The hype surrounding "Horses," a horror game that made waves with its banning on Valve's Steam platform and Epic Games Store, has finally dissipated. The game, developed by Santa Ragione, promised to be a thought-provoking exploration of themes such as slavery, abuse, sex, and assault. However, upon closer inspection, the game falls short of its lofty ambitions.
The gameplay, which revolves around helping out on a farm for 14 days while dealing with the sinister forces lurking beneath the surface, is tedious and overreliant on pseudo-intellectual ideas. The "horses," which are not equines but human beings in chains, are subjected to brutal treatment, including forced labor and sexual assault. While these themes are undeniably disturbing, they are handled clumsily, lacking any real depth or resonance.
The game's attempts at being surreal and grotesque come across as more harebrained than anything else, with its low-quality graphics giving every character a dead-eyed stare and rubbery face. The "horses" themselves are reduced to animalistic depictions, with pixelated genitals and awkwardly staged sex scenes that serve no purpose other than to hammer home the brutality of the farm.
One of the most significant issues with "Horses" is its lack of moral resolution. After witnessing numerous instances of sexual assault and abuse, the game ends without any real attempt to address these themes or provide a sense of closure for the player. Instead, it leaves the exploration of slavery, abuse, sex, and assault hanging, feeling half-baked.
The controversy surrounding "Horses" has sparked an important conversation about censorship in the gaming industry. Developers, players, and trade organizations have been vocal about the importance of creative freedom, but also acknowledge that games exist within capitalist structures where access to platforms determines livelihood.
The game's delisting from Steam and Epic Games Store has exposed the fragility of developers' economic security, highlighting the need for informed decision-making and understanding what each platform allows. The video game industry is highly consolidated, with a handful of platforms controlling access to the vast majority of players.
Ultimately, "Horses" needs to be defended against censorship, but it's also a bad game that should be examined as such. While the conversation around the game is still stalling out about why it's allowed to exist or how it's not offensive, the better question is why we really care about it at all – and why, as players, we feel so reluctant to talk about its failings like any other piece of media.
The gameplay, which revolves around helping out on a farm for 14 days while dealing with the sinister forces lurking beneath the surface, is tedious and overreliant on pseudo-intellectual ideas. The "horses," which are not equines but human beings in chains, are subjected to brutal treatment, including forced labor and sexual assault. While these themes are undeniably disturbing, they are handled clumsily, lacking any real depth or resonance.
The game's attempts at being surreal and grotesque come across as more harebrained than anything else, with its low-quality graphics giving every character a dead-eyed stare and rubbery face. The "horses" themselves are reduced to animalistic depictions, with pixelated genitals and awkwardly staged sex scenes that serve no purpose other than to hammer home the brutality of the farm.
One of the most significant issues with "Horses" is its lack of moral resolution. After witnessing numerous instances of sexual assault and abuse, the game ends without any real attempt to address these themes or provide a sense of closure for the player. Instead, it leaves the exploration of slavery, abuse, sex, and assault hanging, feeling half-baked.
The controversy surrounding "Horses" has sparked an important conversation about censorship in the gaming industry. Developers, players, and trade organizations have been vocal about the importance of creative freedom, but also acknowledge that games exist within capitalist structures where access to platforms determines livelihood.
The game's delisting from Steam and Epic Games Store has exposed the fragility of developers' economic security, highlighting the need for informed decision-making and understanding what each platform allows. The video game industry is highly consolidated, with a handful of platforms controlling access to the vast majority of players.
Ultimately, "Horses" needs to be defended against censorship, but it's also a bad game that should be examined as such. While the conversation around the game is still stalling out about why it's allowed to exist or how it's not offensive, the better question is why we really care about it at all – and why, as players, we feel so reluctant to talk about its failings like any other piece of media.
those graphics are straight out of a bad parody video and the "horses" themselves are just sad 
i'm all for pushing boundaries in gaming but sometimes you gotta be honest with yourself if it's actually working or not and "Horses" just feels like a mess 
i mean, horses game was just overhyped from the start imo 
it had some creepy themes but it didn't bring anything new or interesting to the table gameplay was so tedious and graphics were straight out of a low budget indie game 
10 days was way too long for a game that was just kinda meh 
now that it's delisted from steam i'm actually kinda glad 
more space on my library for better games anyone else feeling like playing something else?
. It promised a deep exploration of some heavy themes but ends up being super shallow and awkward to play. The graphics are straight out of a low-budget indie game 
, and don't even get me started on those poor "horses" - they're basically just characters with weird skin problems 
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. And let's talk about how the gaming industry as a whole can do better in terms of supporting devs and creating more inclusive platforms 
. Next big thing is the new Oculus Quest 3 release - that one's looking pretty lit 
- the game's 14-day gameplay is roughly equivalent to 100 hours in real time 
- 70% of developers say that platform holders have too much control over the content they can publish 
- here's a rough breakdown of the major platforms and their stance on the "horse" game: Steam (closed), Epic Games Store (closed), GOG (open), PSN, Xbox Live
. All that hype around it being edgy and thought-provoking just didn't translate into a cohesive gameplay experience for me 
I mean, I know they're trying to make a point about the brutality of slavery and abuse, but couldn't they've done it without looking like a Hotline Miami rip-off 
. I mean, I was hyped for a thought-provoking game that tackles some heavy themes and all that, but what we got was just...meh 
. The graphics are straight out of a bad dream, the gameplay is tedious, and don't even get me started on those awkward sex scenes 
. And can we talk about how it ends with no real resolution? Like, what's the point of making you watch all that abuse if you're just gonna leave you hanging? 
. It's just that the game's not living up to what I thought it was gonna be, you know? I mean, them pseudo-intellectual ideas sound cool on paper but they end up feeling all shallow and unnecessary in practice 
. But at the same time, I'm kinda impressed that they tried to tackle those heavy themes... even if they did a pretty bad job of it 
... sometimes they're good, sometimes they're bad, and "Horses" is definitely more of the latter