Summary
- The Horizon franchise has expanded to various media like comics, tabletop games, and spin-offs.
- The Frozen Wilds and Burning Shores DLCs were incorporated into Forbidden West.
- Fans can expect a potential story DLC for Horizon 3 themed around elements and new machines.
For over eight years, Guerrilla Games has exponentially expanded the Horizon franchise in various forms. From the humble beginnings of Horizon Zero Dawn, the Horizon franchise has expanded to nearly every medium, having released several comic books, tabletop games, two spin-offs, including Horizon Call of the Mountain and LEGO Horizon Adventures, and a film adaptation currently in development. However, these media weren’t the first expansion of the Horizon universe. Instead, that milestone went to Zero Dawn’s story DLC The Frozen Wilds. With Horizon Forbidden West having released the similarly elemental-themed DLC Burning Shores, fans could expect Guerrilla to release a story DLC for the inevitable Horizon 3.
If Horizon Forbidden West's Sequel Ends the Series, It Should Go All-Out on One Feature
Should Horizon 3 turn out to be Aloy's final game, Guerrilla Games could expand upon one improved feature from Horizon Forbidden West.
Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West’s DLCs Explained
Roughly four months after Horizon Zero Dawn first released, Guerrilla Games revealed at E3 2017 that the game would receive a story DLC in the form of The Frozen Wilds, releasing in November later that year. Set after Aloy first ventures beyond Nora territory in the quest A Seeker at the Gates, but before the climactic Battle of the Alight, The Frozen Wilds has Aloy travel to the northern mountain region known as the Cut, home to the shamanistic tribe, the Banuk.
Here, Aloy is tasked with helping the Banuk and an ancient artificial intelligence, CYAN, combat corrupted machines spawned by the rogue Project Zero Dawn A.I. HEPHAESTUS. Along the way, Aloy gained access to the new weapons, the Forgefire, Icerail, and Stormslinger, and encountered the new machines Fireclaw, Frostclaw, and Scorcher.
Many elements from The Frozen Wilds were incorporated into 2022’s Horizon Forbidden West, such as the inclusion of the Fireclaw, Frostclaw, and Scorcher but by 2022’s Game Awards, Guerrilla announced that this title would receive its own elemental-themed expansion in the form of Burning Shores. Set after the end of Forbidden West, Burning Shores follows Aloy to post-apocalyptic Los Angeles to kill the last remaining Far Zenith, Walter Londra, after he tricks a portion of a Quen fleet to believe he’s a god. With help from a Quen woman named Seyka, Aloy and Seyka are able to defeat Londra and his reactivated Horus war machine. Along the way, Aloy gained access to the Far Zenith Specter Gauntlet and encountered the new machines, the Bilegut, Stingspawn, and Waterwing.
Both The Frozen Wilds and Burning Shores expansions were later included in complete editions of Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West as well as 2024’s Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered.
What Players Could Expect for Horizon 3’s Story DLC
Little is currently known about the story, gameplay, and release schedule of Horizon 3, as Guerrilla has been busy developing Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, LEGO Horizon Adventures, an upcoming story-focused Horizon multiplayer game, and a rumored Horizon MMO. Based on all of these projects, Horizon 3 may be several months, if not years, away from release, but fans could still predict what features its potential DLC may include. Patterns from The Frozen Wilds and Burning Shores suggest that a story DLC for Horizon 3 would be themed around some type of element and take place either during the game’s main campaign or take place immediately afterward.
The DLC would likely feature a small set of new machines as well as a few new, powerful weapons inaccessible in Horizon 3’s base game. It would additionally likely be included in a future complete edition and even a remastered version of Horizon 3. However, Guerrilla could break some of these DLC patterns in Horizon 3, such as possibly setting the DLC in the past or even having it follow a different protagonist. These potential changes could be related to Horizon 3’s ending, with many players expecting Aloy to die or at least retire to a less intense lifestyle by the game’s end. Guerrilla could even release more than one story DLC, especially if Horizon 3 turns out to be Aloy’s final time in the spotlight.
The Potential Setting and Theme of Horizon 3’s DLC
Based on the consistent patterns in the story DLCS for the mainline Horizon games, players could attempt to hypothesize where the expansion would take place and what its theme may be. Both prior DLCs are themed around elements such as ice and fire, so this third DLC could be themed around other classical elements such as air, earth, or water. While the exact base setting of Horizon 3 is currently unknown, all the aforementioned elements could still be used to center around a DLC. For example, if the elemental theme is earth, the DLC could be set in a complex system of caves and underground ruins. Alternatively, the DLC could be set in high mountain peaks and ruined cities, or in a flooded city or island region.
Horizon Forbidden West
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 88 /100 Critics Rec: 96%
- Released
- February 18, 2022
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood, Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Guerrilla Games
- Publisher(s)
- Sony
- Engine
- Decima
- Franchise
- Horizon
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unsupported
WHERE TO PLAY
Join Aloy as she braves a majestic but dangerous new frontier that holds mysterious new threats. This Complete Edition allows you to enjoy the critically acclaimed Horizon Forbidden West on PC in its entirety with bonus content, including the Burning Shores story expansion that picks up after the main game.
Explore distant lands, fight bigger and more awe-inspiring machines, and encounter astonishing new tribes as you return to the far-future, post-apocalyptic world of Horizon.
The land is dying. Vicious storms and an unstoppable blight ravage the scattered remnants of humanity while fearsome new machines prowl their borders, and life on Earth is hurtling toward another extinction.
It's up to Aloy to uncover the secrets behind these threats and restore order and balance to the world. Along the way, she must reunite with old friends, forge alliances with warring new factions and unravel the legacy of the ancient past.
