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Why Horizon: Zero Dawn is a breakthrough in feminist gaming
Since I set eyes on Horizon: Zero Dawn’s beautiful background and fierce female hero, I knew I’d have to play it. I love gaming, but, like many women, feel a disconnect with the video game world. Female heroes are few and far between, and usually their big boobs and tiny waists are stand-ins for actual character development.
My favorite game, since I was a child, has been Tomb Raider. I fell in love with RPG exploration and the journey of a great storyline. In 2013, I fell in love with Lara Croft all over again.
YES, I thought, this is a feminist game, finally! And it is, especially by gaming standards. TR 2013, and Rise of the Tomb Raider in 2015, still leave many improvements to be desired, but it resonated with me to play from a female perspective and to experience well-developed, realistic characters.
Whatever feelings I have for TR, Horizon: Zero Dawn blew it out of the water.
What drew me to the game was a blog anticipating the release of HZD as one of the first truly feminist storylines. Aloy is a young woman in a land full of dangerous machines. Raised an outcast, Aloy has never know her true parents or why she was cast out as a child. Her journey starts as one of self-discovery.
On the outset, having a woman lead in an RPG forces you to empathize and identify with the character. She’s not a plot tool, or an otherwise unimportant object of a man’s journey. That, in itself, is huge. She’s also not just a “female version” of a predecessor male-hero game. Her story and her environment are unique, and she is written as a unique, emotionally capable character. She doesn’t struggle to be an interesting female character, nor does the story shy from her femininity.
Here are the other reasons HZD is fantastically progressive:
1. Female leads
The Nora tribe, which Aloy seeks to join, is a matriarchy who worships “the goddess.” Motherhood is considered sacred. The tribe is led by “the matriarchs,” older women who oversee the governing from a sacred mountain cave (aptly named “womb of the mountain”). Though the tribe is obviously not without flaws, gender power structure is not one of them. Men are not designated a lower status (as in some…
