It’s been over a year since Horizon Forbidden West came out, but fans of Guerrilla’s open world post-apocalyptic epic will soon have the chance to jump back in for another meaty journey. Just as Guerrilla followed up on Horizon Zero Dawn with The Frozen Wilds, it’s following up on Forbidden West with its own expansion in Burning Shores. There’s plenty that’s been revealed about it thus far, the majority of which has got us quite excited to jump back into the game upon its imminent launch. So here, we’ll be going over a few things we can’t wait to do when we play Burning Shores– starting off with the obvious…
FIGHT NEW MACHINES
This, of course, is one of the biggest draws of any new Horizon release. Guerrilla excels at designing excellent new varieties of Machine that not only impress with their incredible visual design, but also by how well they function in gameplay, from their behaviours and attributes to how they function in combat and more. There’s been no official word yet on how many new Machines we can expect to see in Burning Shores, but at least one – the Waterwing (more on this in a bit) – has been confirmed. The Frozen Wilds introduced a couple of new Machines, while also sprinkling in new mechanics and twists like Control Towers and Daemonic Machines, so if that’s anything to go by, there’s a good chance there will be plenty of new threats to face in Burning Shores as well.
RIDE THE WATERING
The one new Machine that has been confirmed for Burning Shores is the aforementioned Waterwing- and so far, it sounds like a special one. It’s a flying Machine that sort of resembles a giant pelican, and though there’s been no shortage of flying Machines in Horizon games in the past, the Waterwing does have some unique attributes- chief among them being able to both fly and swim underwater. Burning Shores will allow players to hack and tame Waterwings and ride them as mounts, which means not only will we be able to take to the skies like we could in Forbidden West, but it will also add a whole new layer to its underwater traversal and exploration.
FIGHT A METAL DEVIL
We’ve seen more than a few Metal Devils (or Horus Titans) in Horizon games by now, and each time we’ve stood in one’s shadow or looked at it from a distance, we’ve marveled at its sheer size and scale. Metal Devils have always been dead though, and have been little more than set dressing, which means that the dream of actually being able to fight one has yet to be fulfilled. We’re hoping that Burning Shores will finally give us what we want. We’ve already seen a Metal Devil in the titular Burning Shores in the expansion’s trailer, while interestingly enough, game director Mathijs de Jonge has also vaguely alluded to a “particular battle scene that requires a LOT of memory and processing power”- which we’re hoping is referring to a massive set-piece sequence that sees Aloy taking on an actual, active Horus.
SEEK OUT LA LANDMARKS
Horizon games have done an excellent job of presenting well-known American landmarks through the lens of its post-post-apocalyptic setting, and with Burning Shores taking us to the ruins of Los Angeles, we’re excited to see how it does on that front. The reveal trailer cheekily showed us the remains of the famous Hollywood sign, so it should be interesting to see what other LA landmarks are found in the expansion’s open world map, and what they look like in Horizon’s universe, especially with most of LA submerged underwater and dotted by what seem to be active volcanos.
EXPLORE THE NEW SETTLEMENTS
The location now known as Burning Shores is clearly in huge trouble, from all the ecological disasters to a massive Metal Devil rampaging around, but it’s not going to be devoid of population. Horizon Forbidden West introduced a new tribe late on in the story in the form of the Quen, a seafaring tribe from across the Pacific Ocean that is much more comfortable with Old World technology than pretty much any other tribe we’ve seen in the games so far. Plenty of them are also going to be found in the ruins of LA, and apparently, have been around for a while, which means players will have the opportunity to explore new Quen settlements as well. From Meridian to Plainsong, Horizon games have a knack for crafting stellar new settlements, so we’re excited to see what Burning Shores comes up with.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE QUEN
Sticking with the Quen for a while, it’s also likely that we’ll be learning a great deal more about them in the upcoming expansion, and we absolutely can’t wait for that. Introduced as they are late on in Forbidden West’s story, we don’t really get to learn much about their history, their culture, their beliefs, their way of life, which is always such a crucial part of how Horizon presents all of its unique tribes. With the Quen taking on much more prominent role in Burning Shores, we’re curious to see how their own narrative arc gets fleshed out.
LEARN MORE ABOUT SEYKA
Burning Shores will, of course, bring with it some new important characters, and one in particular that Guerrilla has revealed is Seyka, a Quen marine who, according to Guerrilla, is “unlike anyone Aloy has ever encountered”, and someone that players “spend a lot of time with her throughout the story and rely on her help in many situations”. Aloy has had some pretty solid companion characters in the past, even though none of them have ever really been as compelling as Aloy herself, so we’re curious to see what Seyka will bring to the table.
CHECK OUT THE NEW CLOUD TECH
Though Horizon Forbidden West itself was a cross-gen game, Burning Shores is going to be exclusive to the PS5, and while there are probably many reasons for that, one in particular that Guerrilla has highlighted is the new cloud-rendering technology it’s using in the expansion. We won’t get into the technical details here, but in a nutshell, it’ll make for much denser, more highly detailed, and more dynamic cloudscapes. Presumably, this means the expansion will put an even greater emphasis on soaring through the skies, and while we’re doing that, its new clouds should be pretty cool to gawk at.
DO SIDE QUESTS AND SIDE ACTIVITIES
Forbidden West was a significant step up over Zero Dawn in terms of its side quests and the sheer variety of optional activities it had on offer, and hopefully, Burning Shores will deliver more of the same. Of course, this being an expansion and obviously not being as large as the base game itself, there’s obviously not going to be as much variety and quantity- but we’re hoping that the side quests and optional activities of the expansion will keep as just as engaged as the ones in the base game did.
MESS ABOUT IN PHOTO MODE
Messing about in the Photo Mode is never not fun in a Horizon game – thanks not only to how gorgeous the games always look, but also how good the Photo Modes themselves are – and we expect that to be the case with Burning Shores as well. From soaring through the aforementioned clouds on a Waterwing’s back to diving under waves and exploring underwater ruins to posing in front of the crumbling Hollywood sign, there’s plenty that we’ll be doing just so we can capture those moments in Photo Mode.