The creators at Horizon Forbidden West, Guerrilla Games, revealed the new Burning Shores DLC as April 19, 2023, PS5 console exclusive at the 2022 Game Awards. The Hollywood sign’s destruction in the announcement trailer suggests that Aloy’s journey will take her to what is left of modern-day Los Angeles. With Aloy departing from the Tenakth lands, the plot of Forbidden West will be continued in Burning Shores.
In Horizon Zero Dawn, riding a Longneck to the top of its disc-shaped head was the closest you could come to flying. Flying mounts in Horizon Forbidden West gave Aloy a bird’s-eye view of the devastated landscape. Guerilla Games worked hard to perfect the clouds so players would truly believe they were riding a robot dinosaur through the air.
Why Horizon Forbidden West Is Not Available For PS4
Clouds from Forbidden West will be amplified in Burning Shores. Volumetric cloud creation and real-time rendering are computationally challenging tasks that the PS4 could not complete. Burning Shores will, therefore, only be released on the PlayStation 5.
Players are left to guess whether Burning Shores will significantly alter current gameplay mechanics with the PS5’s enhanced processing power, aside from a graphical upgrade. For instance, players of Horizon Forbidden West criticized Aloy for being unable to fight during the new underwater exploration sections, which required stealth. Burning Shores might add new weapons to Aloy’s Horizon Forbidden West arsenal, even though Horizon Forbidden West already enhanced and expanded Horizon Zero Dawn’s impressive gameplay mechanics.
PS5 Is Superior In Technical Capabilities
Guerrilla Games makes the difficult choice to concentrate all of its efforts on creating an incredible experience that is exclusive to the PlayStation 5 console in an official statement posted on its website. As a studio that appears to place significant stock in how players perceive its art and relate to its characters, it is disappointing that accessibility is especially being put on the back burner on the Burning Shores DLC. However, two years into the life of the current-generation console, this is hardly shocking news; the only oddity is that it has come for an expansion to a cross-platform game.
Critics criticized several aspects of Horizon Forbidden West, particularly Aloy’s unabashed strength and gender portrayal. Even though Aloy’s lack of romantic relationships in Forbidden West was unusual, Guerrilla Games persisted in telling the players’ favorite story.
Whether on purpose or not, Horizon Forbidden West’s creators drew players into a defiantly optimistic game world that was open to all players. Players of all affiliations, religions, sexual orientations, genders, and abilities could be accepted for who they truly are while still coming together and making meaningful contributions when it mattered. Players can only hope that the Burning Shores DLC upholds this philosophy.
Both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West were carefully crafted. In Horizon Forbidden West, the developers ensured that each side’s mission served a purpose and significantly contributed to the plot. However, there is hope for series fans who need access to the PS5, as developers have occasionally announced PS5-exclusive games only to release them on PS4 later.
Technological limitations are not an ever-present impediment because development and technology constantly evolve. Fans of the franchise may still have hope to return to the cherished world of Horizon Forbidden West in the Burning Shores DLC without having to spend hundreds of dollars on a new gaming console, whether it be through devoted fans creating game mods for the PS4 version or Guerrilla Games officially porting the DLC to the PS4 at a later date.
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