Horizon Forbidden West’s newly released Burning Shores DLC has been bombarded with reviews. Horizon Forbidden West first launched last year to rave reviews from critics, and now Guerrilla Games has expanded on that story with the Burning Shores DLC.
The Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores DLC has received positive reviews from critics so far. While the expansion received mixed reviews from the base game, it still has an average review rating of 81. User ratings on Metacritic are another story entirely though, with the DLC only getting a dismal 4.4/10 at the time of writing.
Whenever there’s such an extreme discrepancy, it’s usually due to review bombing — people giving games ridiculously low scores that aren’t necessarily true. Looking at the user ratings, it’s clear that one of the main points of contention fans have had with the DLC is that it gives players the option to pursue a gay relationship with Aloy. This is unfortunate, but likely the reaction Guerrilla Games anticipated when it chose to include LGBTQ+ elements in the DLC.
Horizon Forbidden West DLC Review Score
Making Aloy choose to be gay isn’t the only reason the Horizon Forbidden West DLC is bombarded with reviews. Another reason disgruntled fans flooded the game with negative reviews is that it’s only available on PS5. While the base game of Horizon Forbidden West is a cross-generational experience on PS4 and PS5, only PS5 gamers will be able to play the DLC. This has been controversial since the launch of the Burning Shores expansion pack, so it’s no surprise to see fans are still upset about it.
Some argue that if Guerrilla is going to release PS5-only DLC for Horizon Forbidden West, then the base game should also be a PS5 exclusive. However, Guerrilla couldn’t complete some of the content in the Forbidden West DLC with older PS4 hardware, so decided to make the DLC a PS5-only one. While some fans may be happy that the Burning Shores DLC makes better use of PS5 hardware, the review-bombing effort makes it clear that others aren’t.
Burning Shores has the potential to be the only major DLC release for Horizon Forbidden West. The previous game, Horizon: Zero Dawn, only had Frozen in its name, though it did get other major updates for free. Fans may see more Horizon Forbidden West updates, but they shouldn’t hold their breath for another major DLC expansion.
Horizon Forbidden West is out now on PS4 and PS5. The Burning Shores DLC is exclusive to PS5.