Only a few more weeks remain until PSVR 2 releases, and out of the dozens of titles that’ll accompany it in its launch month, Horizon Call of the Mountain is being positioned as the showcase game on that new virtual reality hardware. In a new blog post, Sony has revealed more details on the protagonist of this Horizon spin-off, which features a brand-new lead.
While the mainline Horizon games stars Aloy, Call of the Mountain will put you in the boots of Ryas, a soldier of a splinter Carja group that was formed during the bloody Red Raids that were ordered by the tyrant Sun-King Jiran. The Carja king’s reign lasted until his son Avad overthrew him, and Ryas seeks to atone for his part in this dark history. Call of the Mountain begins with Ryas after he allowed himself to be captured and imprisoned by the Carja, and after being spared from execution, he is recruited by Sun-King Avad and Blameless Marad to investigate a new threat to the lands.
“Ryas ended up on the wrong side for the right reasons. His family was torn apart, and ultimately, he was incarcerated. This is the story of how he tries to come back from that,” Guerrilla’s studio narrative director Ben McCaw explained on the PS Blog. “Having fought for the Shadow Carja, Ryas’ relationship with these characters is at best adversarial. He needs to make inroads and amends if he hopes to be accepted.”
Skilled in combat, climbing, and exploration, Ryas meets new characters along his journey, such as Carja Sundom warrior Hami, who lost friends and family to the Shadow Carja that Ryas was a part of. Hami despises Ryas and her duty to escort him, and her hatred for what Ryas represents will be made clear throughout the game.
When it comes to gameplay, McCaw added that the haptic feedback, intelligent eye tracking, and an ultra-wide field of view of PSVR 2 allowed Guerrilla to build a new kind of Horizon experience. “We took the Horizon experience and built it from the ground up for VR. And for this, we felt we needed a new protagonist. As a master climber, hunter, and explorer, Ryas offers the perfect viewpoint of the sweeping vistas and dangerous wilds of Horizon.”
PSVR 2 launches on February 22, and will be available as a standalone hardware pack and a special edition that includes Horizon Call of the Mountain. The launch window will see over 30 games released for the system, and includes several optimized third-party titles such as Tetris Effect: Connected, Rez Infinite, Resident Evil Village, and more.
