Major DLC was just announced for Horizon Forbidden West at The Game Awards 2022. It’s called Burning Shores and it takes Aloy to Hollywood on April 19, 2023.
The end of the open-world RPG’s main campaign allowed Aloy to take flight on a Sunwing bird mech, and the DLC trailer opens with her riding it to Los Angeles where a giant creature topples the iconic Hollywood sign. It’s not clear what she’ll find out there but if it showcases more of the game’s absolutely beautiful ocean waves, I’m in.
This year’s high-tech sequel to 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn was met with positive reviews, mirroring its predecessor’s success. Forbidden West picked up with series heroine Aloy not long after the events of the first game. No longer an outcast, Aloy has gained renown for saving the world from imminent destruction, only she now faces an even bigger problem.
Forbidden West saw the machine rider explore new parts of the post-apocalyptic United States as she, as you might expect, headed west. Forbidden West also introduced fans to new tribes of humans, even one from abroad, and brought on new allies that joined the crew from Zero Dawn.
It’ll be exciting to see the world expanded upon further in the upcoming DLC.
What To Expect From Horizon Forbidden West DLC
Frozen Wilds, the DLC that accompanied Zero Dawn, took Aloy up north, where we finally got to see more of the Banuk we heard a great deal about throughout the main game. Frozen Wilds expanded the playable map, brought a new storyline, new machine types, and even introduced new “Daemonic” versions which were even nastier than the main quest’s “Corrupted” foes. The expected new weapons and an additional upgrade resource further helped keep things fresh. With Forbidden West’s combat a bit revamped since the last game, it’ll be interesting to see how much the new DLC might further shake up gameplay.
One thing that will be different is the DLC timeline. Both main games came out in February of their respective release years. Frozen Wilds came out in November of 2017, just eight months after the first game’s release, while Burning Shores won’t be out until April of next year. However, Horizon developer Guerrilla Games is also splitting its time with work on a VR spin-off, Horizon Call of the Mountain, which is being made in collaboration with Firesprite. It’s already available for pre-order for the PSVR2, though it doesn’t have a release date yet.