Sony Horizon Forbidden West - Information Thread, update: Digital Foundry hands-on with PC version

[Spork3245]

26 minutes ago, stepee said:

I hope this isn’t like suppppper short it’s just that it’s only $20 so that makes me wonder.

The DLC for the first game was 7-10 hours iirc.

[best3444]

I think I might start this up tonight. When I initially played it it I was in an awful time in my life and I couldn't appreciate it. Then I'll tackle the dlc when that hits.

[best3444]

@stepee I stand corrected, Forbidden West has the greatest visuals I've seen yet. I'm playing through it again now that I'm more healthy mentally and it's absolutely beautiful.

 

I just came off of TLOU and TLOU2 and then when I booted this up I was floored. I'm going to beat it again but take my time with it and appreciate the game in all regards. I'll have it beat in time for the dlc, too. 

[Biggie]

34 minutes ago, best3444 said:

@stepee I stand corrected, Forbidden West has the greatest visuals I've seen yet. I'm playing through it again now that I'm more healthy mentally and it's absolutely beautiful.

 

I just came off of TLOU and TLOU2 and then when I booted this up I was floored. I'm going to beat it again but take my time with it and appreciate the game in all regards. I'll have it beat in time for the dlc, too. 

[stepee]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

@stepee I stand corrected, Forbidden West has the greatest visuals I've seen yet. I'm playing through it again now that I'm more healthy mentally and it's absolutely beautiful.

 

I just came off of TLOU and TLOU2 and then when I booted this up I was floored. I'm going to beat it again but take my time with it and appreciate the game in all regards. I'll have it beat in time for the dlc, too. 

 

o ya this game and Rachet are on their own level just about on console

[best3444]

1 hour ago, stepee said:

 

o ya this game and Rachet are on their own level just about on console

 

What's the best visuals in your opinion? I'm speaking about your PC, too.

[stepee]

3 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

What's the best visuals in your opinion? I'm speaking about your PC, too.

 

It’s maybe Cyberpunk now already but on the 11th when the path tracing hits it’s definitely going to be cyberpunk for bit longer.

 

Edit: I could see debating Last of Us PT1 maxed on pc but since it only exists for two weeks before Cyberpunk takes it back it doesn’t really matter! 

[Dre801]

Beat it recently.  I'll probably play the DLC.

[Greatoneshere]

1 minute ago, Dre801 said:

Beat it recently.  I'll probably play the DLC.

 

Probably? 

[best3444]

Seeing Slyens again was sad to see. I'm 5 hours in taking my time. Aloy won't shut the fuck up, though. 

[crispy4000]

 

[XxEvil AshxX]

Just downloaded Forbidden West through PS Plus but I'm trying to wrap up Hogwarts first (that game just keeps going).

 

My Frontlog is getting ridiculous.

[eventide11]

On 4/14/2023 at 9:09 AM, XxEvil AshxX said:

Just downloaded Forbidden West through PS Plus but I'm trying to wrap up Hogwarts first (that game just keeps going).

 

My Frontlog is getting ridiculous.

Surprisingly good. I BOUGHT tales of arise for 20 on sale and downloaded this and ended up playing this over the game I paid for. Such is life 

[Pikachu]

 

[best3444]

I'm close to beating this again. So it's perfect timing for the dlc. I randomly wanted to replay this and it all lined up beautifully. 

[TwinIon]

Booted this up for a couple hours and it is definitely more Forbidden West. I was surprised how quickly I picked it back up, even though I definitely fell to my death forgetting how to glide.

 

The game continues to look amazing. I love having every conversation directed with character and camera movement. The combat is still fun and exciting, and I already had enough extra skill points to buy most of the new things.

 

I'm not far, but I haven't seen anything that would indicate this is anything but a continuation of Horizon. For myself, I remain quite happy with that.

[best3444]

Yea, played an hour of the dlc and it's pretty solid. Probably a bit more entertaining than an anything from the main game. Beautiful environment, too. 

[stepee]

Any word how long this is?

[Spork3245]

4 minutes ago, stepee said:

Any word how long this is?

Almost as long as your penis.

[best3444]

42 minutes ago, stepee said:

Any word how long this is?

 

8-10 hours.

[stepee]

45 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

Almost as long as your penis.

 

7 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

8-10 hours.

 

checks out

[Dre801]

 I should have stayed off Twitter, I've already had an aspect of this spoiled 

[Greatoneshere]

I'm very close to wrapping up and platinum'ing God of War: Ragnarok, as soon as I do I'll be jumping to this. 

[stepee]

I think I might use this three day weekend on this one. If it’s only 8-10 hours I should be able to knock it out and for some reason spoilery things keep popping up for me here more than usual.

 

Unless Dead Island 2 somehow takes me away, but I can play that one at night on deck so I can kinda do both!

[best3444]

22 minutes ago, stepee said:

I think I might use this three day weekend on this one. If it’s only 8-10 hours I should be able to knock it out and for some reason spoilery things keep popping up for me here more than usual.

 

Unless Dead Island 2 somehow takes me away, but I can play that one at night on deck so I can kinda do both!

 

Once you actually get to the new location you will notice they improved the clouds considerably. I didn't like the static look from the main game but these clouds are terrific. Overall, it looks spectacular.

[stepee]

1 minute ago, best3444 said:

 

Once you actually get to the new location you will notice they improved the clouds considerably. I didn't like the static look from the main game but these clouds are terrific. Overall, it looks spectacular.

 

yeah I’ve seen some gifs of the clouds and they look nuts

[stepee]

jeeze well that’s what I get for visiting Kotaku, nice big spoiler for this as a headline right on the front page for some fucking reason. Man what a trash site now I really need to get over the habit and stop hate visiting it.

 

Idk why this seems to really have people throwing spoilers out there, I guess since it’s an expansion it doesn’t count?

[best3444]

4 minutes ago, stepee said:

jeeze well that’s what I get for visiting Kotaku, nice big spoiler for this as a headline right on the front page for some fucking reason. Man what a trash site now I really need to get over the habit and stop hate visiting it.

 

Idk why this seems to really have people throwing spoilers out there, I guess since it’s an expansion it doesn’t count?

 

Garbage. Sorry to hear. 

[Spork3245]

Uh… the graphics take a noticeable bump up when you start the DLC. Character/enemy models are the same, but environments seem better and especially water effects and clouds.

[TwinIon]

This continues to easily be one of the best looking games to date, even on "favor performance," but I think playing Cyberpunk over the last few weeks has ruined me, especially since the overdrive update. I think it's mostly because the last week playing in overdrive and turning it on and off, looking for the differences it makes, really examining the lighting in every situation. Often path tracing is most noticeable in the global illumination, having light sources get that extra bounce. Going back to another game after nitpicking raytraced lighting bounces really emphasizes the more, shall we say "artistic nature" of lighting in most games. So much light without a clear source, so little interaction from lighting sources we do have.

 

I enjoy the new accessibility option that allows for auto-pickup of resources. It doesn't auto-loot machines or chests, but it's still nice to not need to hold triangle for every twig or berry. I do wish they'd add one to keep machine weak spots highlighted after scanning.

[stepee]

48 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

This continues to easily be one of the best looking games to date, even on "favor performance," but I think playing Cyberpunk over the last few weeks has ruined me, especially since the overdrive update. I think it's mostly because the last week playing in overdrive and turning it on and off, looking for the differences it makes, really examining the lighting in every situation. Often path tracing is most noticeable in the global illumination, having light sources get that extra bounce. Going back to another game after nitpicking raytraced lighting bounces really emphasizes the more, shall we say "artistic nature" of lighting in most games. So much light without a clear source, so little interaction from lighting sources we do have.

 

I enjoy the new accessibility option that allows for auto-pickup of resources. It doesn't auto-loot machines or chests, but it's still nice to not need to hold triangle for every twig or berry. I do wish they'd add one to keep machine weak spots highlighted after scanning.

 

Cyberpunk on pc now with path tracing is almost unfair to compare anything to at this point but this is still probably the best looking game that most people can play!

 

Im curious going back and with the ps5 only improvements how I think it stacks up to more fair comparisons like Last of Us pt1 and RE4R maxed on pc.

[TwinIon]

A few minor quibbles as I continue playing through the Burning Shores:

 

1- This is a carryover from the main game, but I hate that all weapons are tied to specific ammo types. I was happy to see that there was now a legendary hunter bow to replace my Marshall Hunter bow, same ammo types, just better stats (once upgraded). Then I was going to upgrade my Sharpshot bow, but then I realized it had different ammo types, so I'd be missing my tear precision arrows and my plasma arrows, so, no point in upgrading that.

 

I kinda understand the idea of tying arrow types to bows, maybe as an attempt to get players to try different things or to avoid singular "best weapons" in the game, but I think it's poorly implemented. It's silly that if I want the best of ammo type A I might need to give up Ammo type B altogether. Especially in the "end game" where you're fighting various Apex machines all the time, you kinda need every ammo type available at short notice to utilize weaknesses and trigger chain reactions. I'd pay any resource in the game to change out ammo types on certain bows.

 

 

2- I'm not sure how common this is yet, but I've noticed it enough to garner a mention: I've now seen a number of machines get stuck in geometry or avoid attacking me if I stand in certain spots. I'm not sure if they upped the density of the environments now that it's PS5 exclusive, or if I'm just getting unlucky, or of something else is going on, but I don't recall this really happening with the main game. I feel like the machines were generally relentless in FW, but I've now had a few different machines either get stuck or not chase me while in combat (Thunderjaw, waterwing, slaughterspine). Anyone else come across something similar?

 

 

3- Something that I didn't expect them to fix, but somehow feels even worse in these increasingly vertical and dense environments is the traversal. They really need an AC like dynamic climbing system here, especially when you can "cheese" so much by just using your flying mount. I just hate it when I come up to something that I could easily pull my out-of-shape self up, but since that piece of detail wasn't designated as climbable Alloy is just jumping at it and sliding down. It's a limitation that is so at odds in this highly detailed game with all these beautiful textures and such care put into everything.

[legend]

On 4/20/2023 at 2:13 PM, Spork3245 said:

Uh… the graphics take a noticeable bump up when you start the DLC. Character/enemy models are the same, but environments seem better and especially water effects and clouds.

 

Yeah, the clouds are amazing and they published a blog on how complex it was to make it happen:

Pushing the envelope: Achieving next-level clouds in Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores

BLOG.PLAYSTATION.COM

---

Guerrilla’s teams detail how it elevated the series’ skyscape for the upcoming expansion.

 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Yeah yeah, where’s my PC release date? 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Game Information

Game Title: Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores

 

Platforms:

• PlayStation 5 (Apr 19, 2023)

 

Developer: Guerrilla Games

Publisher: Sony

 

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 81 average - 86% recommended

 

Critic Reviews

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).

Atomix - Spanish - 90 / 100

A great return of Aloy. Going back to the world of Horizon Forbidden West is wonderful. Surprisingly, the story told by Burning Shores is quite importante and a prequel for a potential Horizon 3. Graphics are stunning. One of the most impressive games now a days.

But Why Tho? - 9 / 10

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is an excellent example of how to do DLC the right way. If this is just a taste of what is next for Aloy, I can’t wait for the whole meal.

CGMagazine - 9 / 10

Burning Shores excels with stunning visuals, engaging story, and Aloy & Seykas' growth—raising the bar for DLC and delighting Horizon series fans.

GameSpew - 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.

GamingBolt - 9 / 10

Burning Shores builds upon Forbidden West's strong gameplay in smart ways, while also telling a story that series fans can't afford to miss.

COGconnected - 85 / 100

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a great addition to the franchise. Its personal story develops Aloy’s character and gives a glimpse into a different side of her. The new characters drive the narrative further to deliver a memorable tale. It’s easy to comment on the similarities with previous releases, however, the DLC offers more than this. While there are some uneven boss encounters, the jaw-dropping final segment and beautiful setting make this an unforgettable trip to LA.

Digital Chumps - 8.5 / 10

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a fun if not brief, epilogue to Horizon Forbidden West. Those looking for massive reveals may be a bit disappointed, but there's enough fleshed out in Burning Shores to make it a worthwhile play. Seyka jumps straight to the top of Aloy's best companions, and the Bilegut & Waterwing are awesome machine additions.

GamingTrend - 85 / 100

Burning Shores is more Horizon Forbidden West, which is enough to tell you to grab it. Although the narrative isn't as gripping and the new characters aren't as compelling, being able to explore more of the West and fight new giant robot dinosaurs makes this a fun jaunt in Los Angeles as we await Horizon 3.

IGN Italy - Italian - 8.5 / 10

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a great DLC thanks to an excellent longevity and a good amount of additions, although I would have expected more from the exploration of the new map.

PSX Brasil - Portuguese - 85 / 100

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a great expansion, adding even more content to one of the best games of 2022. The graphics are amazing and there's a relatively large area to explore with tons of optional content. The main story, however, is short.

GamePro - German - 84 / 100

Horizon Burning Shores is exactly what Forbidden West fans expect, but doesn't offer much that's new.

The Games Machine - Italian - 8.2 / 10

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a very worthwhile expansion that provides a host of tasty endgame content in the company of Aloy. It doesn't revolutionise the base game as intended, but Guerrilla Games' stunning Los Angeles is worth the price of admission alone.

Everyeye.it - Italian - 8 / 10

More extensive than dense, Burning Shores is the Horizon Forbidden West DLC you might expect. Using Los Angeles as a stage, Guerrilla follows the rules of Hollywood spectacle and pushes on the pedal of visual exaltation.

God is a Geek - 8 / 10

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores offers more of the same with some new ideas, yet it's still well worth playing, and looks gorgeous.

Hobby Consolas - Spanish - 80 / 100

Burning Shores is a great expansion that you will love if you liked Horizon Forbidden West and that serves as a preview of what they are capable of doing in Guerrila Games when they work exclusively for PS5. After this, we are even more eager to know what the future holds for Aloy.

IGN - 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.

INVEN - Korean - 8 / 10

Aloy's new journey after a year from the release is as enjoyable as the main one. While the newly added weapon provides more fresh, powerful gameplay, It is somewhat disappointing that the new area doesn't offer much difference from the mainland in visual wise.

Kakuchopurei - 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.

Metro GameCentral - 8 / 10

An exceptionally pretty slice of DLC that does nothing to address the faults of the main game but does manage to emphasise its many successes, especially the graphics.

Press Start - 8 / 10

Burning Shores is a worthy expansion and follow-up to the incredible Horizon Forbidden West. It's packing a fantastic new location to explore, compelling new characters and fearsome new machines to fight while offering an exciting glimpse into the future of the franchise. It's a bit more rough around the edges than I'd like but it's essential playing for Horizon fans.

Push Square - 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.

Screen Rant - 4 / 5

Burning Shores' price of admission is practically worth it for the culminating boss fight alone. Although the expansion's pace doesn't allow for a steady crescendo to the climactic battle, it is hands down the most impressive and exhilarating set piece Horizon has accomplished thus far. Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores may be unfortunately short, but it's nonetheless sweet, and its technical accomplishments tantalizingly set high expectations for Guerrilla Games' third entry in the series.

TheSixthAxis - 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.

Twinfinite - 4 / 5

All in all, Burning Shores is a solid expansion to Horizon Forbidden West that fans of the series will want to play before the inevitable sequel. It’s teeming with more sci-fi story goodness, and Los Angeles is a stunning new environment to explore, complete with all of the Horizon side activity trimmings we’ve come to know and love ticking off our map. While the offering of new monsters, and some of the combat scenarios felt a little underwhelming, as a package, it’s well worth the ticket to entry.

Gamersky - Chinese - 7.8 / 10

Although Burning Shores is just a DLC with a gameplay length of only five or six hours, but its achievement in refreshing the graphical performance on consoles is commendable. For players who are more interested in the mechanics of the game, while its performance in areas such as boss battles may be a little lacking, the overall experience is still considered fresh and exhilarating. Not to mention that it further explores the core concept of 'cooperation' and adds to the lore of the game world itself.

Video Chums - 7.8 / 10

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores extends the tropical scenery of the main game and introduces the land of Hollywood to the story complete with a solid amount of content and upgrades which makes it a fine choice to lengthen your adventure with Aloy.

Checkpoint Gaming - 7.5 / 10

Fundamentally, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores repeats a lot of the same beats as the main game, and doesn't explore much new territory in terms of world-building or gameplay. However, the minor gameplay additions are certainly fun and welcome, and if you enjoyed the base game, this expansion is certainly still an enjoyable time, prolonged final boss fight aside. As an epilogue with some fun diversions, which also expands upon Aloy's character arc from the base game and introduces a great new supporting character, Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is definitely worth checking out for anyone wanting a good excuse to return to the game.

PlayStation Universe - 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.

Digital Trends - 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.

Explosion Network - 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.

GameSpot - 7 / 10

Aloy returns to explore the wreckage of Los Angeles, and it's just the right amount of Horizon to scratch that itch.

GGRecon - 2.5 / 5

Despite a few fumbles, Burning Shores is an essential pickup for anyone who’s invested in the Horizon storyline. The gameplay doesn’t do too much to differentiate itself from Forbidden West, but that’s hardly to its detriment. With plenty of side content, pristine locations to explore and intriguing characters to meet, Burning Shores is everything you could want from a Horizon expansion.

Now all that’s left to do is wait for Geurilla to close out the trilogy it’s spent the last six years setting up - and we can't wait to see the results.

Chicas Gamers - Spanish - Unscored

The Burning Shores DLC offers us a way to put an end to Horizon Forbidden West which, in addition to serving as an epilogue to that adventure that ended so abruptly, hastily and with a terrible cliffhanger, also serves as a prologue to what is yet to come while we wait for its long-awaited third part. In summary, a new content that prepares us for what will be the future of the series and provides us with various brushstrokes about what the starting point of it will be like. It also gives us new locations, characters, enemies, weapons and resources, as well as delving into one of the tribes introduced in its second part and about which we know so little, the Quen. A large new area to go through and an adventure whose main campaign will easily take us to 10 hours long, yes, as long as we stick to the main mission and do not get sidetracked with errands or secondary missions, things that can double DLC time easily.

Console Creatures - Recommended

Horizon Forbidden West’s Burning Shores add enough new content to keep the experience fresh. With that in mind, Burning Shores end on a notable high even if it struggles with the ascent.

Eurogamer.pt - Portuguese - No Recommendation

There is not much more to say about Burning Shores, it is a content with interest, worth above all for the visual spectacle that Guerrilla Games once again managed to deliver and the new gameplay possibilities. Its narrative is somewhat forced, with somewhat debatable revelations and even a lost form in the relationships between characters. I would appreciate more depth so that I cared more about the choices introduced. It's obviously imperative for anyone who loved Forbidden West.

Shacknews - Unscored

Burning Shores really is a must-buy, must-play experience for Horizon fans. While this review is unscored, take this as my strongest of recommendations to pick up and play Burning Shores. I promise you’ll be able to finish it before the release of Tears of the Kingdom, and I promise that if you love Horizon, you'll find Burning Shores to be well worth your time.

Unboxholics - Greek - Worth your time

Burning Shores is a bit more Horizon Forbidden West, with all that entails. There are various new enemies, some welcome new gameplay additions, and a new map to explore.