Still fun but overall a pretty big disappointment especially coming off of how good the main game is and how well Frozen Wilds complimented Zero Dawn as DLC. This felt more like they wanted to do some early testing on stuff they're interested in doing for Horizon 3 like advanced flying and bigger boss fights, because this ultimately is just a bunch of islands where you can fight tough enemies over and over again. There isn't really anything to explore or any reason to go off the beaten path, and that's unfortunate because a big reason of why this franchise is so amazing is making your own adventures away from the main story.

The story isn't great either, just a battle against a villain that's literally Calculon from Futurama, and a shoehorned and rushed romance story for a character that doesn't need one. The Quen are the least interesting tribe in the main storyline (except Alva, she's great) and here, in their own DLC, they aren't much better. Compared to the Banuk, who went from interesting but underutilized in Zero Dawn to hands down the coolest tribe in the game in Frozen Wilds, it's still just not fun to be around the Quen. Plus it's super short, you can finish the main storyline in just a few hours, and unlike Frozen Wilds it really does nothing to set up anything for Horizon 3 that we didn't already know.

The final boss fight against the Horus is great though and lives up to the hype considering they've been building them up since the first game, I wish they hadn't spoiled it in literally every single promotional material for the expansion but I get it, there wasn't anything else to advertise.

I think they should've saved all of this for Horizon 3 and gave themselves more room to work on this stuff there. Compared to how Frozen Wilds expanded on Zero Dawn, this was just a total letdown. I'll surely replay Forbidden West again and again in the future, but I have my doubts I'll ever venture to the Burning Shores again.