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[Draugoth]

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Game Information​

Game Title: Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores

Platforms:

• PlayStation 5 (Apr 19, 2023)

Trailers:

• Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores | Launch Trailer
• Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores | Announce Trailer

Developer: Guerrilla Games

Publisher: Sony

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 79 average - 67% recommended - 9 reviews

MetaCritic - 80 average - PlayStation 5 - 5 Reviews

Critic Reviews​

Digital Trends - Giovanni Colantonio - 3.5 / 5

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a light, but crowd-pleasing DLC chapter that sets the stage for Aloy's next adventure.

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Explosion Network - Dylan Blight - 7 / 10

If you enjoyed your time with Horizon Forbidden West, you'll want to play Burning Shores. It's the next chapter in the Horizon story, a stepping stone towards the next game while also giving you an excuse to fly, dive, and glide around this beautiful world once again.

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GameSpew - Richard Seagrave - 9 / 10

It would be easy to write off Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores as more of the same, but thanks to some stand-out gameplay moments and Aloy’s new relationship with Seyka, it should be considered essential for fans of the series. Make no mistake, a third game in the series is coming, and this is its prelude. But more importantly, if the new features and other additions here are a taste of what’s to come, sign us up right now.

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IGN - Simon Cardy - 8 / 10

A couple of poor boss battles aside, Burning Shores is a great new chapter with enough creative new bells and whistles to keep Horizon fans more than happy.

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Kakuchopurei - Jonathan Leo - 80 / 100

Even with [some questionable boss fight designs] I still had a blast playing more Horizon Forbidden West thanks to this Burning Shores DLC. And I would go back again to uncover the rest of the map and handle the rest of the sidequests in this, well, sidequest DLC. Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores showcases more Aloy as she bonds with someone almost similar to her as well as her maturity given the past events in Forbidden West, features an awesome new territory to explore with more giant machines to take down and loot, and also teases what might come in the eventual Horizon 3.

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PlayStation Universe - John-Paul Jones - 7.5 / 10

For better or worse, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is simply more Horizon Forbidden West and for fans of the game and also its detractors, that will be to their joy and chagrin respectively. As it is, Burning Shores is an impressively spectacle stuffed, though routinely unambitious expansion that does little to address the weaknesses of the core franchise but still manages to provide an effective bridge to the third game in the Horizon trilogy.

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Push Square - Stephen Tailby - 8 / 10

Like Frozen Wilds did with Horizon Zero Dawn, Burning Shores takes what was already great about Forbidden West and gives you a sizeable new playground and a bunch of extra toys to play with. The archipelago is great fun to explore by land, sea, or air, with plenty of interesting things to see and do. Certain areas feel a little underutilised, but overall this is a great expansion that continues Aloy's story and sets up for things to come in Horizon 3.

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TheSixthAxis - Tuffcub - 8 / 10

Burning Shores is exactly what you would expect, with even more of that solid Horizon gameplay wrapped around a story that initially seems quite frivolous but soon becomes very dark and uncomfortable. If you loved Horizon Forbidden West, you will love this too.

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Use a Potion - 9.5 / 10

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a fantastic expansion that offers plenty of thrills and genuinely pushes the overall story forward. This isn’t just some minor side endeavour for Aloy, but a meaningful quest that doesn’t only highlight the threat that the world faces but also strengthens her resolve to defeat it. Add to that the exciting missions to complete, the vicious new enemies to face off against, a cool new ally in Seyka, and the wonderful LA setting to explore, and it’ll become clear that this is an unmissable piece of content for Horizon fans (even if it doesn’t try to expand upon the core gameplay formula too much).

 

[feynoob]

As expected. It's horizon level review.

The game needs different writers. Great visuals, but not so great on the story side.

 

[Venom Snake]

 

[begotten]

Soooo looks like I'll be waiting to play this when it's cheap or free like Frozen Wilds then.

 

[Woggleman]

If you like Horizon you will love this and if you don't it won't change your mind. It is made for the fans and there is nothing wrong with that.

 

[GymWolf]

I like that this is more connected to the main plot than frozen wild, they need to make me care for nemesis.

 

[ahtlas7]

And

 

[sainraja]

If you like Horizon you will love this and if you don't it won't change your mind. It is made for the fans and there is nothing wrong with that.

Yeah but I don't know why anyone would expect otherwise lol.

 

[Woggleman]

Yeah but I don't know why anyone would expect otherwise lol.

Some people complain that is more of the same as if that is a bad thing when it is an addition to an already existing game.

 

[Nydius]

7 feels about right, IMO. I think it’s much weaker than the base game, which I already felt was weaker overall compared to HZD (except graphically, of course).

 

[Nankatsu]

 

[sainraja]

Some people complain that is more of the same as if that is a bad thing when it is an addition to an already existing game.

Yeah, when I see them saying that I have to question if they even liked the original game to begin with. But I get what you are saying.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Absolutely gorgeous graphics but...


Horizon 3.....

 

[Flutta]

Graphics is the only thing this game has. Like we all know that’s not enough. Do better GG.

 

[mckmas8808]

How long is the DLC?

 

[Fake]

If you like Horizon you will love this and if you don't it won't change your mind. It is made for the fans and there is nothing wrong with that.

Highly disagree. I hate Horizon Zero Dawn, but love Frozen Wilds.

Will vary from person to person.

 

[Nydius]

How long is the DLC?

If you just blow through the main story missions, about 4-5 hours. If you run through and gather everything, 9-11. Minor adjustments depending on difficulty level, ofc.

I had 100% completion on Hard (NG+) in around 9.5 hours. Admittedly I didn’t upgrade all the new items everything but didn’t feel the need to. I suppose I could add another couple hours to the playtime if I wanted to grind the materials for every upgrade.

 

[killatopak]

What score did Frozen Wilds get?

 

[Fbh]

Seems like an easy wait for a sale.
The impressions I've seen over on the OT don't seem too hot.

What score did Frozen Wilds get?

83 Metascore

 

[killatopak]

Seems like an easy wait for a sale.
The impressions I've seen over on the OT don't seem too hot.


83 Metascore

Okay seems like it’s consistent then. Frozen Wilds was also a set up dlc for the sequel.

 

[JimmyRustler]

So even more of a snore-fest than FW?

 

[scydrex]

So even more of a snore-fest than FW?

More of the same... dlc so...

 

[Gambit2483]

For 20 bucks this is an easy recommend, especially if you had any enjoyment with Forbidden West's gameplay or world/story.

 

[mckmas8808]

If you just blow through the main story missions, about 4-5 hours. If you run through and gather everything, 9-11. Minor adjustments depending on difficulty level, ofc.

I had 100% completion on Hard (NG+) in around 9.5 hours. Admittedly I didn’t upgrade all the new items everything but didn’t feel the need to. I suppose I could add another couple hours to the playtime if I wanted to grind the materials for every upgrade.

Okay, so it'll take me about 6-7 hours to beat then. That's worth $20.

 

[Valonquar]

The DLC was aight. I am however getting real tired of games releasing stuff like this over a year post launch. Like I'm going to remember any of the controls, or not be halfway through a new game+ and stuck waiting until I reclear old stuff to get to the entry point of the DLC.

The cloud rendering tech stuff was good. The jumping "puzzles" were kinda weak and gltchy just like base game. Horus fight was nice, but sometimes the camera angles would go insane when a leg clipped into the foreground.

 

[Hobbygaming]

For 20 bucks this is an easy recommend, especially if you had any enjoyment with Forbidden West's gameplay or world/story.

Yes! Burning Shores is a steal for $20

 

[rofif]

I reinserted fw for first time after finishing on release. No dlc yet as I don’t even remember how to play this.

Anyway. I am shocked how incredible it looks. Omg. They patched it a lot.
The fidelity mode still looks the best but it’s no longer a huge gap.
And I am very surprised how good the 30 fps feels. I’ve finished the game in fidelity but this feels better than I remember.
Maybe they patched up motion blur too since it looks and feels good for a 30 fps mode

 

[gow3isben]

Burning Shores was solid. I enjoyed it and recommend it to people who liked FW. Some interesting new gameplay segments. Not enough new machines. I thought the new side character was a complete bore though.

 

[jonnyp]

Burning Shores was solid. I enjoyed it and recommend it to people who liked FW. Some interesting new gameplay segments. Not enough new machines. I thought the new side character was a complete bore though.

Agree, I overall enjoyed it too but Seyka is pretty much Aloy Mk II, hard to even tell the characters apart. Final boss was fun.

Kind of disappointed with the amount of extremely noticable pop-in and lack of draw distance when flying, especially since traversal speed isn't even fast. It does look absolutely stunning most of the time though.

Melee and human enemies still sucks.