Aloy

Aloy is a fictional character and protagonist of the 2017 video game Horizon Zero Dawn and its sequel Horizon Forbidden West. In the games' post-apocalyptic tribal setting, she is born in 3021, raised as an outcast, and trains as a warrior in order to win a ritual competition to discover her mother's identity. After narrowly evading an assassination attempt, she embarks on a journey to stop a cult that worships an artificial intelligence bent on the world's destruction, while also hunting machines that have grown hostile to humans. She has been critically praised for her design and characterization. She is voiced by American voice actress Ashly Burch and modeled after Dutch actress Hannah Hoekstra. Character development Aloy was created as a character who could provide many tactical options in battle. As a "hunter at heart", she has little compassion for machines beyond a "hunter's respect". She also has a gritty personality, disliking "comforts or ease", and tends to be "very forthright and blunt, sometimes even confrontational" in how she addresses issues. Guerrilla Games always envisioned the game as starring a strong female character, with game director Mathijs de Jonge citing Sarah Connor from Terminator, Ellen Ripley from Alien, and Ygritte from Game of Thrones as influences. Sony decided to do rigorous market testing, believing that adding a female lead might be a "risk", but approved her as the lead role. The developers were aware of the strong female character cliche and tried to make a more human character with a more interesting personality. Aloy's physical likeness was based on the Dutch actress Hannah Hoekstra. Appearances Horizon Zero Dawn Aloy is first introduced as an infant who has been entrusted to Rost's care, a man who has been cast out by the Nora tribe. Six years later, while exploring on her own, she falls into a forbidden bunker that was created by ancient humans. While trying to escape from the destroyed facility, she discovers an augmented reality device known as a Focus before being rescued by Rost. Despite his misgivings, Rost allows her to keep the Focus, which she soon develops an affinity for. The next morning, while learning to hunt with Rost, she uses the Focus to rescue Teb, an injured member of the Nora tribe who has recklessly fallen into the path of machines.