The long-rumored Horizon Forbidden West DLC, titled Burning Shores, was announced during The Game Awards 2022, and its developers are learning from past mistakes to push the franchise forwards in a way that is not going to make PlayStation 4 owners happy. The Horizon sequel was released on both PS4 and PS5 consoles earlier this year, earning positive reviews from players and critics alike, however, last-gen hardware provided a different experience for Forbidden West players than the current-gen counterpart.
Guerrilla Games chose to also release Horizon Forbidden West on PS4, where its graphics understandably were not as impressive as the version released on the much more powerful PS5 hardware. While the last-gen version still impressed players with its overgrown sci-fi open world; performance issues and murky textures stood out when comparing the last and current-gen versions. With the next chapter of Aloy’s adventure taking her to Hollywood exclusively on the PlayStation 5, the developer has made a hard choice that will help push the franchise forward for the better.
Burning Shores Will Be Unshackled From Last-Gen Hardware’s Limitations
The new DLC won’t be released on PS4 because Burning Shores will be too much for last-generation hardware to handle. Forbidden West looks good on PS4, but it pushed last-gen hardware to its limits. Compromises like delayed object rendering and long load times were implemented for the game to perform at a stable 30FPS. With the PS4 recently celebrating its ninth anniversary, many players were surprised the sequel played as well as it did on the last-gen hardware. Still, it left some players wondering if designing Forbidden West to work on the near decade-old system may have held the game back from fully taking advantage of PS5’s hardware.
The PlayStation 4 Limited What Horizon Forbidden West Could Accomplish
Guerrilla Games made more than a few clever design choices to make Forbidden West perform serviceably on the PS4. Cutscenes were generated in real-time on the PS5, while its PS4 version used pre-rendered video clips to prevent that version’s shortcomings from interrupting the game’s dramatic cutscenes. Several patches have further updated Forbidden West‘s graphics on the PS5 to look and play even better than it did when it launched last February, making the differences between the previous and current-gen versions of the game stand out even more.
Now that PlayStation 5 consoles have become easier to obtain, Guerrilla Games can push forward what it accomplished in Forbidden West with the Burning Shores DLC next April. Details on what players can expect with Forbidden West‘s DLC are currently sparse, however, the beautiful TGA trailer showcased new vibrant landscapes and lava-invested environments that take the series’ visuals to the next level, especially if they run in real-time like the PS5 version cutscenes.
With the Burning Shores DLC releasing exclusively on the PS5, it won’t have to cater to the PS4’s limited hardware capabilities. The developer should be able to deliver what players wanted the sequel to do in the first place, showcase what the Sony PS5 is truly capable of, and evolve Horizon Forbidden West into a proper current-gen title.
