In the recently run and won PlayStation State of Play event, live-streamed on June 2nd, both Guerilla Games and the newly acquired Firesprite re-revealed Horizon: Call Of The Mountain, the PS VR2 spinoff to the core Horizon franchise that began with 2017’s Horizon: Zero Dawn, and 2022’s Horizon: Forbidden West.
The trailer, which didn’t reveal a release date, due to the VR2 platform having not yet received a date itself, showed off a host of new machines that will be both aggressors and phenomenal sights to behold. The extended gameplay trailer presented us with iconic machines such as the Snapmaw, Stormbird, Tallneck, and the Thunderjaw, a male protagonist, Ryas, a former Shadow Carja released from prison, who we’ll be assuming the role of from a first-person perspective, and several core gameplay elements from swimming, climbing, and pulling back a bow.
The game will supposedly “embrace a new level of immersion in a unique experience, designed to push hardware technology, innovation, and gameplay”, but how the game connects to the core franchise aside from the mechanical monstrosities is as of yet, unknown.
Upon the conclusion of the trailer, Guerilla’s Ben McCaw, the narrative director on Horizon: Call Of The Mountain appeared to make a slew of other Horizon-related announcements.
Several updates are coming to the recently launched Horizon: Forbidden West including:
- New Game +
- Improvements to the visual fidelity of the game when in Performance Mode
- Transmog
- Skill Point Reset Functionality
- Ultra Hard Difficulty
- New Weapons and Trophies
The updates for Horizon: Forbidden West are being made available to owners on PS4 and PS5 today. For PS4 owners, some of these, such as the improved Performance Mode will only be available if you’re playing on a PS4 Pro.
Horizon: Call of the Mountain was first announced back in January with a fairly brief teaser trailer, and was immediately intriguing due to being a new title in the world of Horizon that didn’t star franchise lead Aloy. Where the game fits specifically in the franchise’s timeline is currently unknown, but it must be earlier than some of Aloy’s adventures as the Ryas is discussing the mystery behind why the machines are attacking – a mystery that Aloy has already found the answers to