Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores | Review

Initial Release Date: April 19, 2023

Platform: PlayStation 5

Developer: Guerrilla Games

Publishers: Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe

Genres: Role-Playing, Shooter, Fighting, Platformer, Adventure, Open World

Spoilers Warning!

Introduction

Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores is the first expansion (and possibly the last) for Horizon Forbidden West. The Burning Shores takes Aloy into a ruined Los Angeles on the request of Sylens played by the late Lance Reddick (RIP). Burning Shores is a decent sized expansion totaling over 15GB.

If you want to read my thoughts on the mainline game check out my Horizon Forbidden West Review. So what does the the Burning Shores have that makes it worth your hard earned $20.00 and is that content worth the price? Keep reading to find out. Gotcha!

Presentation

Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores had more technical issues than it’s main counterpart. The latter consisted of Seyka freezing during the mission “Heaven and Earth” which prompted me to quit to the main menu and restart.

During the mission “For His Amusement” it’s not clear to ropecaster a vent next to a ladder to progress. Burning Shores at times lacks player direction that made me frustrated at times.

Considering this is a Playstation 5 exclusive I was surprised to see pop-in when loading areas in. Other than the above negatives, Burning Shores ran great and looked visually amazing running in performance mode.

Burning Shores features plenty of content beside the five main missions. The side missions I played were good. There are plenty of legendary gear to obtain as well. Burning Shores’s map is large enough to fly or take the new skiff boat out to ocean. The sea and sky are important for traversal this time around as I barely had to climb during my playthrough.

Burning Shores is presented as a big spectacle action-adventure video game that’s contained into one expansion. Aloy meets new and important characters, new modes of travel like the skiff and Waterwing flying mount which was awesome due to it’s ability to fly and swim underwater like a submarine.

I would say barring the annoying occasional glitches, bugs, directional issues and pop in Burning Shores delivered a high blockbuster Sony Playstation 5 experience. Oh, and you do fight a Horus aka the “Metal Devil”. Let’s just say the Playstation 4 would’ve struggled mightily with that sequence.

Story

The story of Burning Shores follows Aloy getting a message from (RIP) Lance Reddick’s Sylens who asks Aloy to take out Walter Londra who’s the last remaining Zenith. The story also has Aloy saving a group of Quen with a new character and new love interest, Seyka. Seyka’s sister Kina, is one of the missing Quen.

Getting back to Walter Londra. He wants to launch a spaceship that would kill off all of the colonies in the Burning Shores with toxic gas. To do this Londra needs a generator from a Horus but ends up activating the entire Metal Devil. Furthermore, Walter Londra wants to bring a few Quen with him (brainwashed) and avoiding Nemesis. Of his plan failed thanks to Aloy and Leyka.

Writing and direction In cutscenes along with the brilliant visuals really sold the story. You have action and romance. The story itself isn’t great but it’s great to see Aloy get her story told similarly like in Horizon Zero Dawn. Aloy finally gets to kiss somebody which is a first for the Horizon franchise.

Gameplay

Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores features new machines, new weapons and new Valor Surges with skills to unlock. I tried most of the Valor Surges and found them to not be any better or useful compared to the previous iteration valor surges or skills. Aloy can now do follow up grapple critical attacks which are fun.

New machines feature great designs like the giant toad-like acid spewing Bilegut which was a fun challenge to take down. Next, you have Stingspawns which act like hivemind wasps that detonate explosives when they get too close to Aloy. You have new legendary materials called Brimstone (still don’t know what it’s used for).

You have the Waterwing flying mount machine that are actually a pain to fight but amazing to fly and swim underwater with. You cannot override the Waterwing until the second to last main mission. I know it sucks! And last but not least the Horus aka “Metal Devil” the ancient machine built for destroying underground bunkers.

The Horus boss fight was spectacular. The map features just more of what Horizon Forbidden West had minus a few things. You had deep side missions, rebel camps, target hits, save prisoners etc. Gameplay otherwise is what you’d find in the base game except with new ways to traverse the sea and sky along with new valor surges and skills.

Boss fights were all for the most part good. You fight a brainwashed Quen named Zeth who uses the Zenith Gauntlet. You have the Horus Metal Devil and last but not least Walter Londra.

Visuals/Graphics

This game is a looker. It’s probably the best looking game I ever played. Guerilla Games always been technical wizards when it comes to Sony’s hardware iterations and the Playstation 5 is no different.

The Horus boss fight lives up to the hype as a visual action set-piece extravaganza. But you know what else looks amazing? You have insanely detailed character models which looked stunning. I love how Horizon doesn’t go for photo realism but instead a more colorful artsy look.

Bileguts, Waterwings as well the stingspawns are incredibly detailed and designed. The weapons, armors, water and storm clouds. Everything In Burning Shores is visually is stunning. It’s insane that this engine is made for the Playstation 4 and not the Playstation 5. Guerilla Games will melt the Playstation 5 in due time eventually. Have patience!

Sound/Music

Music and sound design are a mix of science fiction synthwave with harmonic orchestra melodies. The sound design is that of old and new if that makes sense. I loved the sounds the Bilegut made when spewing acid and firing missiles. Voice acting all around was done in a believable way and lend credence to their performances.

Tips and Tricks

Complete the “In His Wake” side mission. Doing so will net you the Railgun attachment for the Zenith Gauntlet which pulverizes armor. Do all of the main missions first so you can get the Zenith Gauntlet and Waterwing mount. After the story is finished you can return to Burning Shores for more.

Final Verdict

Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores is a mixbag. It has some of the best action set-pieces I played in a long time. It has decent content like added skiff rivers and ocean traversal but it’s not enough for $20.00. I’d say $15.00 is a great starting price point like Frozen Wilds was.

I didn’t dig the technical issues, bugs and glitches, lack of gameplay direction within some main missions. Just doing the main missions takes around five or six hours (there’s only five main missions).

I would say total content with side missions and just by looking at the map could net maybe 12 total hours of content. If you are hard up for cash I would pass until it’s on discount. On the flipside if you love Horizon and want to see Aloy get what she wants for once in the story buy it. If you want to watch gameplay visit my Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores Video Playlist. Thanks for reading – Jason