Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores Reviews
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.
Burning Shores is an entertaining epilogue for Aloy’s sophomore outing. It’s more Forbidden West with a few cool wrinkles, meaning it’s a good reminder of the things that the game did right while retaining a few old headaches (like the hand-holding during puzzles). More than anything, Aloy’s trip to Hollywood justifies its existence by meaningfully building upon the base game’s story, paving a solid runway for the next title to take off.
Aloy returns to explore the wreckage of Los Angeles, and it's just the right amount of Horizon to scratch that itch.
Guerrilla Games already proved once they could deliver a compelling expansion and they have done so again.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores offers more of the same with some new ideas, yet it's still well worth playing, and looks gorgeous.
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
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.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.
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.
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.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a light, but crowd-pleasing DLC chapter that sets the stage for Aloy's next adventure.
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.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is an apex of joy on any day you decide to play through it that not only solidifies Burning Shores' effectiveness but also secures the future of the franchise strongly.
Ultimately, 'Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores' feels like a good tease. It flirts with the concept of some biggest things yet in this story but doesn’t quite commit to most of them in full. It’s always great getting to spend more time with Aloy, and while I wish a couple of things were explored further, it’s still a fun ride that hints at some of what is to come.
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.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.
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.
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.
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.
Burning Shores is every bit the continuation of Horizon Forbidden West. It builds on the great gameplay of the base game with a few new wrinkles, introduces a watery world and the ability to dive into it, and moves the story downfield a few yards as Aloy and her allies, old and new, prepare for what comes next. You won't be lost having missed out on this DLC when the next full game does arrive, but you would have missed an opportunity for hours of fun in an excellent world that is worth the time of any Horizon fan.