Why Aloy doesn’t have a love interest in Horizon Forbidden West?

Horizon Forbidden West is a single-player open-world RPG videogame with many diverse and fascinating characters. Interacting and speaking with these characters is an essential part of the gameplay. Still, unlike a scripted cinematic discussion, players are given specific dialogue choices categorized as Confront, Insight, or Compassion, during certain conversations to make the interaction livelier and more authentic. 

These choices lead to different emotional decisions and impacts on the characters. But is it possible to take it one step further and interact romantically with an NPC and date them in Forbidden West? 

There are no romance options in Horizon Forbidden West as Aloy is too focused on her mission of saving the earth, and consequently, she has no time for romantic relationships at the moment. 

In a PlayStation Live interview at E3 2017, Hermen Hulst, the Managing Director of Guerrilla Games, responded to a question about the lack of romance options in Horizon Zero Dawn by stating that 

Aloy is very driven. She was born an outcast, and she is a woman on a mission. She really was not gonna waste her time in this game.

Hermen Hulst

He further added, 

heard that request [for romance]. People are interested for her to explore her romantic interests [but] it’s not something she particularly had a lot of time for in Horizon Zero Dawn.

Hermen Hulst

Forbidden West takes place six months after Zero Dawn, which means Aloy is still chasing her mission to save the world from another extinction and is too busy to date someone. Still, Aloy’s certain interactions in the game have hinted at her possible romantic relationship in the future of the Horizon series. 

While parting ways with Aloy, Sun-King Avad of the Carja Sundom asks her, “When your mission is over, will you return to Meridian? And stay? Long enough for us to… spend time to… get to know each other properly, perhaps?” If you choose to reply to Avad with compassion, Aloy will say that she hopes to see both Meridian and Avad again, but currently, she is too focused on her next task. 

I don’t know what you make of it, but Avad is clearly head over heels in love with Aloy, and we might see them together someday in the following games. 

Erend, Aloy’s close friend, also seems like a potential romantic partner for Aloy, but throughout both the Horizon games, both of them have remained good friends with no hints of developing a romantic relationship.  

It is unfortunate that currently, players don’t have any romance options in Horizon games. Still, with the growing trend of multiple romantic partners in AAA RPG games and the constant demands of the fans, it doesn’t seem so unlikely that Aloy will have romance options in the future. 

About Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Forbidden West is the sequel to 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn by Guerilla Games. An open-world, action adventure game, players control Aloy, a Nora hunter who is on a quest to reverse the effects of a strange crimson blight which is infecting the land. Set in a completely new world, Horizon Forbidden West has many new machines, threats and adventures for Aloy.