Metacritic Responds After ‘abusive’ Horizon: Forbidden West DLC Reviews Bombing

Metacritic, the popular review aggregation site, has addressed the recent Horizon: Forbidden West Burning Shores DLC review bombing. Metacritic has pledged to introduce stricter moderation in an effort to control review bombing on the site. 

Critics have praised the game for its visuals and gameplay. Critics have praised the game for its visuals and gameplay. However, a part of the plot has led to negative reviews. Burning Shores eventually confirmed Aloy's identity as queer. At the end of the DLC, players have the option of falling in love with Seyka, a crucial character featured in the expansion. By selecting this, the main character of the franchise, Aloy, will kiss Seyka. This story feature has prompted angry and hostile one-star reviews on Metacritic. Most of the negative comments are still active, criticizing the romance option added by game developer Guerrilla.

In response to the review bombing, Metacritic and Fandom told Eurogamer that they were aware of the “abusive and disrespectful reviews of Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores.”

According to the statement, Metacritic is “currently evolving our processes and tools to introduce stricter moderation in the coming months.”

“Metacritic is aware of the abusive and disrespectful reviews of Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores and we have a moderation system in place to track violations of our terms of use.”

Fandom did not elaborate on what these new tools and processes would look like. However, it is reassuring to know it is taking the review bombing on its site seriously. Review bombing alters game user scores, which affects potential users' capacity to accurately determine whether a game is worth buying. Meanwhile, Metacritic has already removed multiple Burning Shores ‘reviews' from the site for violating its terms of service. Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores currently has a user score of 3.9 and was as low as 2.7 at one point.

What is your take? What do you think about Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores review bombing on Metacritic? Let us know on our socials here or in the comments below.