Horizon Forbidden West developer Guerrilla Games announced the new Burning Shores DLC at the 2022 Game Awards as an exclusive for the PS5 console set to release on April 19, 2023. The announcement trailer shows a Horus war machine decimating the remains of the Hollywood sign, indicating Aloy's journey will take her to what remains of present-day Los Angeles. Burning Shores will continue the storyline of Forbidden West, with Aloy traveling south of the Tenakth lands.
Aside from a graphical upgrade, though, players are left to speculate whether Burning Shores will bring substantive changes to existing gameplay mechanics with the PS5's improved processing power. For example, players of Horizon Forbidden West critiqued Aloy's inability to engage in combat during the new underwater exploration sections, making stealth in these portions mandatory. Horizon Forbidden West already improved and expanded Horizon Zero Dawn's already impressive gameplay mechanics, but Burning Shores may introduce new weapons to Aloy's Horizon Forbidden West arsenal.
The PS5 Has More Advanced Technical Capabilities
In an official statement on its website, Guerrilla Games states: "To achieve this grand vision technically and creatively, we've made the difficult decision to focus all our efforts on making an incredible experience exclusive to the PlayStation 5 console." As a studio that seemingly holds significant stock in how players receive its art and relate to its characters, it's disappointing that accessibility is being pushed to the back burner on the Burning Shores DLC, especially since the base game is already playable on both the PS4 and PS5. Two years into the current-gen console's lifespan, however, this is hardly surprising news, only odd that it's come for an expansion to a cross-platform game.
Horizon's Burning Shore DLC Will Continue To Face Criticism
Multiple aspects of Horizon Forbidden West faced criticism, especially Aloy's unapologetic strength and gender presentation. Aloy's lack of romantic relationships in Forbidden West was also unconventional, yet Guerrilla Games forged onwards to deliver the story players loved. In doing so, whether intentional or not, the developers of Horizon Forbidden West invited players into a defiantly hopeful game world accessible to all players, a world where everyone could be accepted as their authentic selves and still step up, banding together and meaningfully contributing however they could when it matters, regardless of their affiliation, religion, sexuality, gender, or ability. Players can only hope the Burning Shores DLC continues to adhere to this ideology.
Both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West are thoughtfully crafted, the developers carefully ensuring that every side quest in Horizon Forbidden West has purpose, meaningfully contributing to the larger story arc. Fans of the series without access to the PS5 may have hope, however, as developers have previously announced PS5-exclusive titles only to introduce them to PS4 at a later date.
Development and technology continue to improve, so technological limitations are not a perpetually-insurmountable hurdle. Be it through dedicated fans making game mods for the PS4 version or Guerrilla Games officially porting the DLC to the PS4 at a later date, fans of the franchise may still have hope to rejoin the beloved world of Horizon Forbidden West in the Burning Shores DLC without having to spend hundreds of dollars on a new gaming console.
Sources: Guerrilla Games, PlayStation/YouTube