top Publishers would be hesitant to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a demographic that's simply a fraction of the market

they would likely be scared to do what Sony just did.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Many Publishers can see female characters as a liability simply because they feel the main demographic playing games will not be able to connect with the character.

This has been known for a very very very very long time that Publishers would often used Marketing Executives to make such decisions in fear of the game possibly failing they want to be able to reach the widest demographic as possible.

"How does that make any sense? A liability how? "

Say that to the game Publishers that actually still do this practice sadly till this day is only a handful of game Publishers that are basically making it clear that they're willing to experiment and test to see if these theories are even true.

Sony is definitely one of them.

When you're dealing with games that could cost upwards to 100 million dollars of course you're going to have these Publishers consorting with bigwig marketing exact to see which demographic is going to appeal to the widest Market.

So yes I 100 percent could understand how some publisher is woodsy having a female lead as a "liability" , I actually believe for the most part that is ridiculous but what I'm simply saying is that I could understand how these companies could believe that

not that I believe that myself.

[opinionated]

I dunno I just don't see it anywhere. This "fear" of using a female protagonist. I don't even see the fear in marketing he talked about like the outdated "white male shepard". Andromeda clearly focused on the female option despite the overwhelming one-sided demographics. People don't care about that kind of shit honestly lol. Do you buy games based on representation? "Oh it's a female lead so I can't buy this game". Who says that? Lol

Can you name a few publishers who fall into this "liability" philosophy? Has anyone admitted this? It's apparently been known for a long time but I don't see it. There have been female characters for a long time.

[_-EDMIX-_]

@opini- That's the thing you're not fully understanding is, I agree with you, I don't understand it but that's not about what we're talking about , it's simply that Publishers believe this.

If you could understand that it's simply just a fraction of the market that's being represented then I agree that you could also come to the conclusion that a publisher might see this as affecting their bottom line because they're not representing the core demographic to reach a wider Market appeal.

I don't care about that and as you stated neither do you but you have to understand to some degree somebody out there probably does and these Publishers probably understand that.

You actually need to learn to stop using yourself personally as an example when trying to understand it wider generalized concept.

"Do you buy games based on representation?".

And

"Oh it's a female lead so I can't buy this game". Who says that?"

And

"I dunno I just don't see it "

What you just displayed with these comments is that you're unable to understand a different perspective of another person.

I don't buy games based on representation of the main character but you need to understand that someone probably does.

Someone's probably not buying many games based on the demographic on the cover... I know it's pretty stupid.

You don't need to see it to understand that it exists.

Here's an example the sort of open things up for you, I've never seen a white person not want to be on the same plane as a black person before does that mean it's never happened?

There's a product with a black person on the cover that would