Horizon Forbidden West director justifies the Burning Shores DLC being exclusive to PS5

One of the headlines when the Horizon Forbidden West DLC was announced was that, unlike the base game, Burning Shores is only coming out on PS5. In an interview with the official PlayStation blog, game director Mathijs de Jonge clarified the reasons for this decision, which is mostly focused on the power of the console. The Guerrilla developer has pointed out that all decisions related to the sequel were always made with the idea of optimizing the product in the previous generation

“One of our key priorities with Horizon games is to add a ton of detail and richness to our environments,” he explained. “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.” According to the director, this expansion has allowed them to focus on the PS5’s tech to "unleash" their creativity.

A new level of detail

De Jonge has highlighted the level of detail of the ruins of the city and its surroundings, which need "a lot of processing power, as well as fast streaming technology" to be able to be captured on the screen. “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.”

The developer also points out that they have introduced "a particular battle scene that requires a LOT of memory and processing power.” Aloy has special lighting that is used only in cutscenes, but is now enabled at all times. Thanks to the power of PS5 they can “draw at higher detail much further into the distance”, not to mention the possibility of using the 40 Hz mode and the variable refresh rate on compatible televisions.

Horizon Forbidden West is available on both PS4 and PS5. The Burning Shores DLC will be released on April 19.

Source | PlayStation Blog