The boat then veers around wildly as animatronic dinosaurs jump out at you, and there’s a big drop into water as you try to escape. The boat starts out drifting peacefully through the enclosures while the recorded tour guide calmly tells you about what’s going on, and then things go off the rails as you discover more and more dangerous dinosaurs have broken containment. If you’re not familiar with the ride, it begins as a standard boat tour of a zoo with dinosaurs. The first 5-10 minutes of Horizon: Call off the Mountain feels exactly like the first time you go on the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios in LA. Unlike previous Horizon games, this one doesn’t drag out for 40 hours, and you really wouldn’t want it to in VR. He sure was a perfectly fine self-insert vehicle for the game, and I have no quarrel with him, but I also don’t think we need any more games about him. An extra story in a world you know and love, but in a delightful form factor.Įven after playing, I have no real connection with Ryas. It wouldn’t make sense to advance Aloy’s story in a game most players won’t have access to (assuming the PSVR2 doesn’t magically start selling in pace with the PS5), and it brings back the pleasant vibe of PSP exclusive games. But in hindsight, I actually love the switch.

I wanted it to be part of the main canon of the series.

Instead, you play as Ryas, a former Shadow Carja rebel sentenced to a particularly intense form of community service.Īt first, I was disappointed to discover the game featured Ryas instead of Aloy. Horizon: Call of the Mountain is set in the same universe as Horizon: Forbidden West and Horizon: Zero Dawn but, crucially, it is the first game of the series that doesn’t star Aloy. From the initial crop of games released with the PSVR2, Horizon: Call of the Mountain is the one that called out to me the most. These games tend to span the range of lazy tie-ins that wouldn’t sell at any other time, tech demos, and a rare amazing gem that will be forever associated with the device.

Whenever a new console or fancy accessory, like an expensive PlayStation VR 2 headset, is released, there is a rush for the game company to launch a bunch of titles all at once to prove its value.

Horizon call of the mountain story