Horizon Forbidden West’s DLC Takes Place In A Ravaged Los Angeles

It’s been over a year since the release of Horizon Forbidden West, and players continue to fight their way across the post-apocalyptic landscape as Aloy with the help of her allies. The game ends with Aloy facing yet another threat to humanity – a corrupted AI called Nemesis created by the Far Zeniths, the primary antagonists of the sequel. Aloy instructs her allies to split up and find help to defeat their latest foe, while she heads off on a mission of her own within the Burning Shores. This brand new area is the subject of an upcoming expansion to the Forbidden West, and will see players explore a ravaged Los Angeles. So here’s everything we know so far about Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores, including when you can expect to play it.

Burning Shores Plot

Unlike the Horizon Zero Dawn’s DLC expansion The Frozen Wilds, Burning Shores takes place immediately after the events of Forbidden West. The new area, known as the Burning Shores, lies south of the Tenakth Clan Lands and is presumably named after the volcanic archipelago that Los Angeles has been swallowed by. Towering over the “overgrown and fractured city” is a Horus, a massive machine known as a Metal Devil which were built to replicate machines and be fully-functional combat machines themselves. This will be the first time in the series that Aloy faces off with a Horus, as they’ve only ever been shown strewn about the world as defeated relics. And if she can somehow override the machine, it will prove to be a formidable weapon to use against Nemesis.

Do You Need To Play Forbidden West To Understand Burning Shores?

As it’s been confirmed to take place after the events of Forbidden West, you will need to have played through the main storyline to understand the expansion. There’s also a chance that the expansion will be locked until the ending has been achieved, which can be easily completed by focusing on the main story quests. While there are dozens of side quests in Forbidden West that will broaden the story, it’s best to skip them for now and finish the main story to make it to the Burning Shores.

There’s a chance that Burning Shores could follow the same trajectory as The Frozen Wilds, in that you have to make it out of the starting area before being able to freely traverse the map. But as the story of Burning Shores takes place after Aloy and her allies are faced with Nemesis, it would be wise to playthrough the main quest line before playing the DLC.

Burning Shores Trailer

Not much is revealed storywise in the trailer, with no narration from Aloy about why she’s there. But it does give a hefty glimpse at what she’s up against – the giant, foreboding Metal Devil that’s taken residence atop the Hollywood sign. The trailer shows how badly Los Angeles has been ravaged by the post-apocalyptic landscape, presumably from deep earthquakes splitting up the land with the molten lava flowing between the Earth’s cracks.

Burning Shores Release Date

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores will be available to play exclusively on PS5 on April 19. Unlike the main game, PS4 players won’t have the opportunity to experience the DLC. In a statement, Guerilla Games says this “difficult decision” was made to “achieve this grand vision technically and creatively” and “to focus all our efforts on making an incredible experience exclusively for the PlayStation 5 console.