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Guerrilla Took Inspiration From Ellen Ripley, Game Of Thrones’ Ygritte For Horizon: Zero Dawn Female Lead

As Guerrilla's bold new IP Horizon: Zero Dawn began to take shape prior to its show-stopping E3 reveal, the studio looked to some of the most iconic female protagonists as inspiration for its own female lead, Aloy.

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As Guerrilla’s bold new IP Horizon: Zero Dawn began to take shape prior to its show-stopping E3 reveal, the studio looked to some of the most iconic female protagonists as inspiration for its own female lead, Aloy.

That’s according to Game Director Mathijs de Jonge, who revealed in an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine (via Games Radar) that the creative team channeled the kick-ass spirits of Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor and Game of Thrones‘ flame-haired Wilding Ygritte during development.

“We felt we had quite an original composition and combination of elements with the robots and the nature, so we also felt like it needed an original and strong character to go with that. One of the directions we were very interested in was a character like Sarah Connor in Terminator, Ripley in Alien or, more recently, Ygritte from Game Of Thrones; very strong female characters. That’s where we started.”

Considering that Ripley and Connor are considered to be two of the most compelling, memorable and well-rounded characters in cinema, Guerrilla is certainly knocking on the right doors in a matter of speaking. Taking place across a vast and strikingly beautiful open-world, Horizon: Zero Dawn will be situated in a post-post-apocalypse, where the remnants of humanity have been reduced to mere cave dwellers in the wake of towering, mechanized beasts.

As an outcast within her own tribe, Aloy is an expert in hunting the abominations, cherry-picking their valuable resources for food and weaponry in the process. From what Guerrilla has teased thus far, we know that Zero Dawn will boast a deep crafting system, while the RPG itself is designed primarily as a single-player experience. Plus, when you factor in the game’s rapturous reception at E3, with the right design and approach, Sony could well have a new first-party franchise on its hands.

Horizon: Zero Dawn has been slated for a release on PlayStation 4 in 2016.