Aloy
Aloy ( AY-loy) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Horizon video game franchise, developed by Guerrilla Games. She first appeared in Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) and returned in its sequel Horizon Forbidden West (2022). American actress Ashly Burch voices her. The narrative of the games takes place in a post-apocalyptic 31st-century United States. Aloy is a skilled machine hunter who uses tactical intelligence and tribal weaponry to survive a world that has been reclaimed by nature and overrun by the hostile machines. She was raised as a social outcast of the Nora tribe by her surrogate father, Rost. Aloy initially embarks on a journey to win a tribal competition and discover the identity of her mother. She soon uncovers that a benevolent artificial intelligence created her as a genetic clone of the 21st-century scientist Dr. Elisabet Sobeck. She is tasked with restoring the Earth's failing terraforming systems to prevent a second mass extinction. Throughout the series, she grows from an isolated outcast pressured to live up to Sobeck's legacy, into a leader who embraces a "found family", including her clone sister Beta.
Guerrilla conceived Aloy as a strong, practical female lead who avoided the oversexualised tropes common in the video game industry. Dutch actress Hannah Hoekstra provided the physical model for her visual design. This was a departure from the masculine tone of the studio's previous Killzone franchise. Aloy has also been adapted for virtual reality and Lego spin-offs, Horizon Call of the Mountain and Lego Horizon Adventures, respectively. She has been featured in crossover events for titles including Fortnite (2017) and Genshin Impact (2020). Outside of video games, Aloy's narrative has been expanded in a comic book series published by Titan Comics.
Reviewers praised her emotional drive and evolution from an isolated outcast into an independent leader. Critics also felt that Burch's vocal performance made this transition feel authentic. Criticism of Aloy has been directed at her occasional abrasive demeanour and a tendency for her in-game dialogue to prematurely spoil environmental puzzles. The character has also drawn scholarly analysis regarding her themes of ecofeminism and posthumanism.
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