Site News: Where Is Our Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores PS5 Review?

Sony has not been actively communicating with its audience in this generation for some years already and all those issues with Activision/Microsoft only made the situation worse... Shame.

Hope you'll guys still bring us a decent review when it is ready!

I think it’s really strange what Sony is doing here.
It’s an exclusive dlc for a ps5 game and an absolutely visual showcase for the system… Sony so far haven’t done anything in terms of marketing. If they don’t want to spend money for marketing, for whatever reason, they could at least invite some gaming blogs to a presentation or send out review codes earlier.

I highly believe that the dlc will be great but it’s a very strange behavior from Sony. You could think that they want to hide something because the quality of the dlc isn’t that good… but I don’t think and hope so.

Currently downloading HFW update coming in at 14.433GB, this is not the Burning Shores expansion preload I've been looking for or is it? I dunno anymore what's going on. Where the bloody eck is my preloaded, supposed to be yesterday

@Beerheadgamer82 I'm still waiting for it to pre load aswell

Looking forward to it, guys! I'm on the fence whether I'm going to buy it straight away... The review will definitely help me decision

@Ajfennell77 was supposed to be 48 hours before release, its now 10 hours left before the midnight release and still no sign of a preload anywhere, very strange

@Beerheadgamer82 that's true but it's sony nothing surprises me with them this gen

Well I woke up this morning, booted up Horizon Forbidden West and couldn’t work out how to start the Burning Shores.

Then I realised it was the 18th.

Duh.

Yeah it didn't preload for me either as of this morning (despite saying it's expected to do so on the 17th). I'll check again after work.
It's not a big deal since a 17gb download will only take minutes but I wish the PS5's features worked as expected...

@Ajfennell77 I have faith in Guerillas work when finally get on it, no doubts there. Just would have been nice if the preload was availible to all like all the sites reported on yesterday

@Voltan @Beerheadgamer82 @Shepherd_Tallon @Ajfennell77

For me it’s showing as downloaded and installed.

Manage Game Content

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
Installed: 16.77GB
Playable date: 19/4/2023

Unless I’m misunderstanding, then ignore me. Haha.

I didn't notice until now, but it didn't preload for me either. I saved the full game for the expansion, but, it's so close to TotK I might as well wait longer and not start it and stop it part way, it may have to wait until next winter for me, but yeah, wasn't downloaded with the base game yesterday.

Maybe they were waiting to the last minute to patch it before pushing it out or something? Weird to withhold review code on a DLC that's not expected to be bad.

@Beerheadgamer82 tbh can't argue ur point there but it does look weird some places can pre load it but then others can't ...only think I can think of is there's loads of pre orders and messed up there systym

Woke up to find that my game progress had dropped from 100% to 77%. That’s a lot more Horizon to look forward to!

@SoulChimera I won't be able to check again for another couple hours but as of this morning I had nothing in my download history, where I'd expect it.
Also, when going to the DLC's store page, I see a timer and I can enable auto-download (which wasn't enabled by default but I did it yesterday) and it says it's expected to download on 17.04.
It sounds like the pre-load worked for some but not others, for whatever reason. Maybe it's the fact that I bought it throught the app rather than the console.

Personally don't need a review, loved the game so I'm sure I'll love this too. If it's 10+ more hours in the horizon world with a few new mechanics and places to explore I'll be happy. Plus it's a bargain.

I've already pre-ordered. It'll give me something to do

@Beerheadgamer82 no the dlc is about 15-16 gb additional and doesnt come with such an game update.
Looking forward for the changelog of the patch and if they add the clouds to the base game as well.

I wonder if the pre-load doesn’t work if you bought the PS4 version and used the free upgrade. Might be some backend thing that doesn’t recognise something properly.

@Tomato_Goose Let's remember the days when there was no internet. No Dayone patches... no blabla everywhere. Just magazines in which something was presented once a month. This overhyping of games and hardware with more and more superlatives is simply annoying and bad for the whole development. Everywhere you read "incredible" "insane" "unbelievable" "awesome" etc etc. You'll be brainwashed believe me. If you read every day that something is the best, then at some point you will believe it and ultimately buy it. And you want more communication... okay. Sometimes it seems to me that everyone is just looking forward to the next release instead of having fun with what is already dormant on the SSD. And that's the case with everyone if he's honest.

I'm definitely waiting for the review. We've seen so little that I'm worried it's going to turn out to be quite unambitious

Strange that the preload didnt work for everyone? I always leave my machine in rest mode and its all installed for me (just checked).
I loved the original game, so they would have to try really hard to screw it up to the point where I was disappointed

@Reeneman iknowyh. I've done everything possible to find the preload but nothing. Only thing I can think of is my version of HFW is installed from a physical disc and only digital versions get the preload but I'm convinced that can't be the reason though. Just gonna have to wait for midnight and do it then

@ThomasHL The Frozen Wilds dlc code was released with time to post reviews a day before its release, so this is definitely a suspect move and at the very least reaffirms the very tone deaf and unconcerned for its Fandom approach to communication by Sony as of late.

I genuinely feel bad for their Studios and the lack of a meaningful spotlight under the Sony umbrella in recent years.

I think you are right to wait, as this all but confirms some level of mediocrity or some level of damage control in terms of pre release criticism or lack of confidence.
Perhaps at the very least hubris.

I had no clue this comes out of tomorrow. Not sure if that says more about me or more about how little Sony has advertised it.

Oh damn, apparently it’s now confirmed from other territories that at midnight the no pre-load issue doesn’t resolve itself. Apparently it just continues to show as purchased but isn’t available to use.

Yeah soak it in, my mate. I've had to restart from begining as I didn't back up my save. Will still be buying it tonight though.

I love the "we won't rush" in the same sentence as "will have it to you this week".

Oh to go back to the days where finishing a game/significant DLC in half a week wasn't a rush.

@get2sammyb Who’s on dlc duty? Figure w/ something this big it’s Shogun or Liam but you may have decided to do it yourself.

Ok guess I’ll go check. About time for some Fortnite anyway. Bought the game on PS4 digital, downloaded and played on PS5, preordered the dlc on the PS5 store. Had $18 in credit and had just enough points for a $10 code from the Sony website store. In case any of that matters.🤷🏻‍♂️

Edit: Turned on my PS5 and this started downloading. 1.021.000 at 14.136GB. After it was done my home screen says 77% as someone else said but there is nothing in "Game management" so no dlc for me yet I guess.😝

Booted up the game and there is a BS logo in the upper right w/ a triangle prompt for the store. Which showed me 12:52 until I can play it so at least it knows I bought it, that's something I guess.🤷 Gonna go check for the preorder items.

Last edit: Clicked on the timer after pressing triangle and it says the dlc was scheduled to predownload to my PS5 yesterday 4/17. I wasn't planning on playing it until tomorrow night anyway, not staying up past midnight to game, but I would like it to be installed on it's own, nobody wants to just sit here and wait. Guess we'll see.

@Voltan Yeah, does seem very odd that it’s effected so many people. Hope it kicks in for you in time!

Insane that they’ve waited so long, it’s not as if they’ve got literally any other codes being delivered soon is it?

@Reeneman I think Sony just look at the numbers and they are just thrashing Microsoft in every area and that with the minimal spending on advertising strategy over the last 3 years, why should they spend tonne of money? What will get them? Will it make them a extra billion probably not will even make them another hundred again probably not.

@Beerheadgamer82 there seems to be an issue with the preload currently.
For me it worked exactly on midnight from Su/Mo (ps5 disc version)… for a friend also with the disc who tried it a day later it’s still not working. Hope they can fix this asap.
Nevertheless nothing to worry about because the dlc is „only“ around 16 gb… with a regular and good internet connection it won’t take long to download.

@knowles2 probably that’s the case but there is still a lot of competition going on, even with a weak Xbox. I can understand not investing a ton of regular marketing money but you could at least work together with blogs and game media.
Horizon with its graphics is an absolutely showcase for consoles and even PC fans. Don’t understand to not use this to boost the Ps5 awareness even further because so many people complaining about the lack of visual stunning next gen titles.

I often tend to wait for GOTY editions (or any likewise releases) so I can just get it all together and judge for myself on the whole. I don't think I would ever buy DLC by itself since it usually tends to be just OK, regardless of how good the core game is (Hearts of Stone, Blood and Wine excepted).

@Reeneman yh Internet speeds are far more faster these days. My Internet from around the PS3 days was like a snails pace in comparison of todays

Good. I'm delighted that y'all refuse to rush through the content in order to put out a review. Honestly these games get better the more time you spend with them in my experience, and just blasting through any game I find is a disservice to the work of the developers and team, as there's so much to digest.

I purchased the dlc via the PS App, then physically had to download it via my PS5 from the store yesterday.
It wouldn't download until I changed the install option to the storage on the same drive I had the main game on, which sort of makes sense, but might be the cause of the issues for some folk on here. The update patch just installed today.
DLC is around 17GB and I presume it's reusing a lot of assets from the main game too so doesn't need to be that big.

Yeah it's still not downloading and there's nothing under "manage game content" (even after installing the patch).
Guess I'll just have to download it at midnight.

I mean it's horizon, it can't be bad...

It won't be bad it will be just iterative and samey in every way. More for the sake of mores($$$) sake.

So hopefully the story is better told than has been in the past. The environment looks very, very similar. So far from what I've seen I'm not sure how this could not have been put on PS4. Maybe more fog and linear yellow painted climbing sequences? I would be interested to truly hear what PS5 only potential was needed and tapped to cut out the portion of fans that bought and played this on the ps4. Weird that reviews are all non existent, but first hour or so is already being posted by outlets, and even final boss fights on YouTube.

In case you missed it though from the main game play through, guerilla listened to your "love" and ensures aloy definitely continues to tell you how to do everything through a constant monologue to herself.

@nessisonett I've been noticing you seem quite sore about the lack of first-party content this year.

And this wouldn't even be all that appealing, because, if I recall correctly, you weren't a huge fan of HFW, right?

Hollywood be busy this year with this DLC and Dead Island 2.

@Gooseman42 Yeah, that's actually bigger than I expected. Assuming most of that is story content. Gonna be sad knowing the guy who calls you to start this DLC is no longer with us....

@Ralizah It was in the unfortunate position of being alongside Elden Ring, which I wasn’t even sure about until it arrived. Forbidden West isn’t exactly bad, it just was so middle of the road that I can barely remember much about it. So no, this isn’t exactly a priority for me! And this is it for Sony. They now officially have no projects with release dates. You know it’s bad when Nintendo have a clearer slate going forwards.

@nessisonett Nintendo has had a pretty awesome lineup all generation. Exclusives releasing nearly every month since last year, big entries in nearly every major series, dead series being revived, etc. This really feels like a golden age for them.

With that said, I'm sure the Spider-Man game will release this year, and Sony probably has some unannounced stuff that'll drop as well. They're not as prolific as Nintendo, but unlike Microsoft, they also don't go a year or more without anything in the way of major releases.

Word on the street is that the graphics have also been improved with the new patch / DLC (PS5 only) on the base game too.

https://www.reddit.com/r/horizon/comments/12r5o23/base_game_upgrade/?utm_source=embedv2&utm_medium=post_embed&utm_content=action_bar