Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores Review by robiu013
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.