Horizon Call of the Mountain Review – A Mountain Too High

Call of the Mountain is meant to be PlayStation VR2’s showcase piece, and in some important ways, it functions as exactly that. It’s great to shoot an arrow in VR with a bow, and it can also be thrilling to get a new perspective on the Horizon world. Call of the Mountain’s main gameplay, though, isn’t very fun, and ultimately ruins the experience.

Call of the Mountain includes a short appearance by Aloy reminding you of your place in her world. However, this game features Ryas, an ex-Shadow Carja, who is offered the rare chance to get a pardon for some of his crimes, provided he takes on what may be a suicide mission. Call of the Mountain’s story focuses on a small cast of characters with familial and political histories, and watching those relationships bump against each other is the most interesting part of the narrative. There is a big bad, but they reveal themselves surprisingly late – too late to inspire any passion about confronting them.

To succeed in his mission, Ryas relies on two important skills: he’s great with a bow and arrow, and he’s a hell of a climber. The latter skill, which makes up most of the game, is something I struggled with. Moving Ryas’ arms to propel him up a cliff face or climb a rope rarely ended in failure, but it meant the vast majority of my time involved pantomiming the motion of a cat scratching a wall while my face was inches away from a cliff. It just isn’t fun to perform, even if it does work.

There are many tools you can unlock throughout the game. These include the ability to set up ziplines for specific circumstances or raise a rope to your head. But it does not change how boring basic climbing can be.

Combat, on the other hand, can be thrilling, and it doesn’t take long to feel like an expert marksman. The robot battles take place in designated arenas, and can alter your abilities. Ryas can strafe his enemies in a circular fashion and then dodge quickly to avoid attacks. It all feels fluid and fast. Although it’s a bonus in this game, taking out specific armor pieces will result in higher damage. The one-on-1 battles with larger robots were my favorite. They required more strategy than just aiming at the correct sections.

Call of the Mountain is likely to help with your aim. However, I welcome the assistance. It is always rewarding to shoot Stormbirds from the skies with a good shot, or hit that target optionally from a distance of a few miles away.

Ryas can also be a bit of an artisan and must put together the different types of ammo he has as well as all the tools that he discovers throughout the game. A small, but very enjoyable VR action is attaching explosive canisters to your arrows or wrapping rope around a new tool.

Call of the Mountain’s other big success comes from the simple act of looking around. Horizon’s abandoned technology has been replaced by beautiful nature aesthetics. It is a wonderful place to gaze at. There are plenty of opportunities to just stare at something cool in the distance, and I often took the opportunity to do it – unless I was climbing. Then I couldn’t get through the section fast enough and would speed to my destination.

Horizon Call of the Mountain makes a great showcase piece for PlayStation VR2. If you are looking to showcase your technology to family and friends, Horizon Call of the Mountain is the best game. This mode is also available as an unlockable. It is passive travel on a canoe in a jungle invaded by robots. Call of the Mountain’s overreliance upon climbing holds the game back. Highlights of the game include fighting robots and making things. Pulling yourself up a mountain isn’t, and that’s where you spend most of the approximately six hour experience.