'Horizon Call of the Mountain' PSVR2 trailer reveals a perilous climb

Sony has finally revealed key details for PlayStation VR2's marquee title. The company, Guerilla Games and Firesprite have shared the first gameplay trailer for Horizon Call of the Mountain along with details of the story. You play Ryas, a disgraced Shadow Carja Warrior who seeks freedom and redemption by tackling a new threat to the tribe. As you might guess, the gameplay revolves around VR-friendly exploration and combat. You'll scale mountains using climbing picks, take down rogue machines with your bow and craft new gear.

While the trailer doesn't offer too many spoilers, the developers made clear that Call of the Mountain has tangential links to the main Horizon narrative. You'll run into Aloy and other familiar characters alongside new ones. This is also clearly a technological showcase for the PSVR2 headset. Besides the lush visuals, you can show off the experience in a "River Ride" segment practically tailor-made for spectators watching your TV.

There's still no release date for the game, although that's not surprising when Sony has yet to narrow down launch timing for the PSVR2 itself.

You won't have to wait to get some fresh Horizon content, at least. Guerilla has released a major update for Horizon Forbidden West that adds New Game+ and Ultra Hard modes for players who felt the existing difficulty levels weren't enough of a challenge. You'll also see better antialiasing for visuals in Performance mode on PS5 and PS4 Pro, and tinkerers will be happy to know they can both reassign their skill points and customize their outfits to look like anything they already own.

More technical upgrades are coming, too. Guerilla has teased a patch with variable refresh rate support for compatible TVs, not to mention a 40 frames per second mode that might split the difference between graphical beauty and smooth frame rates. The studio is still determined to keep Forbidden West relevant, then, even if its attention has shifted more toward VR.