Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores Receives A Stunning Launch Trailer

Guerrilla Games and PlayStation Studios have shared a stunning new trailer for Horizon: Forbidden West DLC Burning Shores.

The trailer is a quick review of the key plot points of the DLC, and is also a spotlight for the game’s stunning visuals. Guerrilla Games has taken its tribal post-apocalyptic aesthetic and painted that brush to Los Angeles. The city is virtually unrecognizable, but residents may recognize the shapes and visual language that mark it to be Los Angeles.

There is one key marker that lets us know that this was the state where many a noir novel or film was once set in. The famous giant Hollywood sign, across Mount Lee in Santa Monica, was shown in previous previews, and makes an appearance here once again, but with one key difference.

The new trailer emphasizes that Aloy is joined in her journey by Seyka, a Quen marine who appears to be just as capable as Aloy. The visual language used in the trailer makes them look like mirrors of each other, or at least depicts them as characters of equal standing and ability.

In a PlayStation Blog from last week, Guerrilla Games describes Seyka as “an ambitious marine who has stepped up to help her people survive. As a new companion for the DLC, Aloy will spend a lot of time with her throughout the story and rely on her help in many situations – a position she doesn’t often find herself in.”

Unfortunately, if you thought this trailer was about the two of them girlbossing, I have to point something out. This trailer fails the Bechdel test, as the two women discuss an unnamed ‘he’ who seems to be creating the conflict in the DLC.

We don’t know who ‘he’ is or what exactly ‘he’ is doing, but we do know that Aloy wants to know what ‘he’ is planning, and that whatever these plans are, they are going to be big.

The way this trailer shows Aloy with Seyka constantly is really quite interesting. Will there be parts of Burning Shores where we play as Seyka? Could Seyka be playable in some multiplayer mode? It certainly looks like Seyka could be a playable character as well. It would certainly be a departure for Guerrilla to make this DLC their dalliance with multiplayer for this franchise.

Horizon: Forbidden West DLC Burning Shores will be released on April 19, 2023, exclusively on PlayStation 5. Sony has clearly stated that this DLC will not be published on the PlayStation 4. Given PlayStation Studios’ current strategy, it is expected but not yet confirmed that Horizon: Forbidden West will eventually be ported to PC.

You can watch the trailer below.