The Horizon series has always boasted about its superb world-building, and rightfully so. Although most of us have experienced this world from a third-person perspective with Aloy, Horizon: Call Of The Mountain delivers a stunning first-person adventure exclusively in VR2 from the perspective of Ryas.
Call Of The Mountain is meant to be a short yet memorable experience. With that said, most of its cast exudes great depth and distinctive personalities that makes the game’s short playthrough quite worthwhile. So, let’s rank each character from most memorable to least memorable.
8 Hami
Hami is one of the two soldiers dispatched by Marad to escort Ryas to him in Dawn’s Grasp, a Carja settlement, by boat. Hami immediately comes off as quite harsh as she makes apparent her resentment towards the Shadow Carja, particularly “Itamen’s Shadow.”
Although rude, this makes her the more dominant figure of the unit, as she takes the lead in the escorting process. Hami is also quite skilled with the bow as she fearlessly takes out the Watchers that attack the boat and even survives the Snapmaw attack, declaring that she won’t let Ryas escape.
7 Kavad
Kavad is the other soldier dispatched by Marad along with Hami to take Ryas to Dawn’s Grasp. Unlike Hami, he is much more considerate and even goes as far as to encourage Ryas to work with Marad to secure his freedom.
However, because of this soft side, he stays subordinate to Hami, such as by rowing the boat instead of fighting off the Watchers. Unfortunately, Kavad’s journey is cut short as he gets mauled by the Snapmaw that attacks the boat, eventually perishing in front of Ryas.
6 Marad
Marad, better known as the Blameless Marad, is the senior official in the court of Avad, the Carja Sun-King. Serving as both Avad’s chief advisor and spymaster, he oversees Carja’s intelligence unit by keeping tabs on each agent.
As such, on behalf of the Sun-King, he was tasked with reaching out to Ryas for a special investigation which is where Call Of The Mountain begins.
As for why he is known as the “Blameless” Marad, Aloy herself asks him that in Zero Dawn, in response to which he dodges the question in his usual cryptographic manner of speech.
5 Radel
At the start of the game, Ryas is directed by Marad to find Radel, Urid’s climbing partner to get leads on Urid’s whereabouts. Although Ryas can locate her relatively quickly, he finds her in a pinch with a log collapsed on her legs.
Even though Ryas can help her up, she lashes out at him, sharing Urid’s resentment towards Ryas. While Radel got off the wrong foot, she eventually comes to understand Ryas as the two work together to repair the elevator to Sunspear, where Urid is located.
4 Asera
Asera is the main antagonist of Call of the Mountain, who came to harbor resentment towards the Carja during the Red Raids. Her life was going quite well, especially with how she earned high praise for being the first Oseram woman to have her forge, but that was before the Carja murdered her family.
Asera sought vengeance on Meridian, and thus, after Dervahl's failure, she assumed leadership of his group’s remnants to carry on the anti-Carja cause, this time with the aid of Sylens. Ultimately, she perishes in the aftermath of her failed plan towards the end of the game.
3 Urid
Urid, despite being Ryas’s brother, is portrayed as his counterfactual in the story. With Ryas on the side of the Shadow Carja and Urid on the side of the Carja under Sun-King Avad, Urid found himself pitted against his brother during the Liberation of Meridian.
Urid earned the title of “Arrow of the Sun” due to his admirable efforts during the Battle of Meridian while his brother was branded as a traitor. However, as the two brothers crossed paths once more in Call of the Mountain, they set aside their differences and united to defeat a common enemy.
2 Ryas
Ryas is the main protagonist of Horizon: Call Of The Mountain, who also played an important role in Zero Dawn by safely escorting Prince Itamen to Sunfall during the Liberation of Meridian. This earned him the title of “Itamen’s Shadow,” and from that point onwards, he became a prominent figure amongst the Shadow Carja.
Later, due to reasons unknown, he consented to be captured alive by the Carja and was imprisoned in Sunstone Rock. However, he was soon released, with Marad giving him a chance at freedom in exchange for investigating a lurking danger in the Sundom, which is what the game is all about.
1 Aloy
It’s no surprise to see that our favorite Elizabeth Sobeck clone, Aloy, makes it to the top of our ranking. Being the protagonist of both Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, she makes an exciting comeback to Call of the Mountain as we get to interact with her directly in first-person.
Although Aloy is not the protagonist of this game, one mustn’t forget that she was the one who defeated Dervahl in Zero Dawn and thwarted his plans. Thus, in some sense, she is part of the reason why the events of Call of the Mountain take place in the first place!