#hfw pangea park

[robo-dino-puppy]

hfw: burning shores | aloy 15/?

[hzdtrees]

Watery shores

[mewly]

Horizon Burning Shores Review:

TL;DR All in all I enjoyed the DLC, there were many highlights and interesting moments throughout as well as pitfalls, and I appreciated the option to not rush Aloy romantically if the player was so inclined.

Spoilers ahead of course!

Graphics 10/10

Goes without saying the graphics and motion capture of the cutscenes were phenomenal. The faces alone had so many micro expressions! I enjoyed this aspect in HFW as well, but Guerilla stepped it up even more! The environment exploration was gorgeous too.

Main Story 8/10

It had some great moments and some questionable moments, just like HFW’s main plot did. Some of Aloy’s dialogue felt a little off to me at times.

Seyka is a decent character but not my favourite companion. I assumed at first that her role was to act as a mirror of Aloy, which is backed up by Aloy projecting herself onto Seyka upon meeting her, after she was - to a much lesser extent than Aloy with no true consequence - ostracised from her tribe for finding a focus and wanting to help her in the way that she never got. Her stubbornness and drive rivals Aloy’s which isn’t something she’s really faced with a companion before, Aloy got to see what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that instead of the perpetrator. I won’t go into the criticisms for the romance or comments other people have made about her, this isn’t the post for that. The actress did a great job bringing Seyka to life and I think that’s worth something regardless of personal feelings on the matter.

The aspect of the missing Quen and the discovery of the ascension cult was interesting, given what we know of their tribe and worshipping Ancestors, it didn’t surprise me at all that they would be the easiest to sway to Londra’s plan. Aloy reciting that phrase to Ascend will forever be the funniest part of that quest. She recited it like cheap theatre, kudos to Ashly Burch for that delivery, it made me laugh!

I enjoyed the Pangea theme park, the atmosphere was fun. I loved all the neon holos and learning more of Londra’s plan and what happened in the past with his wife Evelyn. The part with the MSP discovery was disturbing in the best way, when Aloy finds out she killed mind controlled people, oof. Hit me.

On Londra, while he had some caricature-esc villain vibes, like all the Zenith’s did, when it came to the final Horus battle he did creep me out a bit. When he’s searching for you in the grass with the corrupters lurking around, very tense. “Are you frightened, Aloy?” “Where are you?” “I’ll find you” etc. Just sent shivers down my spine. I think it was because of how often he used Aloy’s name.

Speaking of, the Horus battle was epic! This Horus wasn’t even remotely close to full power (otherwise Aloy and Seyka wouldn’t have stood a chance let’s be honest, there were only two of them), and it was still devastating in its destruction. I think the way they handled the fight was great, and once you make your way into the Horus and have to fight Londra, the atmosphere was intense and exciting.

Now the final scene with Seyka... I picked the brain option aka “I’m not ready for this yet”, and I thought the writing was perfect for that option. I’ve seen the heart one online, and while I personally didn’t think Aloy was there yet, it was still a heartwarming option and set up romance for Horizon 3 which is exciting in and of itself. Our girl is growing emotionally and learning how to people! I haven’t tested the fist option yet, so can’t comment on that one.

The Epilogue was a little emotional for me. It’s officially the last time we’re gonna hear Lance Reddick’s voice as Sylens. Bittersweet in its way when he thanked Aloy for her extraordinary contributions. As always, he delivered a stellar performance, Sylens remains a very interesting character that you love and hate at the same time. You’ll be missed Lance.

Side quests 6/10

There was one that stood out for me and that was Gildun’s quest! He’s a fun character and provides comic relief, it was nice to see him again after meeting him in Frozen Wilds. The final scene was sweet, I’m glad Aloy gave him a focus and a hug!

The other Quen side quests were… okay? Nothing major to note, but still interesting enough to play. Lots of betrayal and greed going on.

But the new Cauldron? Fabulous. It was like something out of a space bug sci-fi, I really enjoyed it. The moving platform above the lava was a nice touch as well. It kept the theme of the Cauldrons while being unique in its own way!

Collectibles 5/10

The Aerial audios were new, we often see the vistas as the pre-apocalypse world, but this time we saw the destruction in progress.

The delvers trinkets were fun! I enjoyed following the map to find the treasure, and slowly piercing together what happened to them.

The toy bow was a fun little addition, I couldn’t help but picture Aloy giving it to Beta upon her return so that she can practice! I do wish it had been involved in a quest however and not just randomly found in a box in a ruin.

Other notes:

I found a scroll written by Ritakka, confirming she was on the Tenakth expedition to the Burning Shores and it mentioned Fashav!

Brin’s motifs we’re cool, but a shame we didn’t see him in person, I wonder if he’ll appear again in Horizon 3.

The notes left behind by our companions upon our return were a nice inclusion, as much as I wish they were still around it was nice to know their next steps in what I assume will be the time jump between now and Horizon 3.

I found Kotallo, Zo and Erend’s ones to be particularly interesting:

We find out that Avad is hosting an embassy IN Meridian which is so cool, and knowing that Kotallo will definitely see Aloy’s statue is hilarious to me.

Erend also handing out focuses to our Meridian companions is exciting too! Talanah will finally get a focus, and hopefully a few others. I hope we get to visit The Claim in Horizon 3 but I’m uncertain, sounds like Erend is going ahead.

Zo’s was bittersweet. I was wondering who would go back to the Nora to inform Sona of the loss of her other child, and now we have confirmation it’ll be Zo making the trip to the sacred lands.