Can you pre-load Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores on PlayStation 5?

The release of Burning Shores, the highly anticipated story DLC for Guerrilla Games' action role-playing game, Horizon Forbidden West, is right around the corner. The DLC aims to deliver a brand new story that takes Aloy, the game's protagonist, to an entirely new biome, where she will once again come face-to-face with another rogue AI and hordes of hostile machines.

The announcement of Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores was quite a surprise for fans of Guerrilla Games' open-world action role-playing game. Since its first announcement during The Game Awards 2022, PlayStation has released a couple of gameplay trailers for Burning Shores, giving players a glimpse of the DLC's story.

With the looming release date for Burning Shores, many players were wondering if they will be able to pre-load the game on their PlayStation 5 consoles.

Unfortunately, since the DLC is not being released as a standalone title, pre-loading it is not possible, and you will have to wait till the official release of the expansion to download and play it.

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Individuals will need to wait till the official release of Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores before they can download and play the DLC

Unlike games like Ghost of Tsushima, which allowed players to pre-load the game along with its story DLC, "Iki Island," Burning Shores cannot be pre-loaded on PlayStation 5. This is in part due to the expansion not being a standalone experience, but also because there is no special edition like the Director's Edition (akin to Ghost of Tsushima), which clubs both the base game and the DLC in a single package.

To get access to the Burning Shores, you will need to purchase the DLC for $19.99. As soon as the expansion releases, you will be able to download and start Burning Shores on your PlayStation 5. Although Guerrilla Games did not specify any gameplay details such as level cap, new abilities, weapons, new machines, and more, they did share information on how you will be able to access the expansion's content.

To start your journey in the Burning Shores DLC, it is necessary to first complete the main story of Horizon Forbidden West (which includes all main story quests, including all sub-missions under Singularity), defeat the final boss of the game and complete the epilogue. Guerrilla Games did not specify any recommended level requirement for the DLC.

However, considering the Frozen Wilds DLC for Horizon Zero Dawn, the level requirement for Burning Shores will be quite high (in the upper 40s, perhaps).

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Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is scheduled to be released on April 19, 2023, for the PlayStation 5.