There are those who say the PlayStation VR2 is too expensive. There are also those who find that his line-up output does not send the dream. And then there are the lucky ones, of which we are one. Those who had the opportunity to receive not only Sony’s new peripheral (which we come back to in detail in our test), but also the game which must make everyone agree.
Do not mistake yourself ; we remain professional and the criticisms formulated above are legitimate. But, once the helmet is on and Horizon Call of the Mountain launched, we have to be honest: it didn’t take us more than five minutes before we exclaimed: “Damn…that’s amazing! »
Test conducted on PS5 with a PS VR2 headset and a code provided by the publisher.
The mountain, that you win
As a spin-off, Call of the Mountain obviously does not make us embody Aloy, but a newcomer bearing the name of Ryas. A shadow carja in a delicate position, moreover, since his adventure starts about as well as that of your protagonist in Skyrim : that is to say prisoner in the back of a raft.
And, as in the legendary role-playing game from Bethesda, we owe our freedom to the intervention of a importunate dragon gigantic steel crocodile which offers us an escape. Very quickly, we are faced with one of the most surprising, but also destabilizing features of the game: we will have to fidget to move.
Yes, here, no teleportation or movement with the joystick (optional). We must hold the cross key on the right Sense VR and square on the left Sense VR, then swing the arms back and forth to activate our avatar. Funny – and even more so for the other people in the room who see us gesticulating like a stick insect coming out of the ground.
The choice of direction is made by looking and possibly tilting the hands. Also, we are very quickly confronted with what will be one of the most significant features of the Firesprite game: the climb.
Most of the gameplay consists of climbing walls – hence the title! ©Pierre Crochart/L’Éclaireur
Different outlets are available to us. Perfect for exercising in front of the screen. ©Pierre Crochart/L’Éclaireur
The scenery is to die for. ©Pierre Crochart/L’Éclaireur
Yes, like The Climbwhich had made the beautiful (first) hours of PS VR, Sony’s new headset can count on Horizon Call of the Mountain to make us dizzy. An outstanding mountaineer, Ryas quickly gets out of trouble by climbing the walls that stand in the way of his freedom. And if, Horizon requires, the path is (very) marked with white paint which informs us about the practicable nature of the surfaces, it must be said that the rock climbing is simply exhilarating.
We stretch out our hands, we look up… and we even find ourselves hoisting ourselves up on our toes to reach a somewhat distant grip. The immersion is instantaneous and the resistance offered by the adaptive triggers of the Sense VR controller further reinforces this feeling.
The Falling Man
Ryas is however quickly overtaken by his destiny. Unable to resist helping someone buried under rubble, he finally finds himself exactly where his jailers led him earlier: in front of Marad The Irreproachable to be brought to justice. Unless…
Yes you can see it coming, our appetite for mountaineering will arouse the interest of the chief of the carjas, who will offer us to help him in exchange for an amnesty. It’s still better than languishing in a cell, mind you. And it makes for a much better video game, believe us.
It is therefore freshly equipped with a climbing ax (which you have to make yourself) and a brand new bow that we leave to explore the countryside of Heliaume in search of our brother and the answers ‘he can bring on a new threat to the world. A scenario that will delight fans already won over to the work of Guerrilla Games, and which has its share of twists and welcome cameos.
Also, it should be understood thatHorizon Call of the Mountain is a true AAA adventure game. We would even be tempted to say that the PS VR2 holds its Half-Life Alyx, to pour into the shock formula. The title will indeed occupy you for a good ten hours and offers a great variety of situations which allow you to test the capabilities of Sony’s headphones, but also to constantly renew the gameplay.
Look, the ice axes, for example, give a twist to the approach to climbing. As in Uncharted 4, some surfaces that do not have grips can be climbed with these accessories. All you have to do is slip your hand over your shoulder, hold a trigger, then hit the wall in front of you to plant the ice axe. We also appreciate that it is sometimes necessary to insist and try several times to succeed in penetrating the rock. Impressive.
Ryas will also sometimes have to jump to reach an opportune rope or a distant hold. To do this, we keep the R1 and L1 triggers pressed, then we suddenly bring the Sense VR closer to our chest to make our avatar take off.
The well-hung stomach
The downside of developing a game whose main proposition is to climb peaks is that it will inevitably leave those who are most susceptible to motion sickness on the floor. Understand: the nausea that sets in when you practice virtual reality and which is similar to good old motion sickness.
Not only Horizon Call of the Mountain can be intense enough for people with vertigo (you can’t resist the urge to look down), but you spend most of your time with your head in the air, spinning quickly to look for the next hold. Believe us: it’s tiring. And pretty quick with that.
Playful, the passages which require you to remain crouched in the tall grass to escape the gaze of watchmen on patrol will also test the most fragile knees. After all, it’s hardly a surprise: VR is physical. Note that Firesprite still had the good idea to offer a seated game mode, which slightly reduces the range of our movements, but still allows us to enjoy the trip.
Thus, enjoying the environment carefully designed by the artists remains a pleasure in all circumstances. As in many other virtual reality experiences, the only limit is often our imagination. It’s up to us to turn over any barrel to see what’s hidden there, or even to go in search of all the training targets (necessary to obtain certain trophies). Horizon Call of the Mountain is not an open world game, but the rails on which it installs us are sufficiently transparent to never discourage us from looking around us.
no archer
The other central component of Call of the Mountain, it is of course the fight. And, on this point, we unfortunately have only praise to give him. Of course, drawing your bow and loading an arrow by doing exactly the movement you would do in real life is exhilarating and remains so until the end of the adventure.
On the other hand, Firesprite has all the trouble in the world to offer us confrontations which become something other than a huge chaos. All this is due to one thing in particular: as soon as you switch to “combat mode”, it becomes impossible to move other than by dodging. There are several types: the first, fast, but short, requires pressing a key and shaking the controller in the desired direction.
The second, which can be likened to a roulade, asks you to do the same thing, but with both hands, and to tilt your body generously to the right or to the left. Added to this is what we will call “dodge Matrix which asks you to contort while staying in place to escape a ray or other projectile.
It doesn’t seem like much, written like that. But remembering these different interactions while you’re in the heat of the moment, looking for your arrows and scanning your enemy to aim for their weak spots… that’s a lot. Too many, in our opinion. And again, we spare you the description of the strange gestures that must be made if one is frozen, electrified or inflamed by enemy attacks.
The pressure is also only mounting when we are literally screwed to the ground, unable to move precisely to, for example, go and retrieve a fruit that will give us back precious life points.
The confusion during the clashes is only greater during the few boss fights that dot the adventure. Opposing us to iconic machines of the license, they require both endurance on our part and a lot of composure – especially when some are helped by several underlings!
Carja King
Full of foresight, Firesprite does not overdo it and reserves the fights for very specific moments in our adventure. It has been said, Horizon Call of the Mountain is above all a game of exploration and rock climbing. And we hope to have shown you how comfortable he was on his support in these two categories.
It must be said that in its capacity as a technological showcase for the PS VR2, the game largely honors the aesthetic standards of the Guerrilla Games license. Sumptuous, this spin-off has made us stop several times after a delicate ascent to admire the landscape and enjoy the incredible music composed by Alistair Kerley, who takes over the sequel to The Flight and Joris de Man with unspeakable talent.
Well aware of its quality as a “system seller”, Call of the Mountain also integrates, from the title screen, the possibility of participating in a safari and climbing and archery challenges to invite people to try the headset very quickly without having to start a new game. All in all: a great kick off for PS VR2. Hoping that the helmet catalog will be filled over the months with such ambitious titles and will not be limited, like its elder, to more modest scattered experiences.
