I never reviewed Horizon Forbidden West when I beat it late last year. Despite being received quite well, for some reason most of what I see online about this series (and this site) is a lot of negativity and it just makes me not want to interact at all. But I promised to review every 2023 thing I beat this year and this is no exception.
First things first, like the base game (and me), its so damn pretty. I believe Horizon is unquestionably one of the best looking games out there right now - that are going for a "realistic" style anyhow. I'd say only really Ghost of Tsushima or the recent Dead Island 2 come close. The final boss of this is probably the best boss in the series as far as I can remember. The setting for it is just so beautiful and the fight itself is pretty sick as well. There's also some cool locations like a Dinosaur themed amusement park and such. The DLC does nothing but add to how gorgeous the game is. But being a DLC its still got all the issues of the main game, particularly the utterly jank climbing/parkour. Expecting that to be changed in something thats not a sequel would be silly obviously but its still as annoying here as it is in the base game.
The story of this is, pretty okay. The stories in Zero Dawn and Forbidden West are some of my favorites ever, the lore and everything surrounding them is just so damn cool. Even Dawn's DLC, Frozen Wilds, had a really interesting story going for it. Burning Shores just doesn't really hold a candle to them. It's a lot more character driven between Aloy and her new "friend" Seyka. And that's great. I really enjoy their relationship and I hope Seyka returns for the third game too. But because of that, the overall story is just not super interesting. Its basically just more character development and doesn't add much to the universe besides that. There's a couple new side quests, and those are pretty enjoyable as well but still nothing superb. It also introduces a handful of new enemy types which are neat additions to the already pretty stacked roster.
Overall, I would recommend Burning Shores to fans of the base game. It may be a little light on content for its price but the quality is definitely still there. Whether you get it now or on sale, its a worthwhile addition to the series and worth a playthrough for sure.
Thanks for reading <3
Nancymeter - 79/100
Trophy Completion - 88%
DLC Completion #3 of April
DLC Completion #19 of 2023
First things first, like the base game (and me), its so damn pretty. I believe Horizon is unquestionably one of the best looking games out there right now - that are going for a "realistic" style anyhow. I'd say only really Ghost of Tsushima or the recent Dead Island 2 come close. The final boss of this is probably the best boss in the series as far as I can remember. The setting for it is just so beautiful and the fight itself is pretty sick as well. There's also some cool locations like a Dinosaur themed amusement park and such. The DLC does nothing but add to how gorgeous the game is. But being a DLC its still got all the issues of the main game, particularly the utterly jank climbing/parkour. Expecting that to be changed in something thats not a sequel would be silly obviously but its still as annoying here as it is in the base game.
The story of this is, pretty okay. The stories in Zero Dawn and Forbidden West are some of my favorites ever, the lore and everything surrounding them is just so damn cool. Even Dawn's DLC, Frozen Wilds, had a really interesting story going for it. Burning Shores just doesn't really hold a candle to them. It's a lot more character driven between Aloy and her new "friend" Seyka. And that's great. I really enjoy their relationship and I hope Seyka returns for the third game too. But because of that, the overall story is just not super interesting. Its basically just more character development and doesn't add much to the universe besides that. There's a couple new side quests, and those are pretty enjoyable as well but still nothing superb. It also introduces a handful of new enemy types which are neat additions to the already pretty stacked roster.
Overall, I would recommend Burning Shores to fans of the base game. It may be a little light on content for its price but the quality is definitely still there. Whether you get it now or on sale, its a worthwhile addition to the series and worth a playthrough for sure.
Thanks for reading <3
Nancymeter - 79/100
Trophy Completion - 88%
DLC Completion #3 of April
DLC Completion #19 of 2023
Assenemy
1 year ago