Those who have completed the entire story of Horizon Forbidden West know well how the second chapter of Aloy's adventures ends with a huge cliffhanger that serves as a possible background for what will be told in the inevitable third episode of the series. However, many of us had assumed that this first DLC, Burning Shores, is substantial additional content that is configured as a real expansion, could somehow carry that narrative forward and act as a bridge to the future chapter.
It is with these assumptions that we launch ourselves into Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores description which, in addition to offering a new main mission and several new gameplay features, is on the market at the price of €19,99 and is available exclusively on PlayStation 5, where the base game could also be played on the old PS4. A marketing decision or dictated by technological needs? We will also try to give our opinion on this front in this review; And now sit back and enjoy reading!
A story that is a bit of filler.
With a particularly unprecedented decision for our sector, to play Burning Shores it is essential not only to have finished Horizon Forbidden West, but you must be in the post-final open world because only then can we receive the call from Sylens. in Aloy's approach and give it the expansion narrative plot. If for some strange reason you chose to start a New Game+ and didn't save a previous save somewhere, prepare for a frantic race to finish the original title again, otherwise the DLC will remain a downloaded component. , but not boot.
With this choice, as we said before, quite atypical in a market where developers and publishers constantly try to put players in the best conditions to allow them to try (and buy) any additional content, Guerrilla was able to assume that anyone who approached The expansion was very aware of the particular ending with which Forbidden West concluded. Nemesis is preparing to approach Earth and our team must find a way to counter this terrifying artificial intelligence that has escaped the Zenith's control.
It's a shame, however, that this terrible threat is there in the air, but it doesn't move one bit given that in Burning Shores we will have to deal with a Zenith that came out of nowhere and that, coincidentally, everyone had hit. presumed dead when he was actually holed up on an island busy taking his personality cult to new levels of imagination. We clearly appreciate the ability of the Dutch software house's editorial team to set the stage. an interesting character, Walter London, a scattered fringe of the Quen shipwrecked after a naval expedition and, above all, a secondary character who will follow Aloy throughout practically the entire main story, Seyka.
However, without wanting to risk any kind of spoiler, we must admit that we were not particularly satisfied with the narrative sector. The twists and turns are obvious, a separate article could be written about the hasty way in which Aloy's romantic relationships were decided to evolve, and in general the idea we have of Burning Shores is that of a filler, if we take the term. comparison with series and anime. A sumptuous, rich, colorful and appreciable filling., but it is still a filler that does not move the main narrative arc of the series even a millimeter, postponing every answer and real evolution of the plot until the inevitable third chapter of Horizon that, who knows when, we will be able to play. .
Guerrilla's ability to design the main mission in a new way compared to the past will surely be rewarded, with Seyka who will practically always be at our side, ready not only to lend a hand in combat and chat with Aloy in moments of rest. , but also to solve a handful of environmental puzzles that generate a certainly fascinating cooperative feeling. However, precisely when talking about missions, we cannot fail to highlight that there will only be 5 main tasks and, despite the fact that there are a swarm of secondary activities, some of which are new (such as the Pangea figurines that generated so many problems in the Spanish localization), it took us less than 10 hours to see much of what the DLC has to offer in terms of story.
Rich gameplay
As far as gameplay is concerned, it is clear that we cannot expect major revolutions or changes of direction from the additional content and it must also be recognized that Guerrilla has gone far beyond simple duties, enriching the main elements of Horizon Forbidden West with a hat. Tasty presentation trick.
First of all there is the new island, a cross section of Los Angeles, with Hollywood Hill shining in the central area of the land and some ruins of Downtown and Santa Monica (there is even the famous Ferris wheel). This new area, connected from the main game map via a very fast boat ride, is clearly smaller than the Forbidden West area (about 1/3 its size), but is extremely geographically dense. There are beaches, many explorable maritime areas, mountains, forests, volcanic areas with geysers of lava and steam that allow you to float in the air with Aloy's Alascudo and, in general, there is a lot of verticality, useful to make the most of the Tuffoplano. , the new flying machine introduced with the DLC.
And speaking only of robots, with the expansion some new artificial threats have been introduced starting with the just mentioned Diving Plane that replaces the Skycracker and is crucial to being able to fly among the splendid clouds of the add-on. We will also find drones that are activated if we unfortunately collide with the "eggs" that guard them and a species of gigantic frog, as well as several improved versions of the dinosaurs that we already found in the past.
To all this we must add the final threat that we will face during the final battle of the DLC, which despite not having features of a prehistoric animal, fits perfectly with the imagery of the series. All of these introductions, however, have unbalanced the pace of the action towards more distant combat since the new enemies will tend to remain very high in the air or move quickly around the battlefield, among other things with a particularly high life reserve. which leads to intense and frenetic fights where it is not always easy to deal with the crazy camera and the need to move widely on the terrain.
A great shame, given that the third main introduction of the DLC concerns a substantial addition to Aloy's talents, as for each skill branch 2 active skills and a brave charge have been added, clearly in line with the focus of each tree. We appreciate the portable shields that you can place on the ground to protect yourself from enemy projectiles, mines and some bonuses related to smoke grenades, as well as the new power shot combined with the grappling hook that you can inflict on stunned cars and that in More than one The occasion was shown during the trailers. But above all, we were pleasantly impressed by the possibility of loading Aloy's spear with elements, to take advantage of the machines' weaknesses even in close combat, as well as Seyka's ability to attach fire tanks to the opponent's armor, allowing So use our arrows to generate huge explosions during battles.
A technically indisputable exclusive
Considering all the debate that arose during Ratchet & Clank's early demos over the PS5's "miracle" SSD, we're pretty convinced there will be a lot of talk about Guerrilla needing to run Burning Shores exclusively on the latest console. from Sony. Without going into technical details that require a much deeper analysis than ours, there is no doubt that Burning Shores offers an even better look than Forbidden West Further reinforcing our thesis that Horizon is the best open world available on console from a purely technological point of view. And both the new island, with its density, and the new non-player characters, once again extraordinary from the point of view of facial expressiveness and body animations, and the whole question of the clouds that can be reached and then cross with the Tuffoplano, We only strengthen this thesis.
Not to mention the development team's ability to continue creating. truly splendid and evocative settings that mix fact and fiction, radiant past and dystopian future, placing points of interest here and there that surprise and amaze when the player first encounters them (the Hollywood Hill with the "stuck" Horus is simply extraordinary), and without stopping excessively in the details of a truly sensational final combat in terms of the number of staged elements and the beauty of the setting in which the long battle takes place.
So, is all this enough to justify the non-existence of DLC on PS4? We have a hard time answering this, but what we haven't really been able to explain is Guerrilla's choice to make the clouds their own, which required the additional power of the PS5, an accessory element to the Burning Shores narrative, an absolutely optional component of all the exploration that we stumbled upon almost by chance. There is not a single mission that guides us towards high altitude flight or any specific objective if we exclude an absolutely free and useful confrontation to put some loot in our pocket. If the clouds really represent the crown jewel of the DLC (among other things, new technologies have made them static), why not focus more on them, making them an integral part of the story?
Nothing to say about it anyway overall look that remains once again extraordinary despite some small compromises in terms of interpenetration, pop-ups and pop-ins and an absolutely positive opinion also in the area of the soundtrack, perfectly in line with the sounds and themes of the past, together with a nice synth intro and electronic music. As we applaud for the umpteenth time, Sony's ability to implement a Outstanding Spanish dubbing with excellent performances by all the protagonists and a good mix of sound effects.
Conclusions
Tested version PlayStation 5 digital delivery PlayStation Store Price 19,99 € Holygamerz.com 7.5 Readers (38) 7.8 your voteWe believe it is easy to understand from the lines of this review that Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a pleasant, competent and appreciable DLC for those who have spent dozens (if not hundreds) of hours with the action adventure in the world. Guerrilla open. However, there are a number of glitches that affect the structure of this expansion here and there, both in terms of the story and in some aspects of the gameplay. The end result is, in our opinion, additional content that, in addition to generating happiness among fans of the series, will also leave them with a bitter taste in their mouth due to a whole series of unclear and sometimes unjustifiable choices. Now let's hope we don't have to wait too many years to see Aloy back on the scene.
PRO
- Technically it is confirmed that it is the best open world on console
- Always having company during the adventure is calming and pleasant.
- Some new talents bring variety to combat.
AGAINST
- Every turn is televised and even predictable.
- The main story ends very quickly.
- Clouds are beautiful but rarely used.
