Horizon Forbidden West reviews cause Metacritic to take action

Popular review site Metacritic has vowed to introduce stricter moderation for their site after the recent review bombing of Horizon Forbidden West.

After Sony’s Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores DLC was recently met with review bombing after a certain story decision, Metacritic say they will be taking action going forward. Despite the expansion releasing with critical acclaim, its current scores are not reflecting this as it stands. 

Horizon Forbidden West Review Bombing

(The following contains spoilers for Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores DLC)

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In the recent expansion, one plot point has left some viewers unhappy with the choices made by the narrative team. During this scene, protagonist Aloy has the choice to romance fellow female hero, Seyka. If she chooses to do this, the two will share a kiss. 

As you can expect, this led some players to take to the internet to complain about the LGBTQIA+ themes. This was seen especially on the popular Metacritic site which now gives the game a user score of 4.0 and even saw it dropping to 2.7. 

These reviews included calling the scene “unnecessary” and “A new dlc for agenda”. One even stated, “You must see a solution to the issue of the agenda. We are in a world of entertainment, not in a world full of deviant and misguided ideas.”

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Promotional image for Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores DLC which has recently been review bombed.
Credit: Sony

Metacritic to take action

As a result of this, Metacritic and Fandom recently spoke to Eurogamer saying they are aware of “abusive and disrespectful reviews of Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores.” To prevent this in the future, the site is “currently evolving our processes and tools to introduce stricter moderation in the coming months.”

Fandom added that their site is “a place of belonging for all fans and we take online trust and safety very seriously across all our sites including Metacritic.”

“Our team reviews each and every report of abuse (including but not limited to racist, sexist, homophobic, insults to other users, etc) and if violations occur, the reviews are removed.” They continued. 

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This news comes the same week as Guerilla announce they are working on “Aloy’s next adventure.”

Read: Horizon Forbidden West sequel could be in development

What did you think of the ‘controversial’ scene? Let us know across our social media platforms.

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