Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is not just an incredible DLC, but it’s an absolutely crucial part of the entire Horizon story. Seyka proves to be an amazing companion, not just in terms of being an actual intelligently functioning AI in combat, but also because of how she encourages character growth in Aloy.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
Guerrilla Games · Apr 19, 2023
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Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores sees Aloy pursue a sinister threat in the untamed wilds of Los Angeles, now a treacherous volcanic archipelago.
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Critic reviews
- Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores may be more Horizon, but if that’s what you’re looking for, then you’ll be very happy with this new content. With an excellent story, interesting new characters, awesome new weapons, and enemies, as well as some of the most exciting sequences in the entire game, Burning Shores makes Forbidden West an even stronger experience than it already was.
- 8.5On its own, it is a nice little adventure in a new area that begs to be explored. It improves Forbidden West’s already outstanding visuals and introduces a great new character who is more than a match for Aloy, something the series has arguably been missing. However, the overall plot and primary antagonist feel like a retread of the main game, there are only a few noteworthy gameplay additions, and there’s less to do than you might expect.
- 8.8Burning Shores is every bit the continuation of Horizon Forbidden West. It builds on the great gameplay of the base game with a few new wrinkles, introduces a watery world and the ability to dive into it, and moves the story downfield a few yards as Aloy and her allies, old and new, prepare for what comes next.
- 7.5Overall, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a great character-focused story expansion with some middling gameplay improvements added. If you want some extra time with Aloy and see her bond with some new characters while having one more fun ride, you will be well served here.
- 8.5With its eye-meltingly gorgeous scenery and romantic subplot, Burning Shores feels like a dream at times, a brief moment of relative serenity before Aloy faces off against what is sure to be her greatest challenge thus far. Though Nemesis will likely push Aloy to her limits, the meaningful relationships she has forged and the beauty of the world around her give her more than enough reasons to keep fighting.
Gamer reviews
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
A year after the main game's release Horizon graces us with some DLC and overall I have to say I'm quite satisfied. Burning Shores has a vibe similar to long running series getting a movie treatment, where the story is somewhat self-contained and short, but in some ways maybe even better than the less concise main game experience. Where the DLC shines most for me is that there's just no unnecessary padding, but instead one creative spin on the game's formula after the other. To put it in other words: While Burning Shores does not change the core mechanics of the game, it does build around them to provide a shorter experience, where almost every segment of the playthrough feels somewhat unique and as a result truly satisfying. To name just a few of the cool things they added: you can now travel by skif, there are some clever puzzle parts, some new weapons and machines and the boss battles really switch things up in a way which felt a bit missing in the core game. It's actually fascinating how this DLC feels much grander in some parts than the main game, even though it by all means still runs on the same engine and playstation. Story is fine. I'm not too blown away by it, but I thought overall it was a good side addition to the Horizon universe. Aloy now gets a companion in the form of Seyka, who is a quen on her search for her lost sister and it's up to you to uncover what really happened. I guess in some ways the dynamic between Aloy and Seyka is pretty good... again, I wouldn't say Horizon quite packed me with it's characters to the same extent as God of War, Nier: Automata or the Last of Us, but I guess what they did with Aloy and Seyka feels more meaningful than a lot of the character moments within the main game. If I were to criticize the DLC I could bring up that it's (obviously) relatively short. While there is some bonus content, when you look for it, the amount of side quests you get to pick up when focusing primarily on the main story is relatively minimal... oh, and they do another one of those side-quests where a douchey character is introduced, that you technically don't exactly have any rational reason to hate, but the game insists you should, cause he seems like a douche in your first meeting with him and then they do a side quest with a reveal to justify portraying him like that. Yeah, HFW already did that twice in my memory and it always just felt low-key manipulative. But yeah, it's a side quest and I'm nitpicking here. Also, the DLC is post-game only, which isn't a problem for me, but maybe people should know this before buying 30€ of additional content for a game, they haven't finished yet. Anyway, main takeaway from the DLC is it's good and the Horizon games might have a promising future ahead of them, if this is the direction they're heading.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
This is a great expansion to this excellent game! It has a good story with a great new character. Having the flying mount is great to get around. The combat is still strong & there are challenging machines. The last boss battle is really satisfying. I ended up kissing Seyka but then had to say goodbye. I really wished Aloy would stay there with the tribe or take Seyka with her on her future journey. There is an epilogue that will lead to Horizon 3. Unfortunately Sylens won’t be there as Lance Reddick just died recently. Overall, I highly recommend this expansion. I’d give it a 10/10!
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