Making Horizon Forbidden West’s DLC PS5 exclusive let Guerrilla ‘charge forward’
The game’s upcoming expansion will see Aloy explore the ruined city of Los Angeles
Guerrilla Games has discussed how making Horizon Forbidden West expansion Burning Shores PS5 exclusive has allowed it to get more out of the system.
The expansion, which will be released in April, isn’t coming to PS4, despite the base game, 2022’s Horizon Forbidden West, being released for Sony‘s current and last-gen consoles.
Speaking to the PlayStation Blog, Horizon Forbidden West director Mathijs de Jonge said: “On Horizon Forbidden West, everything we added or increased was something we’d need to have a plan around how to optimize for PS4 as well.
“On Burning Shores, since we can just focus on PS5, we’ve been able to charge forward and we’re really excited about what we’ve been able to pull off in creating this stunning post-post-apocalyptic version of Los Angeles.”
De Jonge cited the detail in the open world as one of the advantages of making the expansion only available for PS5.
“The cityscape ruins of LA and its surroundings are highly detailed and require a lot of processing power as well as fast streaming technology to run properly; especially when the player is flying over the lands and can see a lot at once. One of the settlements is situated in and around those detailed ruins, and we were able to squeeze a lot of activity in there.”
Burning Shores will see Aloy explore a ruined version of Los Angeles. She will seemingly visit several landmarks including the Hollywood sign, the Capitol Records Building, and Venice Beach.
De Jonge also teased a specific setpiece in the expansion that will apparently utilise the PS5 hardware. “Another notable one is a particular battle scene that requires a lot of memory and processing power! To achieve this grand vision both technically and creatively, we definitely were thankful for the many advantages that the PS5 hardware brings.”
Guerrilla confirmed in December that it was planning to “expand the world of Horizon” with an online co-op project “featuring a new cast of characters and a unique stylized look”.
This followed reporting from VGC that the Dutch studio was planning an online spin-off, in addition to a planned trilogy of Horizon games.
More than 10 minutes of footage claiming to show early development gameplay of the Horizon multiplayer game appeared online in January.
Further reading
Over 10 minutes of ‘early Horizon multiplayer game’ footage leaks online
A Horizon Zero Dawn remaster for PS5 is also reportedly in development, while it’s been claimed that Lineage and Guild Wars studio NCSoft has struck a deal with Sony to make a Horizon MMORPG.
Sony is also working with Netflix on a TV adaptation of Horizon. The franchise launched in 2017 with Horizon Zero Dawn.
Related Products
Horizon Forbidden West (PS5)
