Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a fitting and even important expansion to the base game, contributing greatly to Aloy’s story at large despite a hasty runtime. Guerrilla Games released Forbidden West – the second part of what appears to be a trilogy – for both the PlayStation 4 and 5 early last year, but now the Burning Shores DLC is available exclusively for Sony’s latest hardware. Although the expansion unfortunately excludes a significant portion of Forbidden West‘s player base, Burning Shores is definitively current-gen, a technical showcase that is essentially a must-play for fans of Aloy and Horizon.
Burning Shores gets underway with little preamble when Sylens, a reminder of the gravitas provided by the late Lance Reddick, gives Aloy the mission of hunting down a stray Zenith in the volcanic ruins of what used to be Los Angeles. A handful of establishing shots later, Aloy crash-lands in the eponymous Burning Shores and meets Seyka, a member of the Quen tribe. This pair, portrayed wonderfully by Ashly Burch and Kylie Liya Page, is the heart of Horizon Forbidden West‘s DLC.
The speed at which the game begins hardly lets up, and it doesn’t take long to beat Burning Shores, which is the expansion’s most glaring fault. Certainly, its open-world gameplay gives the player plenty of opportunities to meander, but the story itself unfolds very quickly. In absence of the central mystery surrounding Aloy’s birth from Zero Dawn, Forbidden West found a compelling new avenue for the character – one that hinged almost entirely on her relationships with her comrades. Burning Shores continues Aloy’s arc in learning what it means to truly care for others (and to have others care for her), but the DLC’s small handful of main quests has her confront and address new, confusing feelings inorganically fast.
Although these pacing issues affect the expansion’s villain as well – not allowing Far Zenith’s resident near-Earth space mining magnate, Walter Londra, time to really establish himself – Burning Shores is a poignant and beautiful entry to the Horizon storyline. Key moments in Aloy’s character development are gorgeously displayed in scenes that frequently border on photorealistic, perhaps a testament to the DLC’s PS5 exclusivity. The Burning Shores is home to the same lush foliage that dominates much of the rest of the Forbidden West, accented by volcanic flows and geothermal geysers that put a minor but entertaining twist on gameplay.
Simply put, those who enjoyed playing Horizon Forbidden West will find little to complain about in Burning Shores. The series’ signature combat is as satisfying as ever, with varied encounters that allow for a wide range of approaches, all while deftly upping the endgame difficulty with a smattering of new machine enemies. Familiar side content like Relic Ruins and a Cauldron return sparingly in Burning Shores, and the latter’s new volcanic ambiance makes it stand out from its base-game peers.
Burning Shores‘ price of admission is practically worth it for the culminating boss fight alone. Although the expansion’s pace doesn’t allow for a steady crescendo to the climactic battle, it is hands down the most impressive and exhilarating set piece Horizon has accomplished thus far. Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores may be unfortunately short, but it’s nonetheless sweet, and its technical accomplishments tantalizingly set high expectations for Guerrilla Games’ third entry in the series.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is available now for the PlayStation 5. Screen Rant was provided with a digital download code for the purpose of this review.
