HORSES

Horses is a minimalist first-person narrative adventure that moves with precision through the realm of the uncanny, drawing on the unsettling atmosphere of folk horror. Blending the language of video games with cinematic grammar and touches of grotesque and subtle horror, it delivers a bold and meaningful story about capitalist exploitation and class awareness. Despite its modest scale, Horses turns its limitations into style, offering a haunting, socially charged experience that feels as cinematic as it is interactive.

And, indeed, the skuzzy and harrowing Horses gains much of its power through its linearity, shepherding you through your own complicity in a cycle of dehumanization with scarcely an option to offer a word of protest. The lack of meaningful choice makes the very act of playing the game feel practically unbearable, what with players themselves being led forward like animals.

Life on the farm can be a chore, but Horses is a smart but thematically grotesque horror experience that will unnerve players and leave them with a lingering unease long after the credits have rolled.

HORSES is a provocative, incredibly bold, and unique game that leverages the harshness of its brutal vision to convey a social message that is as heartbreaking as it is painfully relevant. If you can look beyond the surface and overlook the overly simplistic gameplay, what you'll find is a daring title that will stimulate plenty of thought for those willing to grasp its symbolism and allegories.

Horses is a fascinating work, capable of moments that lodge in the memory, such as the late-game sequence when the projector's whirring finally stops and the tired clomp of footsteps registers to our ears like the sound of freedom. [Issue#419, p.122]

Horses is a chilling, nerve-shredding short story that propels you through a series of increasingly heinous farm tasks. Sharp writing of morally repugnant characters creates a harrowing atmosphere, which is frustratingly diminished by repetitive activities and unclear signposting that sometimes pull you out of its silent film-like world. Even so, developer Santa Ragione’s admirably bracing vision does well to harness what can make the interactivity of video games so affecting, ensuring you’ll have plenty to think about as the credits roll.

It’s not particularly effective at what it sets out to do. It is certainly a harrowing and memorable experience I won’t soon forget, and a standout in 2025 for its imagery alone, but not one destined for the limelight outside of the controversy. It’s ironic that a game tackling the hypocrisy of purity culture and dehumanization of “deviants” would end up in such people’s targets after the initial ban, but reality is stranger than fiction. Horses deserves to be played, but at times feels like a shock-value PETA game that tackles its tougher topics with the subtlety of a jackhammer. To hinge a studio’s success on this game would be risky even if it was on Steam, but I still hope that, to paraphrase the financier’s daughter in Horses, the people at Santa Ragione get to live the rest of their lives as game developers.

Bien, el juego seamos honestos es duro pero DURO, no es para cualquiera,está muy bien logrado la verdad y cuenta con efectos, mecánicas y minijuegos increibles, la historia esmuy interesante y refleja una crítica al holocausto? puede ser, me han dado ganas de vomitaren varias ocasiones y no suele impactarme nada, me ha gustado la verdad aunque duro de digerir pero muy buen trabajo de Santa Ragione y una pena la eliminación del juego en Steam y Epic, recomendable.

A game i do honestly think have a lot of potential, especially in it absurd narrative, but which I sadly felt something was missing during my whole experience (honestly it's my fault to say so, as I expected something else when I started it.). I hate to say also that I did get stuck... well... many times throught my gameplay, going at points to even close it, re open or restart on my last saving as the title oddly punishes you if you accidentally grab an object you don't need or do a chore before a specific matter. Besides, what im going to say now is odd but, my most controversial take regarding Horses is that I wish they did not used the censorship textures or the "closed doors" narration style when absolute madness was happening during the story. It felt honestly distracting rather than involving me fully into the horror of the story. I do toh understand why this may have been a choice chase, as the game was controversial, so changes definitely happened during production. I have more to say, such as the too loud music that I was not sure if was a crash on my part or a fully voluntary chosen direction or some story elements that were dropped but never again touched on, but I want to focus on something which I actually fully liked in this game: the cutscenes using real life actors. That was truly a surprise to see and reminded me a lot of another classic I deeply love, Phantasmagoria. Indeed, I would totally advise the developers to fully consider making a game in such style, as I can absolutely see its potential!

There was, let's say, an interesting idea somewhere there, and particular elements of art direction are well thought through (despite poor implementation). I do not recommend HORSES, if you seek a horror-like game with shocking values - play Song of Saya.

Honestly, trash game, just finished it (3 hours). I figured it was just purely shock value and I wasn't wrong, akin to the book Tender is the Flesh, which really isn't a very good book, this isn't a very good game, but unlike Tender is the Flesh, it was missing the shock value that made it worth reading or in this case playing. This game felt more like satire as opposed to anything with a serious message underneath, it was only $7 CAD, but if you are really intent of seeing the game, I'd just watch a playthrough because the devs haven't created anything thought provoking and the fact that this was banned at all is a joke.

This is the greatest edge lord troll game. This game is bad and didn't deserve to be banned from steam and epic. Should have just made it into a movie, it would have been a cult classic.