So, we’ve had a lot of people asking us for the opinion on Horizon: Zero Dawn, mostly because we live in a world where it is revolutionary for a game to have box art that showcases a fully dressed female protagonist who is not an @eschergirls candidate.

Though I do want to say that part of the reason I’ve delayed this post is because I sincerely believe the far more important conversation about representation in this game is the matter of appropriation and how speculative fiction games are inherently political.

One great thing about Horizons is that it does showcase the demand for a non-sexualized female character.  A large part of the appeal is that the people playing the game or watching streams create a particular image of Aloy :

Moments like this are a type of awesome that are long overdue in video games, but sadly, there’s certainly some very highly questionable outfits for both Aloy and some of the female NPCs.

However, the fact that it’s been selling exceptionally well with the vast majority of people favoring pragmatic outfits showcases that the myth that sex sells really is the approach of last resort (unless of course you are actually selling a sexual product of some sort, then that becomes “accurate marketing”).

People will always find content that is actually based in the fictional world, conveys information about the character and immerses them in the story over quick thrills that are easily obtained elsewhere.

– wincenworks

Screen captures from The Jimquisition (x) and the Feminist Frequency streams