Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores Overview (PS5)

For us, Guerrilla Video games’ Horizon sequence has been sensible from the very begin, however it’s getting higher every time we return to it. Horizon Forbidden West is a superb sequel that builds upon the primary recreation in virtually each means — a bigger, extra various open world, a greater ensemble solid, extra attention-grabbing aspect quests, and improved traversal, to call just a few. Burning Shores, the DLC enlargement, is essentially extra of the identical, however provides simply sufficient on high to make it nicely well worth the go to.

Following on straight from the occasions of the principle recreation, Sylens duties Aloy with monitoring down an vital free finish within the titular area. We can’t give any spoilers, however it’s secure to say this enlargement acts as a neat bridge from Forbidden West into Horizon 3. Guerrilla has doubled down on its bonkers sci-fi story, and it is delivered so earnestly that we will not assist however love the nonsense. In case you do too, and loved what the bottom recreation provided up, you may undoubtedly take pleasure in that aspect of the narrative right here.

However let’s not get too forward of ourselves. Aloy crash lands within the Burning Shores and is instantly confronted by Seyka, a member of the Quen tribe that is at present stranded and lacking a lot of its individuals. This new character will be a part of Aloy on her most important quests, and she or he proves to be simply as succesful as our heroine, which is a rarity in these titles. She’s one other welcome addition to Horizon’s wider solid, and one who challenges Aloy in new methods, serving to to humanise a protagonist who was maybe a bit of one-note in Forbidden West.

The primary set of quests is 5 sturdy, and all of them are fairly prolonged. You are taking a look at about six to eight hours relying in your tempo, and that is with out contemplating the opposite stuff to do within the enlargement. The story takes you to some improbable places, lays a little bit of groundwork for the inevitable sequel, and, as has been closely hinted, a Horus does certainly get up. We’ll simply say that it is a spectacular finale; the size of this setpiece is off the charts, and is probably going a significant motive why this DLC is PS5 solely.

However the story solely takes you to sure places inside the Burning Shores. The map is substantial — a few third of the scale of the principle recreation — and includes a mix of dense forest, sandy seashores, open water, and flowing lava, with outdated world ruins to remind you this was as soon as Los Angeles. It is visually attractive, as you’d count on, though there’s noticeable pop-in whilst you’re flying. Whereas it is nice enjoyable to discover the map, some components of the Burning Shores supply little to do past some sight-seeing. Major quests are principally concentrated in a single portion of the map, whereas a few aspect quests unfold issues out, however one or two areas are principally disregarded.

That mentioned, there are new collectables to seek out, a Relic Damage to unravel, a Cauldron to infiltrate, and a handful of latest machines. The Waterwing will turn out to be your new finest good friend — it is a flying mount that may additionally dive beneath the water, making swimming a lot sooner. There are two others to find, each of that are nice additions to the roster that’ll take a look at you in several methods.

There’s additionally a collection of new weapons and outfits to make use of, however extra impactful is a spread of latest abilities. A dozen additional abilities and 6 extra Valor Surges provide you with but extra fight choices. Many introduce new concepts, like firing weapons whereas gliding, making use of elemental injury together with your spear, and dropping giant shields. Others amp up present mechanics; for instance, one talent permits you to grapple to a knocked down machine and, when you time a button press proper, apply Resonator vitality, which you’ll shoot for an enormous burst of injury. These new abilities (and a brand new degree cap) give gamers some recent choices, and make the chaotic fight much more various.

Conclusion

Like Frozen Wilds did with Horizon Zero Daybreak, Burning Shores takes what was already nice about Forbidden West and provides you a sizeable new playground and a bunch of additional toys to play with. The archipelago is nice enjoyable to discover by land, sea, or air, with loads of attention-grabbing issues to see and do. Sure areas really feel a bit of underutilised, however total it is a nice enlargement that continues Aloy’s story and units up for issues to return in Horizon 3.