Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PS5)

Gameplay (Exploration):

• Like it's predecessor, you'll be traversing multiple planets "Metroidvania" style, as they largely comprise of labyrinthine corridors that you'll be able to more thoroughly explore as you progress through the game unlocking new upgrades (both Force powers for Cal, and tech upgrades for your little Droid companion BD-1). Interestingly, you actually start out with most of the upgrades you obtained in the first game (like the double jump), and success requires you to master a new set of upgrades on top of them (such as a grappling hook you obtain early on).
  
• While it doesn't really offer a greater number of planets to explore than Fallen Order, the rotation here is all new, with the game largely centering around Koboh, a planet with an absolutely gargantuan map. While it still has a crapton of labyrinthine places to spelunk, it's noted for an open world-ish area surrounding "Rambler's Reach", a small settlement that has some light town building elements weaved into it (you'll run across people you can invite to live there, who'll open up shops or otherwise renovate buildings, allowing you to nab the chest or what have you stored within). Honestly, first exploring Koboh's open-ish area is a bit of a chore because there's still a bit of the "Metroidvania" puzzlish element of figuring out exactly how to get to where you want to go (which runs kinda counter to the entire idea of an open area, IMO), but once you start unlocking shortcuts and save spots (which act as fast travel points) it becomes much more bearable. Of course, the formula works fantastically once you're in one of the more labyrinthine environments that it was designed around (and make no mistake, most of the game is still designed this way).
  
• Of course, there are lots of things to collect hidden behind platforming or combat challenges & puzzles. The most elusive of these are the max number of Stim Canisters you can carry (healing items, they refill whenever you rest at a save spot), followed by Perks/Perk Slots (equips which grant passive buffs), Force Crystals (rotate between increasing your max health, max Force meter, or just give you a ton of EXP. There seem to be much more of these than you'd ever need to max out your health & Force, 'cause after awhile I'd only ever get EXP dumps from them). There are also Chests (which hold cosmetics, and you can customize everything from Cal, to BD, your Lightsaber, & Blaster) & a bunch of different knick knacks you can trade in at the various shops that open up. Most of these are again cosmetics, but you can get one Stim Canister & a few Perks this way as well). Oh, and if you see a plant swarmed by lightning bugs cut it, as you'll obtain seeds which can be planted in a garden in town.
• Lastly you have Force Echoes (Cal can sort of feel the past of an object/location) & Scans (BD-1 can well, scan stuff) everywhere as well. These are primarily lore dumps which are tucked away in the menus, but each one also nets you a tiny bit of EXP. Force Echoes are easy to spot as they appear as a bluish haze, while BD will beep and jump off you if there's a Scan (or something else he can interact with) nearby, so keep an eye on his actions.

Gameplay (Combat/Growth):

• In order to dispatch foes you'll need to master 5 different Lightsaber stances (in comparison to the 2 of the first game). You actually start out with 3 stances at the start of the game (Single Blade is the jack of all trades, Dual Blade for large groups, and new Dual Wield trades defence for superior offense. You'll also obtain Blaster, which is useful at a distance & Crossguard, which mods your Lightsaber to look like Kylo Ren's and has a slow but very powerful strikes). While enemy types can be more resistant to some styles over others, I mostly stuck with Blaster & Crossguard once I unlocked them & didn't have much of an issue (Oddly, you can only swap between two different styles on the fly, and have to switch out what those are at save spots).
• Luckily you also have a bunch of Force abilities to make use of which might be able to get you out of a pinch if your preferred Lightsaber stance finds you in a tight spot. You can shove foes (sometimes small groups) off the edge of the map, pull & throw objects (and some enemies) at foes, and can even temporarily confuse organic enemies into fighting alongside you, amongst some other tricks (not Force related, but you can also have BD reprogram enemy Droids to fight alongside you. This isn't temporary like confusion on organic life, however it's harder to pull off, and the ability to hack each different Droid type is it's own separate upgrade, some of which can only be unlocked in optional areas). Your biggest ace in the hole is the ability to temporarily slow down everything around you, allowing you the chance to get out of a tight scrape (this ability gets an upgrade late in the game, but to say more would be a spoiler).
• Of course, there are also Skill Trees aplenty in order to increase your repertoire & effectiveness of attacks/powers. They're individually not very large, but you have a Skill Tree for each of your 5 different Lightsaber stances, 3 different Force categories, and 1 Survival category for abilities that don't fall in the others (such as a couple health upgrades). Don't hoard your skill points. Outside of a few options that cost 3 points, most everything is either only 1 or 2 points & if you die you lose your unspent experience & have to defeat the enemy that killed you in order to get it back (unless it was a boss, at which point you just have to walk over the spot where you died).
• In addition to the Skill Trees, you have the aforementioned Perks, which are equips that grant you passive buffs (such as increased damage to an opponent's block meter).
  
• At some pre-determined points you'll be joined by Nightsister Merrin (the "Force Whicraft" user from the first game) or Bode Akuna (a jetpack clad gunslinger) as AI helpers (not unlike Atreus & Freya from the modern GOW games. You don't have to worry about kitting them out & they don't have their own skill trees though). They'll fight by your side and sometimes can be instructed to attack enemies or help you with an environmental puzzle. They'll only ever stay within the bounds of the area they're supposed to help you though, so you'll have to spelunk optional areas by yourself.
• In terms of optional combat/challenges, you'll run optional bosses (some of which are labelled as "Legendary Enemies") which grant you with a ton of EXP once defeated (I didn't have much trouble with these outside of a giant frog that took me forever to beat because it has a OHKO move), as well as Rift Challenges that also grant you a ton of EXP (these will take you to a broken reality, where you'll either have to take on waves of enemies under a certain condition, such as using a specific stance, or are balls to the wall hard platforming challenges that require you to master a medley of your traversal abilities). I think the only Rift Challenge I noped out on was one that wanted me to fight TWO of the aforementioned frog at the same time.

Graphics/Performance:

• I'll get things out of the way and say this can absolutely be a rough experience, and across my 40+ hour playtime I had about 10 crashes (not enough to be debilitating, but enough to be an issue to worry about). First time it happened was while taking a screenshot of all things at the beginning (though this was pre-patch), while all the other times were during times where it had to load up a lot of environmental data at once. Fast travel or riding an elevator were the main culprits, but once I even got a crash after returning to the main map after completing one of the platforming Rift Challenges (it took me at least 20 tries to clear & of course it went unrecorded due to the crash so I had to do it again. I was livid, lol). Also got a few random glitches that kept me from progressing until going back to the main menu & reloading. One was right after you learn to lift & slam objects with the Force, and for whatever reason it wouldn't let me to slam down the platform I needed to in order to progress (though it'd let me do it to other near by objects/platforms). Another time it wouldn't go into "BD Mode" when I needed to (where you can do stuff like use the little guy like binoculars & use some of his puzzle solving abilities). Lastly, there was a time when it wouldn't let me charge up my Blaster shots (this wasn't necessary to progress, but annoying nonetheless).
• Otherwise it was minor stuff like asset/texture pop in (especially when fast traveling or otherwise loading an area), though it wasn't nearly as bad as Fallen Order on PS4 in that respect, and a few framerate issues. Most prominently being near the river at the side of town would cause it to tank, but this was fixed in an early patch. Otherwise I only noticed drops if I was standing directly under a waterfall or during certain cutscenes (and one brief absolute tankage during a segment when a character sets off an explosion in order to distract enemy forces). For reference, I played on graphics mode.
• Otherwise it's obviously a game with AAA production values, with some absolutely beautiful scenery at times, whether you're traversing a verdant forest, desert ruins, foggy mountain pass, military instillations, & more. I'm generally not a fan of the western AAA industry's insistence on making their (human) characters a near 1 to 1 scan of their mocap actors though. I'm of the opinion that, male or female, it's kinda an uncanny & ugly approach all around (and emblematic of their desire to be seen as Hollywood adjacent, "look, gaming's all grown up & we have honest to goodness actors"). IDK, this is gonna sound terrible, but Bode had these little dark specs all over his face that I found to be distracting, lol (that I can't help but think probably would have been covered up with makeup if he was actually in a movie/TV show).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Story:

• Looking for a place to lie low after helping the resistance irritate the Empire in the few intervening years since the last game, Cal ends up on Koboh, a world on the Outer Rim of the Galaxy without much Imperial presence where Greeze (the little four armed alien pilot from the first game) has set up a Saloon. It's not all peaceful though, as a criminal syndicate known as the Bedlam Raiders rules the planet with an iron grip thanks to raiding the military supplies of a crashed Clone Wars era battleship (and repairing the droid army it housed). Soon it's learned that Koboh might hold the answers to finding a route to a nigh impossible to reach planet (a perfect place to hide from the Empire), but it's a race as the Bedlam Raiders want to find it for their own purposes & of course the growing threat of the Empire ever looms in the distance.
• It's not as thrill a minute as Fallen Order (and I'm probably in the minority when I say I preferred the former game's brisker runtime), but it definitely has it's moments. It wasn't that bloated either, despite being longer (I completed every world at 100% other than Koboh & Jedha, and even those are at over 97%, so I did most notable content, optional included & still only hit about 45 hours). Back to the main story though, & THAT moment on Jedha (you'll know what I'm talking about if you've played it) was absolutely exhilarating and the game never quite reaches those heights again (I almost don't know what they were thinking, there's no way the final boss could have ever lived up to what came before, lol).
• I also liked checking in on the residents of Rambler's Reach (most of which congregate inside of Greeze's "Pyloon Saloon") from time to time as you can hear more of their backstories as you progress & revitalize the town. Sometimes they'll give you "Rumors" to check out as well (these are sort of like side quests, but you don't need to speak to anyone to access them, they're just a helpful reminder that "hey, you can check out this area you couldn't before" from the game. Cal will usually even have a different response if you've already checked things out by the time someone gives you the rumor). By far the best side character is Skoova Stev though, a crusty old little alien fisherman who you'll often find by bodies of water who'll nab new fish for the Saloon's fish tank if you talk to him when you see him (plus get more of his wild fish tale backstory). Unfortunately his tale is left unfinished as I never figured out where the last fish is.

Conclusion:

• It still has some technical issues to work out (if they'll ever be fully rectified I don't know), but otherwise it's a worthy followup to the previous game with a lot of nods that'll please long standing fans of the franchise.
  

@RR529 I've never really understood the Western side of the industry's obsession with photorealism, either. It feels like a waste to toil tirelessly away in a medium where literally any vision is possible to try and approximate the look of real life as much as possible. So much time and money is sunk into chasing this particular dragon. And for what? To achieve an effect inferior to what you'd get by turning on a cheap camcorder.

Which isn't to say I think everything should look like a cartoon, either. I happen to really like the Japanese approach of stylized realism in big-budget games.

Performance and image quality issues seem to be pretty universal across all of the platforms this game is on, unfortunately. Hopefully the Steam version is less unplayable now.

Really nice, detailed review. Your screenshots are, as usually, very apt, and help those of us without experience of the game to get a sense of what it looks like.

@RR529 Great and very complete thoughts on the game. Surely helps me to make the decision if I will or won't get the game (don't have an answer yet).

On the topic of people looking ultra realistic, that's also something I don't completely get. I think Yakuza is a great example how you can blend realistic environments with very stylized characters, that still are plenty expressive. In general I find that Western developers struggle with facial expressions, only few succeed (Naughty Dog). Just look at the characters in Starfield, their faces don't convey any emotion, especially compared to a game like Final Fantasy.
That being said, I love stuff like the freckles. I think it's rather unfortunate that these so called "imperfect" features are often hidden on TV. Many Japanese games have characters with scars for instance, it gives them something memorable (and maybe relatable to some too). Interesting subject by the way.

@Ralizah, @Kidfried, thanks!

Yeah, I definitely don't think all games should have cartoon/anime art styles or anything, and agree that more realistic looking games from Japanese developers do a better job of having their characters fit that style while still looking generally aesthetically pleasing (FFVIIR, Yakuza/LAD, Fatal Frame, & the upcoming Stellar Blade).

@RR529 Yep. Generally agree games like FFVIIR and Fatal Frame are the gold standard for me when it comes to that balance. They're realistic enough that it doesn't feel cartoonish, but stylized enough that it avoids the problems that come from attempts at photorealism.

Redfall (Series X) - Impressions

I just finished Redfall after roughly 18 hours of playtime. It was overall a fairly enjoyable experience, but there definitely were aspects that brought down the experience by a lot. The reviews have mostly focused on the technical issues the game had at launch. But if you play the game today, you won't notice many issues like that. During my entire playthrough, I had some consistent issues like not being able to set a waypoint by clicking once but instead twice, the amount of ammo shown was constantly off and frames would drop whenever I'd kill a special type of enemy to just name a few. I also had a few crashes. But throughout the 18 hours I played, I didn't encounter any major technical issues. In fact, that aspect isn't even the primary issue with the game. There are more major flaws with the game, which are:

• The gameplay loop is repetitive and limited
• The progression system is poor and unrewarding
• The game is relentless in terms of difficulty with no noticeable changes if you lower it

So I'd like to go through these three points one by one. For starters, the gameplay loop is really repetitive. Granted, they do a good job of introducing a lot of new stuff in the beginning. You start off with your standard handgun, then find your typical weapons like assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles and even flare guns. Then the game introduces two unique weapon types, which are stake guns and UV beams. The former is effective against the vampires in the game, while the latter is mostly used for killing the stationary enemies that spew a red poison mist across certain areas. The problem is that these weapons are introduced immediately and you don't unlock any new weapons for the remainder of your playthrough.

Moreover, you can only hold and switch between three weapons at once. I mostly used a shotgun, assault rifle and sniper rifle throughout the game. But I wanted to use the stake guns and UV beams fairly often as well. So I had to constantly go into the menu and switch out my loadout, which was such a pain. Considering the developer wanted to copy Far Cry, they completely omitted the series' weapon wheel.

It's the same issue with the enemy variety: the majority of the enemy types are introduced way too soon. They should've spread them out a bit more throughout the playthrough to make things more interesting. But yes, there are plenty of different enemies. They just become uninteresting to face off against during the second half of the game.

Moving on to the progression system, it's absolutely the worst I've seen in a game in a long time. There is a skill tree but you can't even collect enough skill points to unlock most of the stuff by playing through the game naturally. Furthermore, the stuff you do unlock don't even feel that rewarding. It doesn't feel like my character has been improved at all whenever I unlock something new.

Consequently, the abilities themselves are so unsatisfying to use. You have four characters with different skills and mine has an umbrella that acts like a shield that then explodes when it disappears, a "psychic lift" that propels you upwards and her special ability lets her call her ex-boyfriend to come in and do some damage. The umbrella is fine, but the other two feel so useless and unsatisfying. I mean, I want my abilities to pack a punch. But in my case two of my three abilities aren't even (direct) attacks and the third feels very weak to use.

This brings me to my last point, which is the difficulty level. I started on Normal and it felt pretty good at first but then I started dying over and over again. So I lowered the difficulty to Easy and there weren't any noticeable changes at all. The enemies were just as relentless as before. I probably died 40-50 times during my 18 hour playthrough. I died more in this game than I did in Returnal, which is known to be a difficult game!

So what's the issue with the difficulty? Well, the enemies deal way too much damage. On top of this, you can easily find yourself surrounded by enemies that will absolutely wreck you. Even if you upgrade your health, you can easily die in just a couple of seconds if you're unlucky. The difficulty level is just very unbalanced and for a game like this that's supposed to be fun and a good time, it completely ruins the experience.

There are so many other issues with the game, such as a bad checkpoint system and a bad waypoint system to name some more.

There are some good aspects of this game obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered playing it to the end. Even if the gameplay loop is repetitive, it's still a relatively fun looter shooter and unique gameplay mechanics like needing to use a stake in order to finish off a vampire (which is the only way to kill them) makes the gameplay more varied. The story is pretty good as well. Even if the game doesn't have cutscenes where characters move, the narrative is rather captivating and there's a lot of backstory to the characters. Not to mention that there's plenty of lore to read, in a typical Arkane fashion.

So to summarise, the technical issues that Redfall is infamous for is the furthest from its problems. Repetitive gameplay loop, unrewarding progression system and relentless difficulty level brings down the experience a lot. There's still some fun to be had here, but if you're looking for an open world shooter, you'd do better with many other titles, including Far Cry. If I had to give the game a score, which I rarely do but in this case I want to just so that I can convert my thoughts into a numeric value, I'd give it a 5/10.

@LtSarge Absolutely solid write up friend, you have articulated my thoughts about the game exactly. Like you, I found the game itself to be the problem other than the much talked about technical issues. Frame rate issues and texture loading were probably the most egregious examples from a technical standpoint I encountered. The game rather ironically just feels a bit lifeless, and yes the difficulty combined with the checkpoints is hard to stomach for long periods. I’m yet to finish the storyline but I’m in no rush, I’m a tad demoralised after the one two punch of this and Halo CE.

@AgentCooper Thanks mate! I think you can tell that Arkane bit off a bit more than they could chew. They clearly don't have much experience with these kinds of games, which led to Redfall ending up being a complete dud. You can definitely feel the production value, but the game itself is just not good.

Yeah, I feel you man. Redfall and Halo CE aren't exactly the best shooters and playing them one after the other does not make for a good time. Hopefully you'll get through them both in the end!

@RR529 Really enjoyed reading your Jedi: Survivor review back there. I agree with most of your points, if not all of them; you seem to have had a better time with the overall story but, as much as I could've done without Skoova Stev, that fourth-quarter catalyst is undeniably one of the best, most electrifying half-hours of any Star Wars in recent memory (interactive or otherwise).

Sorry to hear that you suffered so many technical issues, though. Your crashes and glitches sound a lot worse than anything I encountered, to the point where I'm starting to suspect that the PS5 is the most inconsistent hardware ever put to market, because this is the third or fourth major release from the past couple years where one person's perfectly stable experience is another person's unplayable nightmare. Well, they've promised more patches, even if they haven't been forthcoming for a while now. Fingers crossed, because I'd quite like to attempt a NG+ playthrough at some point.

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@LtSarge Whenever one of these giant controversies rolls around, it's always useful to get a fair assessment from a regular gamer, so I'm real grateful for your insights on Redfall. It sounds like, beyond the temporary and fixable issues which made for such easy clickbait, there's a permanent and unfixable mediocrity which is far more deserving of scorn. Which is a shame, as I always love a good redemption story, and have plenty of games in my collection where, with a little patience for a few surface-level faults, the good stuff can shine through. Thanks for taking the hit and sharing your findings!

@LtSarge It sounds like you gave Redfall the space to make a fair impression on you, which I appreciate in a review/impressions piece, considering it's one of those games that got torn to shreds by the online gaming community even prior to release. It might have still disappointing overall, but it's good to know there are some redeeming aspects to it. But yeah, the gameplay in a shooter not being very good is going to be a kiss of death for most of us.

Based on what I've read, it seems like this was a game that Arkane's upper management wanted to make, but it ended up driving off a lot of the talent that was responsible for the studio's more highly regarded earlier games.

I'm always doing this. One of the secret benefits of having an ex-boyfriend <3

@RogerRoger I should've checked this thread sooner again! Had no clue Star Trek: Resurgence came out already. I've been looking forward to it for a while as a fan of the Telltale-style games. Sounds pretty much like what I expected on a technical level from the previews they'd shown, but I'm glad to hear the story itself is exceptional. I will definitely give this a looksie soon.

@PixelDragon Those are some really interesting thoughts. It’s a game that has often brought out a variety of opinions and reactions. I dropped a review a year or two ago on this thread and there’s been a lot of subsequent discussions that have made me re-analyze my initial thoughts. Overall, I think I still stand by my original 9/10 review, but if I ever play the game again I fully expect to more readily see all its warts. At the time, it was an inspirational experience though.

One of the issues that didn’t necessarily bother me was the way it ended. I do see how ending with that initial farmhouse sequence would have wrapped things up neatly. And the subsequent sections were a bit of a drag to play through. But the ending we got impacted me more than if things had concluded with a Hollywood ending.

I am almost positive we will get a Part 3, for good or for bad. I wonder truly if Druckmann and company will try to course-correct and respond to the crowds of criticism that Part 2 caused amongst the fanbase. I suspect not. I think he’ll double-down on something controversial again, but I can’t be sure.

@PixelDragon You don't need to score it if you don't like scores lol.

It's not a game I've played myself (wasn't a fan of the original, and, frankly, I don't like the slaughtering dogs in-game), but there has been no shortage of interesting reactions to the game, even leading up to release with the massive fan backlash it received following the leaks. I have thought about playing it at times, though, as I admire its deliberately provocative approach to story-telling.

It seems significantly longer than the original, which definitely makes me think the pacing is probably off, although I feel like the increase in scope of the environments probably at least partially makes up for it.

Given what I know about the game (which is, honestly, most of it), I'm not sure why people would want a follow-up. It's not like the concept/setting are hugely unique or anything, and the story of Joel and Ellie clearly came to an end here.

Thanks for posting your thoughts!

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Remastered edition PS4

What do I think about the game? Well I think in general that the game felt like a very good and solid shooting experience so I can very much recommend the game to everyone who is looking for something fun and exciting to play. I dont think its the best Call of Duty *single player game around but yeah still think it is a very good and fun game to play!

@Tjuz Would most definitely be interested to see what you make of Star Trek: Resurgence, as and when you try it (and only if you're able to post your thoughts; no pressure).

I've kept it on my PS5 and it still hasn't had a patch yet, so I'm not hugely hopeful for its future, alas.

@RogerRoger Already started it! I'm only about two hours in because I like to play these story games about an hour at a time, TV-show style I suppose haha. Helps that usually they're pretty consistently paced to have a big moment an hour. So far my impressions have been pretty positive though! I'm playing on PC which by the sounds of what you've said is probably the better experience technically. I was also able to use a mod to unlock the framerate for example. Still has plenty of issues with everything ranging from animation stuttering to general stuttering to audio issues and the like, much of what you'll have experienced all the same I'm sure. Nothing that has distracted from my enjoyment of the game at any point though!

One of my biggest two biggest gripes so far (besides the technical stuff which I can mostly look past) is how absolutely annoying the music is. I can't remember the last or any other time I had to go into the settings to tweak specifically music audio because it just completely overwhelms anything else. And it's constant. There's never any quiet! I don't know why they felt they couldn't let dialogue scenes be just that sometimes. And aside from that, the audio mixing in general is often all over the place. That's less a bug and more what I presume is incompetence. Even the directional audio occasionally makes no sense, but I guess you might not have noticed that if you weren't using headphones.

Much like you, I front-loaded this with much technical talk but ultimately have had a very enjoyable experience so far. The story I'm already quite invested in despite my still being in the early stages of it. I always love diplomacy in video games (hence why I always get destroyed in 4X games by huge armies), so a character like Jara is right up my alley. I'm not quite as sold on Carter yet, but I do appreciate the different perspective his POV gives you. The minigames so far I have not been very fond of myself, but it sounded like you wouldn't necessarily disagree yourself, haha. They just feel like extra unnecessary busywork to add more so-called gameplay. Personally, I much prefer a game like this just acdepting what it is and knowing it doesn't need to add that kind of stuff to feel validated as a video game. And as for the choices, I like that they have felt fairly impactful so far. Many games like this you can easily clock the illusion of choice, but on multiple occasions here I have wondered if something really would have been quite different had I made a different choice. Whether that's true or not, the fact that it made me feel like that is a win for the writing as far as I'm concerned. I'm ready to win the Bridge Crew's hearts and all the while pissing off Solano more and more!

Anyway, that's the short thoughts I can give so far. I can't play more for a little while as I'm in the middle of moving countries currently. And if I may be so bold, I would recommend you try out New Tales from the Borderlands if you haven't already. You mentioned in your review quite enjoying Telltale's Borderlands spin-off, so I think it'd be worth it to you to give the Gearbox sequel a shot. If mediocre/bad reviews scared you off, I would implore you to look past them like I did because I personally had a great time. I feel like our interests in terms of storytelling align pretty well, so I have a feeling it might be for you too. Just an idea for whenever you're in the mood for one of these games again!

@Tjuz Oh, great! Real glad you're playing on PC, as it's gonna be as stable as possible for you, then. Having said what I said the other day, however, I booted up my PS5 the following morning and lo, the game finally had a patch waiting for it! D'oh!

Can't say that the PS4 version had any audio balancing issues, though, even at launch. I played with my headset on and the music, dialogue and effects were all fine for me. Maybe that's a PC-specific bug?

Otherwise, am pleased you're enjoying it so much thusfar, and really hope you continue to do so! Totally agree with you about Jara, and about preferring her (or at least, finding her more interesting) when compared to Carter. I liked the whole "dual protagonist" thing for its different perspectives on the same story, but I've rarely found an example where I've connected with both protagonists equally. And yeah, some of the minigames have that kinda "Wow, is this really gonna make me push the button?!" feeling to 'em, but I guess it's the cost of doing business when you wanna call yourself a videogame!

The PS4 trophy list is a 50/50 split between the most important decisions, so my second playthrough in pursuit of the game's platinum is gonna force me to decide differently. I'm looking forward to seeing just how impactful the choices can be. As you say, irrespective of how much (or how little) actually changes, the feeling is what matters, and they've certainly nailed that.

Thank you for the recommendation! Really appreciate it, and will definitely keep an eye out for it whenever a new sale sweeps around (and will let you know if and when I bite).

Best of luck with your move! Sounds like a pretty major upheaval, so I hope it goes smoothly!

Platform: PS5
Release Date: April 2023

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Spoiler Warning: Minor story details from Horizon Forbidden West get mentioned below. Major story details from Burning Shores are appropriately tagged; click at your own risk.

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Coming fresh from an 70-hour NG+ playthrough of its base game, Burning Shores could've risked testing my tolerance for the Forbidden West. As much as I enjoyed Aloy's second outing when it launched last year, I remember being slightly relieved once I'd finished its story. That wasn't the great game's fault, of course; I simply had other things I wanted to play. This time, with nothing else on my immediate horizon (ba-dum-tssh) I was surprised to feel all of that post-credits relief being bulldozed by a potent pang of remorse. Even after all those hours, I wasn't ready to say goodbye.

And so my NG+ gamble paid off, better than I'd hoped. My hype for Burning Shores was enhanced rather than dampened, and I hungrily consumed its narrative missions without missing a beat. Of course, I'd already unlocked some of the DLC's extra abilities and maxed out its new level cap, thanks to my return lap, but I kinda like that; made everything seem integrated.

The "burning shores" themselves end up being Los Angeles, providing a new chunk of map that's kept separate from the rest of the Forbidden West (although you can trigger a seamless transition between both locations by riding a flying mount out-of-bounds). Aloy heads out there to tie up a loose end, but what starts as a simple "get the baddie" outing becomes something much more meaningful, continuing her character arc in important ways that'd normally be reserved for a full sequel. This gives Burning Shores the edge over The Frozen Wilds, which'd been focused on adding to the wider lore of Zero Dawn and therefore came across as being a smidge skippable (I'd still recommend it, though).

Crucial to the story's success is Seyka (Kylie Liya Page), a new Aloy ally and one of the series' best-written, best-acted NPCs. She's a compelling companion for our protagonist, particularly at this point of her narrative development; after spending Zero Dawn as an isolated outsider, and then learning the power of friendship in Forbidden West proper, there's an immensely satisfying structure to Aloy's journey, and Ashly Burch's performance goes from strength to strength as she gradually humanises one of modern gaming's greatest heroes. Of course, there are still plenty of skyscraper-sized machines running amok, and you won't be disappointed if you're just here for the sheer spectacle of it all, but the whole endeavour has heart, moreso than I was expecting.

With regards a specific player choice that sparked a headline-grabbing "controversy" at launch...

What also makes sense is why this DLC is exclusive to PS5. Yes, it's a huge shame that PS4 players won't get to enjoy a "complete" version of Forbidden West, but Burning Shores doesn't waste all that extra processing power. There's no way a PS4 Pro (let alone a base model) could handle the increased scale of the climactic set-piece, not without significant presentational downgrades that'd end up harming the experience to a distracting degree. Even some of the content that seems relatively straightforward is, in actuality, bigger and more intricate, and therefore would be too technically demanding to achieve on older hardware; for example, there's another Cauldron to explore, but this one's ludicrously vast and packed with the finest of fine details, all of which made my jaw drop. I can only imagine how a PS4 port would struggle with swarms of Stingspawn, or how the Waterwing's sub-surface antics would tank its framerate.

Beyond the above, Burning Shores doesn't set out to fix what ain't broke. Like all good DLC, it builds on what worked before, adding additional weaponry and skills to Aloy's repertoire which merely add to her options during gameplay, instead of changing its entire nature. There are a few final upgrades which cross over into "unbridled power fantasy" territory, but they're unlocked at the right moment to land like the rewards they blatantly are, and help make that aforementioned finale more fun than frustrating.

But, by and large, you'll know what lies ahead. You're gonna be hunting cool machines, you're gonna be clearing out camps of belligerent humans, you're gonna be exploring old world ruins, and you're gonna be grumbling about the game's clunky traversal controls (which I still found counter-intuitive, even after that extended NG+ playthrough). You might even get a little lost, like I did, and aimlessly wander into a few puzzle or objective solutions purely by accident. Which is fine, because then you'll start a story mission, and incredible music will kick in as something stunning kicks off, leaving you feeling uplifted. I don't mind admitting that I got misty-eyed more than once, and it wasn't always during a dialogue-heavy cutscene; sometimes the triumphant stuff can strike that same chord, too.

Burning Shores is a strong statement of intent from Guerrilla Games. Some of its ideas feel too grand and far too important to be consigned to mere DLC, but y'know what? That just makes me even more excited for the third Horizon game. Having to build on the Forbidden West was one thing, but also having to build on this now...? Frankly, it boggles the imagination.

Whatever happens next, we're in for one helluva treat.

@RogerRoger Nice Burning Shores impressions! Those screenshots are incredibly sharp, and do a good job of highlight the sheer processing power available on the PS5. To that end, while I'm disappointed I'll miss out on it in the immediate, it's good to hear they make use of the hardware to deliver something spectacular, instead of this merely being an instance where the DLC is locked to the newer platform to encourage hardware upgrades.

I'm guessing the expanded scope of the environments and setpieces in this DLC will give a bit of a taste of what the third mainline game will be capable of. Probably something that pushes the PS5 to its limits, as base Forbidden West did to the PS4.

As for there being "controversy"... well, some things aren't even worth dignifying with an acknowledgement, IMO.

@RogerRoger Not usually being a DLC-guy, I wasn’t hyped for the Burning Shores content. Nevertheless, your and other positive reports make it sound enticing, to say the least. I suppose I just need to play the base game first before making any plans about Burning Shores though. It’s on the list of goals to attack this year.

The DLC looks lovely and it sounds like this truly enhanced an already great package, rather than dragged it out like some add-on content can do.

Great write-up, as always, and enjoyable to read, even if I never make my way into Guerilla’s post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. 😄