Horizon Forbidden West landed on PS5 and PS4 last year to solid praise. Guerrilla Games' sophomore outing with their new IP was mostly successful thanks to its focus on narrative and characters, entertaining activities, and engaging gameplay. It was one of thebetter games of 2022, brought down only by its poor platforming and technical issues, most of which Guerrilla has smoothed out post-launch. While a Horizon 3 is inevitable, we will not likely see the next chapter in Aloy’s sci-fi adventure for some time. Thankfully, Guerrilla Games has a solution; Burning Shores. An expansion that sheds the constraints of the PS4, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores adds a new story, a new explorable area, and more gameplay activities to pursue, all while exploring the ruins of Los Angeles. Is Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores enough to tide us over as we wait for Horizon 3 or should this expansion be thrown into a volcano?
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores picks up shortly after the base game’s ending. A Zenith, Walter Londra, managed to escape the events of Forbidden West and has taken refuge in the ruins of Los Angeles. Determined to find a way to stop the impending arrival of Nemesis, Aloy flies to the Burning Shores in pursuit of Walter Londra. There she meets series newcomer Seyka and aids her in uncovering a sinister plot. Horizon Forbidden West’s story was successful by marrying the sci-fi elements of the Old Ones and the Zeniths with the modern-day tribal world. Burning Shores finds its success by further building on that formula by asking, “what happens when the tribal folk interacts with a technologically advanced Zenith?” The expansion’s story may not shed new light on the Old Ones or Zenith culture, but it remains intriguing and gripping based on the premise alone. Guerrilla’s storytelling success lies in how they peel away the layers of the mystery and Burning Shores offers plenty of great story beats.
The story’s main success lies in its character building, which focuses heavily on Aloy and Seyka. Aloy’s growth from Forbidden West continues, having shed her hard-headedness and accepted that she doesn’t have to do everything alone. In Seyka, she’s found an ally, though she remains wary of revealing too much despite wanting to. Seyka, meanwhile, is a strong personality who finds an equal in Aloy. Searching for her sister, she too realizes that, sometimes, you don’t have to go it alone. The duo’s dynamic is strong, with actresses Ashley Burch and Kylie Liya Page effortlessly playing off each other to great effect. Burning Shores' story is also helped by a deliciously-evil antagonist in Walter Londra. For a series that has struggled to deliver a proper human main antagonist for Aloy to battle, it’s a genuine delight to go up against the mustache-twirling Londra.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a lengthy expansion with a good story and mystery to solve. The characters are at their best, and we get the best human antagonist the series has to offer yet. The story will run you anywhere between 6-8 hours, but there’s still plenty to do in the ruins of LA after the credits roll. While the expansion doesn’t outright tell us where Horizon 3’s story might go, it does end with tantalizing hints about what’s to come.
As an expansion, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is an extension of the base game’s systems and mechanics. Everything the main game does, like combat and world design, is done well here. Likewise, some of the shortcomings, especially the platforming, are also present. The expansion is as fun as the base game, but don’t go into it expecting significant overhauls to how the game plays and functions.
Los Angeles and the surrounding countryside are the expansion’s new playable areas. Broken by tectonic activity, the city now stands as several islands with a massive mountain in the background. Lava pours freely from the hill, creating a sense of wonder and danger. It’s a less dense version of Forbidden West’s San Francisco split up across different islands, making it feel more suited to exploration, combat and aerial traversal. There’s plenty to see and many machines to battle. LA aficionados will especially love finding real-world landmarks like the Chinese Theatre and Capitol Records Building.
In addition to numerous returning machines, Burning Shores includes a handful of new ones. The new Bilegut, an acid-spewing toad machine, is the best addition to the expansion due to how different they are from the other large machines. You’ll need to think on your feet and study their weaknesses to best them. The Stingspawn are aerial mosquito-like bugs that are easy to dispatch solo but can become pesky in more significant numbers. Then there’s the mountable Waterwing, which allows Aloy to roam the skies and dive deep into the ocean. The new additions are fun, with one exception; the Horus. Guerrilla Games has been teasing the clash with the mighty behemoth since the expansion’s announcement, but the battle with it falls flat. While a fantastic spectacle and engineering feat to marvel at, the battle lacks the imagination and emergent gameplay of other enemy encounters.
The expansion adds a handful of new abilities to each skill tree, including fun additions like the grapple critical strike. Guerrilla Games also bumped the level cap to 60, providing further incentive to max out your level and invest in each skill tree. There’s also a handful of new outfits and weapons to collect from the Quen vendors. One new addition to the weaponry is fantastic and might change how Guerrilla approaches weaponry in the next title. If you loved playing Horizon Forbidden West, Burning Shores will be your cup of tea, with just enough new things to freshen up the experience.
Guerrilla Games received a lot of flack when they revealed that Burning Shores would only release on PS5 despite the base game also being on PS4. With that in mind, the studio had to justify cutting the PS4 version. Ultimately, they did. Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores builds on the base game’s fantastic tech to deliver a more believable, dynamic world filled with more detailed effects, elaborate environments, and most importantly, a gigantic boss fight with numerous graphical elements in play. While we’ll still have to wait to see what an actual PS5-exclusive Horizon game will look like, Burning Shores is a tantalizing appetizer filled with crashing waves, rivers of lava and mighty machines. Thankfully, unlike the game at launch, the current build has no significant performance or graphical issues.
Closing Comments:
Guerrilla Games already proved once they coulddeliver a compelling expansionand they have done so again. Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a solid influx of new story, explorable locations and new gameplay elements to keep things fresh. The story builds on Aloy as a character and adds an intriguing new character to the mix in Seyka, all while introducing a great mystery and the series' first great human antagonist. The gameplay is mostly the same, but the few new additions and the new machines add enough to keep engagements fresh. Unfortunately, the expansion ends with a lackluster boss fight, nor does it address any complaints with the base game, though as an expansion that wasn’t expected. For $19.99, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores packs a solid amount of good content that’ll kill some time as we wait for Horizon 3.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
