Horizon Forbidden West's DLC expansion won't be available on PS4

Horizon Forbidden West is clearly deserving of being celebrated. Guerrilla Games’ latest title was nominated seven times at this year’s The Game Awards, tied with Elden Ring and second only to God of War Ragnarök’s 10 nominations. Unfortunately though, Forbidden West failed to pick up a single award. Personally, I think the game offers up 2022’s best open world and it’s certainly my personal GOTY.

It’s a shame because I truly believe Horizon Forbidden West’s downfall was its release date. The game was very quickly overshadowed by Elden Ring and whilst I think the title is on par with Ragnarök, it’s not as fresh in our minds. We did get a consolation prize though, fellow fans. Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores, a DLC expansion, has officially been announced. The only problem is, it won’t be released on the PlayStation 4.

Take a look at the new trailer for Burning Shores below.

Burning Shores is officially set to be released on 19 April 2023, and is Forbidden West’s first major expansion. Set after the events of the main game, Burning Shores will see Aloy journey to the ruins of Los Angeles, “an overgrown and fractured city that can be fully explored via the water and flying on the back of a sunwing.” There, she will be confronted by “a massive machine threat” that lurks in the shadows, Guerrilla reported over on the PlayStation blog.

This is all very exciting, but it’s bad news for those fans without a PlayStation 5. As I’m sure you’re aware, Forbidden West released on both the PS4 and PS5 but Burning Shores is a new-gen PS5 release only. Explaining the decision, Guerrilla said, “To achieve this grand vision technically and creatively, we’ve made the difficult decision to focus all our efforts on making an incredible experience exclusively for the PlayStation 5 console.”

Admittedly, the DLC looks stunning but this is a major blow to so many fans. Responding to the news on Twitter, one user wrote, “That is so unfair for PS4 players who can’t afford a PS5 yet.” Surprisingly though, most fans were happy to see a new-gen only approach. One said, “Good. Time to move on from the PS4,” while another added, “Huge W. Hopefully means it’s a testing ground for Horizon 3.”