Horizon Call of the Mountain

Horizon Call of the Mountain is a 2023 action-adventure video game developed by Guerrilla Games and Firesprite, and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5. Part of the Horizon series, the game was released as a launch title for the PlayStation VR2 virtual reality headset on 22 February 2023.

Gameplay
Horizon Call of the Mountain is played from a first-person perspective. Described as "a master at climbing and archery", Ryas, the game's protagonist, is initially equipped with a hunter bow which can be used to defeat the hostile robots he encounters. While the game is largely linear, there are multiple paths for the player to explore and approach their objectives.

As the player progresses, they will unlock additional tools and gear, allowing to be more efficient in both exploration and combat. In addition to the main story, the game features a scenic mode, "Machine Safari", which provides a guided tour of the game's landscape.

Story
Ryas, a former Shadow Carja rebel once known as the "Shadow of Itamen", is released from prison and brought to the settlement Dawn's Grasp, where he is met by Blameless Marad and Aloy. Marad explains that the machines around Dawn's Grasp have become highly aggressive and are attacking the settlement. Ryas' older brother Urid decided to climb a nearby mountain, the Sunspear, in order to find the cause of the machine attacks but he has failed to return. Marad offers Ryas a full pardon in return for climbing the Sunspear, finding Urid, and investigating the machines. Ryas reluctantly agrees, and Aloy guides him to the Sunspear before departing on her own mission.

Ryas makes his way up the Sunspear and rescues a stranded Oseram engineer named Radel, who informs him that he cannot progress further up the Sunspear until the main elevator is repaired. Ryas climbs the nearby Brightdawn mountain to retrieve the needed parts from a Scrapper before proceeding further up the Sunspear. Upon reaching the top, Ryas finds a sign left behind by Urid indicating he is following a Thunderjaw to the nearby peak Talonreach. He climbs his way up Talonreach until he reaches an Old One facility at the top, where he is forced to fight the Thunderjaw. Upon defeating the Thunderjaw, Ryas shuts down a transmitter that was acting as a lure for the machines, and finds another sign left behind by Urid showing he has gone off to the settlement Mother's Tears in Nora territory.

Upon reporting his findings to Marad, Ryas receives his pardon and is allowed to continue the search for Urid. At Mother's Tears, he discovers that Urid is tracking the rogue Oseram engineer Asera, who is plotting on using her newly developed lures to send an army of machines against Carja. However, Urid does not want to accept any help in taking down Asera and sabotages the cable car Ryas needs to follow him. Ryas is forced to take a detour to gather the parts needed to fix the cable car before continuing his pursuit. However, both he and Urid are captured by Asera and they work together to escape, but Urid is badly injured in the process. Ryas pursues Asera in Urid's stead and discovers that she plans to send Tallnecks loaded with machine lures directly at the Carja capital city of Meridian, which will attract an army of machines.

He returns to Dawn's Grasp to report to Marad, who orders him to intercept Asera's Tallnecks at Eagle's Fall while Urid recovers from his wounds. Ryas heads there and thwarts Asera's plan, eventually resulting her hanging off a cliff. However, rather than accept help from a Carja, Asera chooses to fall to her death. With Asera's threat dealt with, Ryas earns Urid's respect while Marad decides to cover up the situation and grants Ryas a new identity so he can freely travel Carja, though Marad notes that he may call upon Ryas' services again in the future.

Development
Horizon Call of the Mountain was developed by Guerrilla Games, which developed Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, and Firesprite, a UK-based studio which had worked on VR titles including The Playroom and The Persistence. The game was announced during Sony's CES 2022 press conference in January 2022. It was released as a launch title for the PlayStation VR2 headset on 22 February 2023.

Reception
Horizon Call of the Mountain received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.

Many reviewers said that it is a great showcase for the PS VR2, and a "must-have" title. The visuals and the vistas were especially well received. The climbing gameplay was also said to be "intuitive", although a bit tiring at times. Many enjoyed the combat, and praised its suitability for VR, while others have found it limited.

While criticizing how some portions felt like a tech demo, IGN praised how the visuals and haptics used enhanced the experience, "It’s a real showcase for the PS VR2 right off the bat, with huge spectacle blending with small detail". UploadVR liked the physical aspects of the climbing sections, "There’s even an accurate sense of bouncy tension to letting go of a rope and grabbing it again mid-air, reminiscent of the satisfying physical interactions seen in Boneworks or The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners". On the other hand, Game Informer felt the game overelied on climbing, making parts of the game a slog, "It just isn’t fun to perform, even if it does work".

Sales
Horizon Call of the Mountain sold 6,027 physical units during its first week of release in Japan, making it the 16th best-selling retail game in the country.