Thank you for the great summary. I put a lot of hours into the game but never finished it and the story just seemed so contrived and stupid I stopped caring. The gameplay is really fun though I'm not really sure if it's worth the (woke) price of admission. Luckily I waited and got the complete version for like ten bucks and feel I did get my money's worth from the gameplay and graphics point of view. Because who doesn't like blowing up robot dinosaurs?

The recurring theme of the game is her dumping on the 'superstitious' beliefs of the tribes even though Aloy has literally no more knowledge than they do and no justifiable reason for doubting the supernatural beliefs. She's just portrayed as intrinsically smarter than everyone for no reason.

Maybe because she was raised by a man? If the menfolk have to shoulder the blame for all of the problems in their society, then surely Rost is entitled to some credit for making Aloy into someone a little bit better than the rest.

I'm not saying a true matriarchal society has ever been tried and would turn out just like the backwards bullshit in the game. But having worked in environments with lots of women of a certain type I can see it trending in that direction over time.