‘Horizon: Call of the Mountain’ – Guerrilla Games Reveals More to Come for Aloy’s Story
Guerrilla Games confirms more Horizon is on the way after some management changes.
Guerilla Games is one of PlayStation’s 1st party developers who was most well-known for the Killzone franchise that started during the PS2 era. After the release of Killzone Shadow Fall, the developer created a new IP called Horizon Zero Dawn. The game was released in 2017 with very favorable reviews and love from gamers.
The series takes place in a post-apocalyptic world filled with robotic animals ranging from deer to dangerous giant dinosaur-like monsters. Humans now live in tribes throughout the world and fight with bows and other low-tech weaponry since all knowledge from before was lost. Players take control of a tribe outcast named Aloy, who finds a piece of tech that helps her to deal with the world better than most people. The robotic animals are starting to go wild and only she can stop it. The game eventually got a DLC called The Frozen Wilds, where Aloy has to stop a rogue AI from creating machines designed to kill.
via Guerilla Games
The game did well and got a sequel in 2022 called Horizon Forbidden West for PS4 and PS5. Aloy finds herself navigating into areas not charted by the tribes in her area known as the Forbidden West looking for a missing piece of technology and discovers other tribes who have tamed machines to ride as she can. Her quest continued after the game was finished on PS5 with the launch of the DLC Burning Shores. The good news is that this is definitely not the last time, just don’t expect anything soon.
The Future of Horizon and Guerilla Games
Guerilla Games announced in a blog post that current Studio Director and Executive Producer, Angie Smets, would be leaving the company to start a new position at PlayStation Studios. Her new role will be as Head of Development Strategy at PlayStation Studios and Hermen Hulst, Managing Director and Co-founder of Guerrilla, will now be Head of PlayStation Studios. This shows that the studio has been doing really well for the PlayStation brand and Sony hopes that translates to the overall company. During this announcement though, they let slip that Aloy’s adventure and the future of Horizon is definitely not done anytime soon.
“We have full confidence in our new leadership as they steer Guerrilla towards a bright future, expanding the world of Horizon with Aloy’s next adventure and our exciting online project.”
via Guerilla Games
Aloy’s latest adventure in Burning Shores is a huge hit and features some character growth for Aloy that had been hinted at throughout the games. She now has more at stake than before after the DLC, so the future of her adventures is going to be interesting from here. The announcement is nothing super concrete outside of that there will be more and that they are working on something else that is not part of her adventures. This isn’t too weird considering it isn’t the first time.
Horizon Outside of Aloy
Guerilla Games with Firesprite made an adventure in the Horizon world exclusively for PSVR2 called Horizon Call of the Mountain. The game came out to fairly favorable reviews with reviewers noting the climbing could get tiresome with the combat though shining through greatly. It was released on PSVR2 as a launch title in February and is all first-person. The PSVR2 is closer to the Quest VR headsets in controls than the original PSVR, which makes for more immersive gameplay. They recognized this with how the game plays in a more linear path to keep from overwhelming gamers and also added a scenic tour in a mode called Machine Safari to just look around.
In this game, players take control of Ryas, a former Shadow Carja Warrior searching for redemption. He has a past that haunts him no matter what he does. Ryas is given a shot to let go of the past in exchange for checking on a new threat in Sundom with his archery and climbing skills.
The game’s story itself though still involves running into Aloy at one point, showing how important she still is to the world of Horizon. This doesn’t mean she dominates the story or anything. More of a passing through and helping out real quick on her way to her own adventures. The world made by Guerilla Games is very cool and only part of the world has fully been explored with players only exploring the post-apocalyptic continental United States.
via Guerilla Games
Whatever the future holds for Aloy and the world of Horizon, we’ll all be waiting to jump right back in and fight robot dinosaurs with a bow to stand up for what’s right. Because that’s what heroes do.
“The strength to stand alone, Aloy, is the strength to make a stand. To serve a purpose greater than yourself. That is the lesson you must learn.” – Rost
