Many gamers have been eagerly awaiting Horizion Forbidden West for the past few months, if not years. None other than actress Peggy Vrijens from Maastricht is allowed to play the main character Aloy.
20 million
If you don’t have a game console, chances are you’ve never heard of it. But the predecessor to the highly anticipated game, Horizon Zero Dawn, has sold over 20 million copies. “The game industry is so much bigger than the film industry. This game is the largest and most expensive production ever made in the Netherlands,” says Vrijens, who was born in Maastricht.
Horizon Forbidden West
Last Friday the second part of the now world famous Horizon franchise was released. An Amsterdam studio, Guerrilla Games, has been working on it for no less than four years. The hundreds of makers have worked out everything down to the last detail. “Every leaf and air cloud has been thought through. A complete world of monsters has been devised with peoples who speak their own language,” says Vrijens.
aloy
Main character Aloy is tasked with saving the world from all kinds of (robotic) monsters and bad guys. Vrijens had more than a hundred shooting days for the recordings, from a brand new studio in Amsterdam to large scenes with up to fifteen actors in Stockholm. In the game industry they call it ‘mocapping’, motion capture, where the movements of the actress are digitized so that everything is right down to the smallest detail.
“It’s a very crazy realization that everyone around the world can see my movements. The joke is that I play other characters in the series alongside Aloy. For example, ‘my’ character occasionally encounters a drunken man or other creature, which I also played.” The actress soon recognizes herself on the screen: “I have already seen small pieces and I recognize my own movements and recognize what I am doing. How someone walks is so typical, it has to be very consistent.”
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96 percent
About 96 percent of all movements are of Vrijens’ body. “There is a lot of jumping and there are heavy fight scenes, which a stunt woman did. The makers are otherwise afraid that the actors will be injured and cannot continue working.” For example, the actress once wanted to jump off a table herself, which was quickly stopped: “No, no, no!” cried the makers.
Four persons
Four people have worked to complete all the facial expressions of main character Aloy. Outside the movements of Vrijens and the stunt woman is the face of Rotterdam Hannah Hoekstra. The voice is provided by American voice actress Ashly Burch. “I get a lot of messages from fans from all over the Netherlands. But the credits actually go to Ashly, she is the voice of the game and was also in the first part.”
Monk’s work
Making a big ‘open world’ game like Horizon is what Vrijens calls painstaking work. For example, a make-up artist gave her all kinds of studs on her body that detect all small movements. She also got studs above her eyebrows and on her lips, like a helmet on her head. Although gamers encounter monsters in the game, Vrijens had to make do with her imagination. “You have to use your imagination so much. A monster is made of a few tables and a wheel. I wear a strange suit and use some props. A spear in the game, is a stick in the studio.”
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Confidentiality
Before her work started, the actress also had to sign a confidentiality agreement. “It was not allowed to be known at all. I was approached to just play a character and not so much Aloy. Later I was asked if I would like to audition for the main character.”
The size of the game may become even more apparent when you consider that Aloy also graced the cover of the Italian Vanity Fair. And the distributor of the game, Sony, has launched major marketing campaigns in some major cities such as Paris. There, a life-size statue of Aloy has been set up with a monster at one of the busiest metro stations.
no gamer
Vrijens himself is not a real gamer, but would make an exception for this game: “I know everything, know about all nations and have played so many scenes. I also see all the colleagues I worked with again, but in the game. .”
Back to Limburg
She doesn’t know yet if there will be a third part. But she would be only too happy to work on it again. She is currently back to work, acting, but for a movie. “For the time being, I’m still working well, but I think it’s too busy in Amsterdam. Later I want to go back to Limburg, I always say that. My Limburg friends, who now live in Amsterdam, want to go back to the South. We will also be celebrating Carnival with the whole club this year. I will pull a number of dresses over each other this year, with a bright pink wig and some face paint.”