I think Horizon Forbidden West is a great game, but it wasn’t the leap forward that I and many others dreamed of. However, its ending left me wanting a third episode, so filling the void with an expansion seemed like the next best thing. After spending about 10 hours doing and exploring absolutely everything in the LA area, I can safely say that Burning Shores delivers on that promise, though I’m afraid Horizon still has that special “something”. which keeps it from fading into the shadow of other more anticipated games that are just around the corner.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, here the main story has been pushed aside (with a few exceptions) and the focus is on the story itself. aloy. Sure, Burning Shores starts out by taking us to Los Angeles in hopes of finding something that can help us deal with the impending threat revealed at the end of the base game, but it’s mostly an excuse for Aloy to see new places, meet new people and fight new machines. The most shocking thing in the story is the introduction of Seyka, another young islander with a passion for adventure. She has an interesting personality, and her relationship with Aloy is much more natural than having our redhead talking to each other all the time. Actresses Ashly Burch and Kylie Liya Page deserve a lot of credit because they work well together and the chemistry shows, especially when the two talk about what the world was like. Maybe their relationship rushes a bit towards the end, leading to a less shocking ending than it could have been, but it’s still memorable. We all know it’s the journey, not the destination, that’s important, and this expansion takes that into account.
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Yes what a visual journey. Los Angeles is, quite simply, the forbidden San Francisco of the West. A San Francisco with lava spewing volcanoes creating a great contrast of clear blue water dotting the beautiful beaches leading to a lush green desert with hot red lava running through it. I can understand why Guerrilla ended up making it a PlayStation 5 exclusive when everything looks so much better, and that’s before we mention the gameplay.
Because that’s what surprised me the most. Burning Shores isn’t just a prettier Forbidden West in Los Angeles with a bit more history and lore. The new robotic enemies are really different from what we’re used to, both in design and behavior. Great additions that I won’t reveal here and that remind me of the first time I fought those robot dinosaurs in Horizon: Zero Dawn. It’s exciting to see how something completely new spices up the formula which was about to become all too familiar by the end of my stay in Forbidden West. Having new tools, abilities, and environmental hazards to play with also helps.
Move the action to Los Angeles deals new opportunities to destroy machines in new, engaging and satisfying ways. Either by shooting explosive crystals that can inflict massive damage on their own, or by destroying enemies by dropping destructible structures on them. Combining all of this with new enemy combinations and better-designed combat zones, logically increases the pleasure of using your favorite and improved weapons for so many hours of gameplay.
The ace new weapons and abilities they are the icing on the cake. As for the new enemies, I don’t want to spoil the best and most notable surprises (although Sony decided to do that in the trailers), but let’s just say a few new weapons have replaced some of the ones I liked. . most for being powerful and different from what we are used to. Even the grappling hook has become much more convenient, allowing you to quickly destroy injured enemies with a quick critical hit. A handful of new Valor Surge abilities also take certain playstyles and tactics to another level. All these possibilities combined make Los Angeles your playground.
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The same is true outside of combat. Hacer turismo, buscar objetos coleccionables y huevos de Pascua, o resolver puzzles, no se convierte en algo tedioso cuando una montura voladora puede nadar bajo el agua, los géiseres te dan un impulse al planear y hay un montón de points de referencia recognizable distributed por Angels. Nothing revolutionary, but just enough to make it fresh and worth it.
Something not really worth it are the boss encounters that Guerrilla has promoted. The final boss is certainly a visual spectacle, but it doesn’t add anything new in terms of gameplay. It might be fun, but it also reflects the franchise’s flaw of not knowing how to tap into its full potential.
Still, Horizon Forbidden West’s Burning Shores is a must-do experience for fans of the game. Running and flying through Los Angeles is absolutely stunning, the new weapons and enemies are fun and a breath of fresh air, while the story introduces new characters and small details that will obviously play less or more notable roles in the practically announced third installment. But don’t expect Horizon Forbidden West 1.5 when it’s more of a sidestep similar to what The Frozen Wilds meant.