Really glad they went with a female protagonist! I personally love her design and appreciate the fact that she isn't sexualised (no crazy body proportions and no stupid, revealing clothes etc).
And people saying she's ugly are weird, she's pretty damn attractive to me at least.
That's actually something that I think is interesting to discuss from my perspective, which is the audience they seem to think they're appealing to with crazy body proportions and stupid clothes.
See, I'm one of the crazy dudes with waifus and shit, but stuff like this green haired girl:
I just find ridiculous. Now, I wouldn't go as far as being offended by that as some people, on the contrary, I like anime tits and ass, so I don't mind at all, but I wonder if they think they're appealing to me with that.
Judging just from the almost nothing we have on both her and Aloy, I'd definitely say without any doubts that Aloy is much more likely to be a "waifu" to me than her. I also would never use the swimsuit costumes in Persona 4 Golden, that's ridiculous. It's about the attachment I feel to the character and their personality, not how much skin they're showing and how big and bouncy the boobs are.
I'd be lying if I said being pretty doesn't matter, it absolutely does, but beauty doesn't come in a singular model, they don't all have to look the same to be pretty. And it's more about being cute than sexy.
So there you go, some waifu theory to discuss over the top character design.