Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores review: the post-apocalyptic world has never been so beautiful

To play the Burning Shores expansion, you must have completed Forbidden West. Hence, this game review contains spoilers for the base game Horizon Forbidden West. There are no spoilers for Burning Shores.

In Forbidden West, tribal warrior Aloy has once again saved the post-apocalyptic dino-robot world of Horizon from ruin – at least for now. At the end of the game, a swarm of killer robots from space is on its way towards Earth, controlled by an artificial intelligence that wants to wipe out all of humanity. At least Aloy has eliminated all the members of the unscrupulous Far Zenith organisation who were complicit in the plight of the world.

Or has he?

In the Burning Shores expansion, Aloy learns that there’s a new danger in the south of San Francisco stemming from the high-tech villains of Far Zenith. More precisely, it’s in the ruins of former Los Angeles.

The expansion seamlessly picks up where the main game left off and continues the exciting story. Accordingly, Aloy’s adventure in L.A. doesn’t feel like an expansion, but a sequel – though a much more compact one.

Jumping right into the deep end

As a Horizon veteran, I immediately feel at home in Los Angeles. The gameplay loop hasn’t changed much. Burning Shores builds on the strengths of the main game.

You’ll roam around a post-apocalyptic version of L.A., where a plethora of nasty dino-robots lurk, and battle your way through the tin monsters with your immense arsenal of weapons. Your Focus device allows you to scan for weak points and rare components on the robots, and you can use the gained resources to produce ammunition as well as weapon and armour upgrades. So far, so Horizon.

Unlike in the main game, there’s no slow start in Burning Shores; no tutorials and no grace period with weak opponents. Because the game is set after the end of Forbidden West, your entire arsenal of weapons and skillset are available to you from the start. Since my adventures in the Forbidden West were a while ago, it takes me a few hours – and a few unnecessary deaths – to get used to the complex combat system again.

In the very first mission, I fight against a fearsome Thunderjaw and a new powerful robot class that resembles a frog. The critters’ design is superb, and they immediately force me to whip out my full arsenal. The only thing I find unnecessary are the new wasp-like flying robots. They’re annoying, but fortunately they’re easy to destroy.

In addition to the items you’ve already unlocked, you can earn new skills, equipment and weapons as you progress through the story. I’m particularly fascinated by a new high-tech weapon in Aloy’s arsenal – it completely turns the gameplay on its head. Aloy has never felt so powerful and brutal. But I won’t reveal anything more.

What’s a pity is that the final boss fight falls very flat compared to the rest of the game, especially because the boss is, purely visually, incredibly impressive. But in all its levels of escalation, it just feels like tedious work that’s repeatedly interrupted by unfair and frustrating attacks. The result is a conclusion that leaves a bland aftertaste not befitting the otherwise excellent combat system.

It’s a small, wide world

The map in Burning Shores is about a quarter of the size of the map in Forbidden West. The game wastes no time in exploring the map and gives you all the tools you need right from the start. You can explore the archipelago with a new motorboat or take to the skies with your Sunwing flying robot.

The increased mobility makes the map feel even more compact. With your Sunwing, you can reach remote parts of the ruins of L.A. in no time. Unlike in Forbidden West, the map was explicitly designed to be explored with a flying robot. You no longer feel constrained by predefined (climbing) paths; you can go – or fly – your own way. This makes the pace of the game even faster and motivates you to search every corner of the infested metropolis.

In typical Horizon fashion, there are once again numerous collectible items to discover, enemy camps to clear, and dungeons to master. Some puzzles in the game environment are even designed to be tackled with your flying robot. The open-world formula with what feels like thousands of to-dos on the overview map still feels a bit stale, but at least it’s partially broken up by your added mobility.

In the course of the game, you’ll get access to a new hybrid flying robot, which will allow you to also explore the underwater world. Exploring the map is so, so fun! It’s a pity that the game somewhat robs me of these freedoms in the main missions.

During gameplay, I encountered some typical open-world bugs. Fortunately, nothing devastating. But Burning Shores is no exception to the rule that you should rather save too often than not often enough.

Look at those clouds!

Burning Shores is only available on the PS5, though Forbidden West was also released on the PS4. According to the developer Guerilla Games, the reason for this is, among other things, the use of volumetric rendering for the clouds that hover over the big city. What initially reads like a weird excuse makes sense in practice. I’ve never seen such beautiful clouds in a video game.

While Forbidden West had to resort to simple 2D clouds for the most part, the bulging 3D clouds in Burning Shores feel eerily real. Because you spend a lot of time on the back of your Sunwing, the rendering of the clouds has a big impact on the feel of the game. Some cloud banks even hide secrets.

The graphics of the expansion are beautiful in other respects, too. The landscape looks a bit more vivid, colourful and full compared to the main game. The countless lava rivers that flow along the coasts into the crystal clear sea are especially beautiful. It’s no coincidence that the expansion is called Burning Shores.

A more intimate story

The story in Burning Shores also feels much more compact and intimate compared to Forbidden West. The large cast from the main game shrinks to two people. In addition to Aloy, Seyka is now also central to the story. The warrior is stranded on the burning shores of Los Angeles with her tribe, the technology-obsessed Quen.

In the course of the story, the two warriors team up and fight side by side against human and robotic opponents. The chemistry between the two is on point. Only the repetitive dialogues during the fights feel out of place and quickly get annoying.

Especially at the end of the game, I’d have liked to see a slightly slower pace to give the likeable heroines more room to breathe. I hope we get to see more of Seyka in the next Horizon game.

Besides Aloy and Seyka’s storyline, you’ll also learn more about the rich backstory of the world of Horizon with exciting information about the Quens and Far Zeniths. The fact that the main villain is rather uninteresting in the whole construct doesn’t bother me much.

All in all, the story works very well. It doesn’t feel like a forced, tacked-on expansion, but a logical next step in Aloy’s adventure that makes you want to play Horizon 3.

Conclusion: more than just an extension

If you liked Horizon: Forbidden West, you’ll love Burning Shores. The DLC isn’t a mere expansion, but a compact continuation of the main game.

The game forgoes a slow start and forces you to use the full range of your weapons, equipment and transportation options from the very beginning. This makes gameplay very varied and the pace extremely high. Only the disappointing boss fight leaves a sour aftertaste.

Compared to the main game, the map feels smaller and more compact – a welcome change from increasingly large open-world games. The story has also been reduced to the essentials. Aloy and her new companion Seyka complement each other perfectly.

Graphically, the game is stunning beyond a doubt. The world in Forbidden West already stood out with its gorgeous, detailed landscapes and beautiful lighting. Burning Shores kicks it up a notch, especially thanks to the realistic clouds.

TLDR: Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a fantastic expansion. I’m curious to see how Aloy the tribal warrior’s story continues.

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is available for PlayStation 5. The game was provided to me by Sony for testing purposes.

Video games

44,18 EUR

Sony Horizon Forbidden West

PS5, EN

199

Video games

Sony Horizon Forbidden West

64