The Shadow will walk in the light
Horizon: Call of the Mountain is a post-apocalyptic virtual reality spin-off/Interquel of Horizon Zero Dawn by Guerrilla and Firesprite. Released for the Playstation VR 2 on February 22, 2023, it is the third overall game in the Horizon series.
Serving as a side-story to the events of the original game, it follows protagonist Ryas, 'Itamen's Shadow', a notorious soldier of the Shadow Carja, imprisoned for his actions during the Civil War. Released on Blameless Marad's orders, Ryas is given a daunting task; climb the near-impassible slopes of the Sunspear and investigate the rising numbers of machines in the valley of Dawn's Grasp, which Marad fears may herald a new threat to the Sundom. Ryas must contend with powerful machines and deadly environments, but his fellow man may be his deadliest threat...
This game contains examples of the following tropes:
- Always Someone Better: As good a climber as Aloy is, Marad picking Ryas for the task of scaling the Sunspear implies that he's even better than her, and he has several pieces of gear specialised for scaling the sheer mountain peaks. He was even able to kidnap the child Itamen because of his impressive climbing capabilities, which is why Marad selected him for the task (along with giving him a chance to atone for his actions). It's also Downplayed, as it's implied that Ryas isn't as great a fighter as Aloy in exchange, and it wouldn't have been impossible for Aloy to perform the task herself, merely extremely difficult. Due to the events of the first game putting Aloy on a timer, she simply can't spare the time to fully investigate the strange movements of the machines in a remote area with the wider threat of HADES and the Eclipse happening simultaneously.
- Being Evil Sucks: Similar to Uthid, Ryas doesn't appear to be 'evil' so much as a good person caught in the machinations of a corrupt fallen regime and not realising how bad his side was until too late, but that doesn't meant he doesn't deal with a lot of flak from Avad's supporters for his past actions, especially Hami, which he blithely admits he does partially deserve. In particular, he's upset about how following his more fanatical father's orders resulted in him kidnapping the innocent Itamen to get turned into a Puppet King, and earned him his title.
- Big Bad: Asera, and her budding movement that will eventually become the 'Sons of Prometheus' by the time of Forbidden West.
- Book Ends: During the movement tutorials after their boat is capsized by Snapmaws, Ryas attempts to pull Kavad out of the water to safety, but fails before he's dragged under. A similar situation happens at the climax, with the fires unleashed by the Fireclaw Asera releases against Ryas in the Sun Ring atop the abandoned fort raging out of control, and eventually burning the abandoned ring down. By the time Ryas defeats the machine and reaches Asera, the balcony collapses out from underneath them, leaving them both hanging from broken metal supports over a sheer drop. Despite Ryas' pleas for Asera to help save herself, she refuses to allow another Shadow Carja to dictate how her life will go, and chooses to fall of her own free will instead. Granted, it doesn't kill her, but Ryas certainly believed it did.
- The Cameo: After Hami knocks Ryas unconscious to drag him before Marad at Dawn's grasp, he's awakened by Aloy, apparently on a side-trek helping out Marad and Avad with the strange behavior of the machines in the region during the events of Zero Dawn. Her comments imply she was merely stopping by the settlement whilst on one of her many errands and Quests during the original game, and after seeing Ryas to the base of the Sunspear, sets off to head for Sunfall and gain access to the uncorrupted registry sealed underneath the Sun Ring there.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Ryas, the main protagonist of the game, is this to Aloy. Whereas Aloy is the genetic clone of Elisabet Sobeck and was created inside the ELEUTHIA-9, Brood 1 cradle facility within All-Mother Mountain, Ryas was birthed biologically and is one of the two sons of a Shadow Carja kestrel and his unnamed mother. Aloy spent her lifetime as an orphan, with Rost as her guardian and Beta as her genetic twin, while Ryas had a biological family with his oldest brother Urid. Unlike Aloy, an Action Girl who is a Jack of All Stats, being adept in the usage of bows, arrows, her Focus and moderate understanding of ancient technology and history, Ryas is a Future Primitive Barbarian Hero who specialises in bows, arrows, as well as climbing and has little to no understanding of ancient technology. How they are famous for also differs. Aloy was the "Saviour of Meridian" for playing a vital role against stopping HADES and saving the namesake city from the Eclipse, while Ryas was known for being "Itamen's Shadow", due to him being the person behind Itamen's transportation to Sunfall after the Liberation.
- Foregone Conclusion: Once the identity of the Big Bad is revealed, several things become apparent. Firstly, that Ryas will be successful in stopping Asera's plans to destroy Meridian with her budding 'Sons of Prometheus' movement. Secondly, that Asera will survive the events of the game and escape to the Forbidden West to begin said movement and later cross paths with Aloy. Indeed, the final confrontation with Asera has her suffering a Disney Villain Death that Ryas is certain killed her, though Urid does note that he Never Found the Body.
- Hero of Another Story: Ryas is implicitly brought in to handle the suspicious machine behaviour because Aloy is too busy dealing with the Eclipse and their imminent threat to focus on investigating it, especially since it takes place prior/during her infiltration into Sunfall and the Eclipse's attack on the Nora Lands. It also prevents Aloy and Asera crossing paths with each other until Forbidden West.
- I Gave My Word: Blameless Marad had Ryas released with the offer of a full pardon if he successfully scaled the peaks of the Sunspear and found out what was causing the machine's odd behaviour. When Ryas picks up Urid's trail and discovers the machines are being influenced by an upgraded, more powerful lure attached to an old satellite dish atop the mountain, along with Urid's cryptic notes that he followed those responsible to the Nora territory of Mother's tears, he returns with said Lure to Marad, having technically completed his given task. Despite it being clear that the threat influencing the machines remains, is potentially capable of menacing the entire Carta Sundom, and Ryas being the best chance they have of catching up to them from having served in the area during the war, Marad nonetheless honours his deal with the Shadow Carja and grants him his pardon and his freedom. That said, the action also has an element of pragmatism attached, as the Nora still being temperamental towards the Carja for the Red Raids and the Eclipse attacks, Avad cannot jeopardise the fragile peace by ordering a Carja investigation into their territory, but cannot stop Ryas from freely looking for his missing brother on his own.
- Interquel: Though the timeline is a little unclear, Aloy's presence and comments imply the game's events take place prior to her accessing the Old Ones ruin underneath Sunfall. Her escorting Ryas to the base of the Sunspear is a favour to Avad and Marad whilst she's searching for the truth behind Zero Dawn and her past. The game also shows what Asera and her followers were doing following Dervahl's failed attack on Avad, while Aloy focused on stopping the Eclipse.
- Life Meter: Given the First-Person Perspective of the game, as well as him lacking a Focus like Aloy, Ryas' health and armour is indicated by feather decorations on his left and right hands that increase or decrease accordingly.
- Thinking Out Loud: Similarly to Aloy, Ryas has a habit of voicing his thoughts aloud (perhaps because of his long imprisonment), as he regularly comments to himself on what he needs to do or voices his discontent with events.
- Red Baron: Ryas is quite a notorious Shadow Carja, having the moniker of 'Itamen's Shadow' because of his role in kidnapping the then-infant Sun King for the Shadow Carja. In truth, however, Ryas believed he was rescuing the child because his actions were commanded by Itamen's father.
- Last Villain Stand: After he thwarts their plans to drive lure-laden Tallnecks into Meridian to summon a stampede of machines to tear the place apart, Ryas confronts the Big Bad in an abandoned Carja fort. Bereft of their followers or any means of reasonably enacting their plans, they use their remaining lures to summon a Fireclaw in one last attempt to kill him, and willingly fall to their doom when the battle destroys the ancient building. Or so Asera would have Ryas believe.
- Weak, but Skilled: Played With: In contrast to Aloy, Ryas has much more varied options for climbing the environmental obstacles and even gains specialised equipment specifically for navigating the walls that Aloy never accesses, but in contrast, his combat options are much more limited, having only a bow and a sling to fight off machines with, along with scavenged ammo for each of them. Aloy is capable of taking down multiple Thunderjaws in the main game and even deadlier variants of machines by the sequel. In contrast, a single Thunderjaw that constantly menaces Ryas throughout his climb of Talonreach is presented as a near-insurmountable threat that he constantly has to avoid rather than fight, and he can only take it on as a Boss Fight by the top of the climb after he weakened it by detonating some blaze canisters underneath it to give it a nasty fall, crippling some of its weapons. However, Radel is skeptical and impressed when she hears of his feat, and Thunderjaws are presented as serious threats for even the most hardened hunters in Zero Dawn, so it's less that Ryas is an inferior fighter and more that Aloy is just that badass.
