Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores - Review

Survive the destruction.

Console: PlayStation 5

Horizon has quickly become my favourite PlayStation series. The world, the story, the characters, and even the gameplay that I'm actually not all that good at: it all just clicks for me. Once the credits rolled on Horizon Forbidden West, I was eagerly awaiting the day an expansion would be announced. Horizon Zero Dawn got The Frozen Wilds DLC after all and Forbidden West did have plenty of clues pointing towards more things to come.

My patience was tested, but now, well over a year after the game launched it's finally here. And it's quite promising. From more lore and character work to fighting the biggest, baddest, machine the franchise has introduced.
Without further ado, let's dive in, and see what awaits us in the Burning Shores and if it lives up to all of this promise.

Set some time after the events of Forbidden West, Burning Shores sees Aloy travel to the titular location, a volcanic archipelago that used to be Los Angels. Her mission? To hunt down Walter Londra: the last living Far Zenith. Shortly after arriving Aloy meets Seyka, a member of the Quen Tribe. She and her fellow Quen ended up becoming stranded in the Burning Shores. Not only that but many Quen have gone missing without a trace in recent weeks, including Sekya's sister.
Figuring that the disappearance of The Quen and Londra's arrival is linked, Aloy and Seyka team up to find the missing Quen and stop Londra.

The plot of Burning Shores is, as I expected, a smaller and more personal story. At its core, it's not about the threat, but about Aloy and Seyka and their relationship/budding romance. Walter Londra and everything he's up to is nothing we haven't seen before. I'd even call him a flat and stale villain with a predictable bad-guy scheme. Least favourite villain in the series thus far, even with Sam Witwer's performance. However: he does help tie up the Forbidden West/Far Zenith story up in a satisfying way with some hints as to what is next. 

This DLC put a large focus on Seyka. She gets to do the heavy lifting with the personal stakes: her missing sister and the growing animosity from her tribe. I don't dislike her, she isn't a bad character, but she's too similar to Aloy. Near identical inpersonality with lots of parallels in her life story. Even before that interview came out, I realized this was intentional. Her drive and skill are what initially catch Aloy's attention and later helps in forging a connection between the two since Aloy has more or less stood where Seyka now stands, but still. She could've been more distinct.

Speaking of Aloy, she gets some more character development here: falling in love for the first time and everything that comes with that. The next step in opening herself up to others, you could say. Ashley Burch does an exceptional job with portraying a love struck Aloy here. From the voice work to her facial expressions to her body language. The narrative also highlights how Aloy has grown over the course of the game. Some of the conversations she has with Seyka show how her attitude and world-view has changed since she started her journey.

The heart(s) of the Burning Shores. 

There's nothing ground breaking in the DLC's small narrative, but than again, it didn't have to. The expectation was a smaller, more personal, story that just a fun ride for fans and that is what it does. The things you have to do and the locations you visit are enjoyable. The strong lore building and world design Guerilla has shown with this series is back on full display here. Plus; while the narrative itself is small scale that final boss is anything but. 

Speaking of that big boss, let´s tackle what has been hanging over the expansion as a looming shadow: Burning Shores is PS5 only. All those people who bought the game on the PS4 version are out of luck. PS5 with PS4 version PS5 need to drop an extra 10,- on top of the 20,- asking price for that upgrade path to play this DLC. The reason Sony and Guerilla gave for this is that they wouldn't have been able to achieve their creative vision on the PS4.

I don't like cutting of part of the fan-base like this. I think that when you release multiple version of a game it's not an unreasonable expectation from the consumer that any add-on content releases for all versions. Especially if the game in question is just over a year old. I feel that the decision was made more because Sony just wants to be done with the PS4 and, with that being the case, Guerilla just cut loose with their ambition instead of the other way around.

That said, I am glad they got to cut loose. If they also had to make a PS4 version of the Burning Shores, that Horus fight would not have happened. You wouldn't have the most awesome fight in the entire series and that big bang to end the DLC, and by extension Horizon II, on. Just seeing that entire behemoth at once with that story build-up, is such a goosebump getting moment. Performance wise the DLC runs well. It had no problem rendering that big fight though I did encounter some little snags here and there. Like grapping points just randomly floating in the air, for example. 

Just look at the scale of that thing. This was not a cutscene. I took this (in photomode) during the boss fight. The entire Horus was loaded in as a moving, functional model.

One other complaint of mine lies in the amount of content Burning Shores offers. It's a bit lacking. 

The main quests is longer and beefier, yes, and  you have some more side-activities but the side-quests take a hit. Down to three from nine. With Burning Shores focus on more environmental activities ala Elden Ring and Breath of the Wild, this cuts into the time we get to spend with the Quen. We don't get to interact with many of the Quen and thus don't really learn that much more about them and that is a shame. 

I've always said that if Burning Shores was around the same size as The Frozen Wilds I'd be happy but that sadly not the case. I'd say that we have about 10% less, or 1.5-2 hours, of content here. What we have here is a lot of fun, but I would've liked more. 

Design wise, the Burning Shores is a well realized location. The justaposition of the volcanic activity with the beautifull beaches, ocean and skycrapper ruins that reach into the sky make the location a treat to explore and just to see. Bit dissapointing though that stuff like the new cloud tech and even more details texturesdoesn't carry over to the Forbidden West though. The Burning Shores are not connected to the Forbidden West, just so you know. It has a seperate map with its own loadingscreen to enter and exit. 

For the gameplay and activities we don't really have any changes. We got some new skills and some new weapons. Not any game changing additions but fun additions nonetheless. Some new Quen armour and face paint. Some new machine types to fight. Some activities that you can do with your flying mount. Fun stuff, but nothing that is unexpected or game changing. 

Conclusion

While not sporting quite the amount of content as I would've liked, Burning Shores is still a great, and above all else, enjoyable expanssion that gives what it promised. It's a fun ride with some neat character development for Aloy in a wel-realized location capped off by an epic final boss. The highlight of the entire package. The PS5 exlusivity is a let down but for those Horizon Forbidden West holders who can play it, it's a more than worthewile and fair-priced addition to the game. 

R.I.P. Lance Reddick. Thank you for your performance as Sylens and Charon in John Wick, were stellar. It is what made these characters feel alive and made their respective series that much better.