It would have been relatively easy for Guerrilla Games to rest on their laurels and put out a Horizon expansion that was just more Forbidden West. And in some ways, the Burning Shores DLC is exactly that: a distilled helping of what made the core game so great – an elevated sci-fi story in a pulpy wrapping, tied with a bow made from high-octane action. You’ll once again be fighting machines, solving puzzles, and yes, climbing tall structures. But Guerrilla has done much more here, adding in surprises with new machines to discover and introducing even more fun ways to take them down. Burning Shores is for the most part a great time, and clumsily engineered ending aside, a worthy addition to the Horizon series.
After the conclusion of the main campaign, this DLC summons you to LA in order to hunt down a lead that may be helpful against the looming threat introduced at the end of Forbidden West’s story. The titular Burning Shores are an archipelago roughly four times the size of the San Francisco area of the main map, and shares a lot of that region’s visual identity. It’s a smart decision to echo Forbidden West’s standout location – the sand still sparkles and water glistens – but here lava flows in a natural representation of the increased danger that lurks in the Burning Shores. It wastes no time in throwing you into that danger, either, plunging you straight back into the rousing rhythms of Horizon combat.
At first, I found myself scrambling in the sand to rediscover half-buried techniques such as whipping into the air and slowing down time, but quickly got back in the zone, shifting styles like the tectonic plates sliding beneath me. Burning Shores doesn’t hang about when introducing new methods of machine destruction either, such as explosive crystals that cause ruins to collapse onto nearby enemies. Due to the clustered island nature of this new area, the level design tends to naturally create large, contained spaces that are perfect as action-filled arenas. The combat encounters that unfold within these spaces feel as accomplished as anything Guerrilla has created in the Horizon series yet, with a great variety of enemies paired together and environments filled with opportunity.
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A few new threats join the party to further enhance that mechanical menagerie, including the buzzing, flying ant-like Stingspawn and my favourite, the colossal, acid-spewing Bilegut: a leaping mecha-toad that is a terrific challenge to take down. An exciting new weapon is introduced to your arsenal to even the odds, too. I won’t spoil what it is here, but it’s a highly enjoyable and delightfully powerful addition that I quickly became reliant on in later battles.
It’s joined by fresh abilities added to the skill tree, some of which are fantastically effective and – crucially – fun to use. The grapple critical strike solves the formerly lingering problem of dispatching downed-but-distant enemies, and one of the new Valor Surge ultimate abilities causes gleeful chaos by sending surrounding machines into a berserker mode that forces them into a frenzy against one another.
The depiction of the city itself is stunning and further reinforces Forbidden West as one of the very best-looking games out there. Some landmarks still stand, such as the crumbling husk of the Capitol Records Building where the only music being made these days is a clanging mashup of metal and electronic as machines whirr and crackle.
The new surroundings aren’t just lovely to look at but supply fun new gameplay quirks too. Fizzing geysers offer the chance to glide high into the air, making for an effective option in combat as you swoop over unsuspecting threats. Ballistas are used for their puzzle-solving abilities as much as their destructive ones as you create new paths in cliffs with their bolts. It’s this smart deployment of equipment with multiple varying uses that serves as a further display of the clever level design (ending aside) on display here.
The majority of the fights are a thrill, which makes it a deflating anticlimax when, in its big moments, Burning Shores falls a bit flat. An arrow-sponge boss battle midway through its five-hour story is a particular annoyance, for example. Then there’s the huge-scale final encounter, where the clunky action just can’t match the spectacle as you’re bounced around the arena like a ragdoll while trying to find damage-dealing windows. A stuttering sin when compared to Horizon’s trademark fluid combat, it’s a disappointing finale that feels at odds with most of Burning Shores’ runtime. This is a fun adventure that ends with a clumsy thud both mechanically and in the story, which does fall foul of some of Horizon’s sci-fi trappings.
However, it never forgets to focus on the humanity of the situation, further fleshing out Aloy as an endearing and relatable character. The advancement of her character arc comes primarily thanks to the introduction of Seyka – someone similarly insular to Aloy – and the duo helps each other unlock themselves. Seyka proves a valuable companion not only in combat, but also by easing the plot burden from Aloy – crucially giving her someone to talk with and, mercifully, less time telling you about what she’s putting in her stash. The returning Ashly Burch is as good as ever as Aloy, but special mention has to go out to Kylie Liya Page as Seyka, who does a fantastic job at creating an engaging and believable three-dimensional character in a relatively short amount of time.
There are some great scenes between the two scattered throughout, both quiet and loud, with some highlights once again being when Horizon turns its lens towards our history through its old-world architecture. One area in particular is a delight as the amusement park-like veins that run through LA are re-exposed hundreds of years later.
The two lead characters are cut from the same cloth – both outsiders who’ve learned to be part of a bigger whole – leading to a fun dynamic between the pair as they navigate the Burning Shores together. If Forbidden West was all about Aloy learning to work with others, then Burning Shores feasts on the fruits of those efforts thanks to her competitive, but gradually softening dynamic with Seyka. There will no doubt be discussions surrounding how their chapter together ends, but I felt it was largely in keeping with what we’ve learned about Aloy as a character over the series, even if this particular finish line does seem to have been rushed toward ever so slightly.
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Burning Shores is essentially one long side quest, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as similar diversions were some of Forbidden West’s high points, but sometimes it does struggle to balance character development with feeling like a worthy bridge to the inevitable sequel. It does play stage for a new BioShock-flavoured villain who is a mustache-twiddle away from a cliché, and they don’t really get enough screen time to come across as too significant a threat, but do manage to leave a charismatic mark on the story, nonetheless. Despite the villain’s slight impact, Burning Shores does ultimately feel like an essential chapter of Aloy’s story, just not necessarily one to the world of Horizon as a whole.
Of course, there are side quests within this side quest, too. Each is often tied to personal stories of intrigue or anguish delivered by the once again solid supporting cast. As with the main game, there is a welcome amount of depth to be found in these with the character and costume design on show is once again best-in-class, with no detail spared.