burning shores update

Horizon Forbidden West’s 1.21 Update Adds PS5-Exclusive Accessibility Features

Water big update!

Horizon Forbidden West’s massive new Burning Shores expansion has finally arrived, and with it a sizeable update to the game itself, at least for a portion of players.

Patch 1.21 for the game has dropped alongside the new DLC, weighing in at a hefty 14GB separate to the Burning Shores’ 17GB install. It brings with support for the new content, naturally, but also a host of improvements that includes some great new accessibility options. The stand-out features are an auto-loot and a “Thalassophobia” option which improves visibility underwater and adds infinite breath for players that struggle with a fear of deep water.

Unfortunately, PS4 owners seemingly won’t be getting these upgrades as the patch is for PS5 only.

Here’s what’s new:

Horizon Forbidden West PS5 Patch 1.21

  • Thalassophobia – This feature aims to ease thalassophobia symptoms by improving underwater ambient visibility and allowing you to breathe indefinitely, regardless of story progression.

  • Improved UI readability options – Added options to increase waypoint and quest icon sizes.

  • Navigation Assist – Added an option to assist the player’s orientation during a quest, with a new option added in Focus mode to face the camera towards the current objective. Additionally, if the user has a waypoint set the camera will prioritize aiming towards this direction.

  • Color Blind settings – Added new color blind accessibility options.

  • Auto Camera – Added an option to allow the camera to follow your movement behavior from the left stick without having to control it with the right stick.

  • HUD Vignette – Added an option to add a vignette to darken the edges of the screen, increasing contract and improving HUD readability.

  • Auto Pickup – Added an option to automatically collect pickups without button-press interactions from the player.

  • Improved Subtitle Sizes – Increased the size of subtitles for the Large and Extra Large options.

For everything else you might want to know about Horizon Forbidden West’s new Burning Shores expansion head to our handy guide.