Horizon Forbidden West’s big, PS5-exclusive expansion, Burning Shores, is out now and promises to take players on a massive new adventure with Aloy to a post-machine apocalypse version of Los Angeles on one of her most dangerous missions yet.
With the release impending, we’ve put together a list of everything we know about the DLC expansion so far from what’s included, to how much storage space you’ll need and how you’ll be able to access the new content in the game itself.
Take a look:
What Is Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores?
Burning Shores is the huge new post-game DLC expansion to Horizon Forbidden West that takes Aloy to the “Burning Shores” of LA, a land occupied by the sea-faring Quen tribe that is introduced in the main game. The expansion requires the base game to play and costs $29.95 AUD on the PlayStation Store.
What Platforms Is Burning Shores Available On?
Unlike the Horizon Forbidden West base game, Burning Shores is exclusive to PlayStation 5 and won’t be available on the previous-generation PS4. Guerrilla has said that they’re targeting the new hardware only as a way to further push the gameplay and visuals in Forbidden West by breaking away from the limitations of the older hardware. You can read about some examples of this here.
How Big Is The Burning Shores Install?
The Burning Shores DLC itself tops out at about 17GB in most regions, with some countries seeing a smaller install size likely due to language inclusion differences. You’ll obviously also need to account for the install size of the base Horizon Forbidden West game, which is currently around 100GB in most regions, plus the latest 1.21 patch that enables the DLC and adds some improvements and new features – that comes in at another 14GB.
What’s New In Burning Shores?
Burning Shores will take Aloy to a brand-new explorable area based on Los Angeles, complete with its own narrative content, unique landmarks and gameplay opportunities. She’ll be joined by a new character, Seyka, who comes from the Quen tribe and will accompany Aloy through much of the DLC’s story.
There will be new machine types, like the Waterwing which can carry Aloy in the air and underwater, as well as new gear for Aloy to acquire – which may include ancient Zenith weaponry based on what’s seen in the Launch Trailer:
What’s New In The 1.21 Patch?
Alongside the DLC, a new 1.21 update has dropped for the PS5 version of the game exclusively, adding a number of new accessibility features which you can see here:
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Thalassophobia – This feature aims to ease thalassophobia symptoms by improving underwater ambient visibility and allowing you to breathe indefinitely, regardless of story progression.
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Improved UI readability options – Added options to increase waypoint and quest icon sizes.
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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.
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Color Blind settings – Added new color blind accessibility options.
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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.
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HUD Vignette – Added an option to add a vignette to darken the edges of the screen, increasing contract and improving HUD readability.
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Auto Pickup – Added an option to automatically collect pickups without button-press interactions from the player.
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Improved Subtitle Sizes – Increased the size of subtitles for the Large and Extra Large options.
How Do I Access Burning Shores In The Game?
After buying the Burning Shores DLC on the PlayStation Store and downloading/installing it (as well as the base game, if you haven’t already) the only in-game prerequisite is that you’ve completed the entirety of the main questline, up to and including the mission Singularity. If you’ve started a New Game+ save file since finishing the game, you’ll need to either complete the main questline again or revert back to a previous endgame save state.
Provided that’s done, Aloy will receive a call in-game through her Focus that kicks things off.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is out on April 19th, exclusively for the PlayStation 5 version of the game, for $29.95.
Players will need to have the base game, and have finished the game’s main questline up to and including the final mission, Singularity.
