The latest in Horizon Forbidden West, available for PS5, Burning Shores continues the theme of lush environments, this time in Los Angeles. We saw some dramatic endings to the Horizon Forbidden West story, and it was left on a note because we knew more stories could be told.
While the story of Burning Shores explores the famous Hollywood sign, a park, and other notable locations in Los Angeles, it somehow meshes well with the massive open world and story of the base game.
Forbidden Horizon West: The Story of the Burning Shores
While Burning Shores’ DLC story isn’t as extravagant as the base game, it’s the perfect length for players looking for more content. However, as Aloy embarks on a quest to learn more about Walter Londra, this isn’t the filler content that players will enjoy. This person from an ancient civilization is a famous stereotype businessman from Los Angeles, now known as the Burning Beaches. He loves the spotlight and is married to a famous actress. However, what Aloy is most interested in is London’s work, i.e. space exploration work.
It takes about 7-8 hours to complete the main story and it’s a roller coaster ride. Aloy teams up with new character Seika to search for her missing sister. Their search leads them to investigate this alien boy and discover that he is in a hurry to leave the planet, but they don’t know why.
Without giving too much away, players will see Aloy develop a new friendship with Sika and her bonding with an outsider like herself. Culminating with a challenging boss fight, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores’ story can best be described as “short and sweet”.
Horizon Forbidden West: The Burning Shores Game
The gameplay loop in Burning Shores is almost identical to Horizon Forbidden West. You’ll climb mountains, fight robot dinosaurs, and collect new artifacts for PlayStation trophies. However, Aloy gets new armor and weapons like the Stingspawn that she can use to defeat new bosses. One of them is homing, which makes fighting powerful enemies more fun and a bit easier due to its powerful nature.
Aloy also learns a new way to travel in the world of Horizon Forbidden West, where she can use her shield to use geysers to ascend to higher visions. This new scanning method helps you save time when you’re searching for hard-to-reach collectibles or when you need to make a quick escape during battles. In Burning Shores, Aloy can learn three new skills in addition to the many skills already unlocked from the base game.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores Graphics and Performance
As the Burning Shores DLC for Horizon Forbidden West is a PlayStation 5 exclusive, it’s expected to be great. As per everyone’s expectations, the DLC comes out on top. As mentioned earlier, the game takes place in Los Angeles, as opposed to the concrete jungle we know today. Instead, the entire city was flooded, and overgrown vegetation reclaimed famous sights like the Hollywood sign. Most of the time, apocalyptic Los Angeles looks beautiful, even with skyscrapers from the ocean.
Just like its recent releases on the PlayStation 5, the Burning Shores DLC offers players three modes; Any resolution, performance (60fps) and balance. In most cases, using the Balanced preset will give gamers a better experience, as the game looks amazing while saving the maximum frames for players (40fps in most cases). However, it should be noted that only displays with HDMI 2.1 inputs support this mode and support a refresh rate of 120Hz.
If gamers want to play in a beautiful environment and are willing to sacrifice frames, they can always use the resolution mode. In this mode, the game is at 30fps, but looks absolutely stunning at 2160p.
Horizon Forbidden West: Judgment of the Burning Shore
While Burning Shores’ expansion for Horizon Forbidden West isn’t as expansive as some recent DLCs, it does provide a satisfying experience for fans of the franchise. The DLC adds new abilities, weapons, and enemy types, making it worthwhile for players to invest 7-8 hours into the new story. With beautiful graphics, amazing performance and a new map to explore, there’s enough content here for fans of the franchise. However, there’s still no logical reason why PlayStation 4 players can’t try out the Burning Shores DLC, especially since the base game, a much larger and more complex title, can be played on the previous generation console.
Author Rating: 3.5/5
Positives:
- Cool new environments
- New weapons, abilities and collectibles
- New types of enemies
- Other meaningful game combinations
- Fascinating story
Cons:
- Exclusively on PlayStation 5
- The story can be long
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