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I have finished the game HORSES, released in December 2025 by Santa Ragione.
Note: I will try and keep this safe for work, but the game's developers have placed one of the longest content warnings I've seen for a video game once you boot it up. It reads as follows
CONTENT WARNING: This game contains scenes of physical violence, psychological abuse, gory imagery (mutilation, blood), depictions of slavery, physical and psychological torture, domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicide, and misogyny. The inclusion of these elements is intended to depict and characterize a fictional world and its fictional inhabitants. The presence of these elements is not an endorsement of them, nor do they reflect the beliefs or values of the creators. Some scenes also feature unsettling sounds, such as chewing and swallowing, which may be disturbing for players with sound sensitivities or related phobias. Character dialogue also includes references to psychological trauma that may be upsetting, especially for those who may have had similar experiences in their pasts. Player discretion is advised. If you feel uncomfortable or upset while playing, please consider stepping away and reaching out to someone you trust.
The above text is not a joke nor is it an attempt by an overly PC company PR team to head off negative press, Horses is a game about abuse and exploitation and depicts and examines nearly every form abuse and exploitation can take. For this review I will not be showing any of that content, but I will be discussing them to a degree, though I will try to be brief.
Horses is mechanically a simple game where you click to interact with objects and complete tasks at a sedate pace. Storywise you play a young man sent to a farm for a part-time job in the Summer. One of those "Make a man of yourself" by hard work deals. You quickly learn that this farm and its farmer are sick and twisted, and you still have two weeks to go. The game is broken into days, and each day reveals more of the twisted reality of this farm and the eponymous "Horses". I don't like spoiling games, but I think the controversy gave this part away, the "Horses" are human beings made to wear horse masks and are being abused and tortured by the Farmer who is so accustomed to this sick fantasy that he openly shows his captives off to you (a stranger to him) when you arrive.
That surprised me, I assumed the game would take it slower and reveal its secret gradually. The content of Horses led to its banning from the Steam and Epic storefronts and condemnation from some quarters. This was how I learnt of the game's existence and the impression I initially had was that this game was a gross and repugnant sadistic fantasy. Not something I would like to play, however there were some defenders, which got me curious. After spending a bit over 2 hours with the game I can say with confidence that the criticism was misleading.
Though make no mistake, Horses is gross and disturbing and uncomfortable. You see and occasionally take part in horrific acts of abuse and violence against vulnerable people. The difference is that the game is not designed to titillate and endorse this behaviour. Great pains were taken to remove any appeal or attraction to these actions and beliefs, it's actively repellent. The "Horses" are dirty, their private parts censored, and throughout the game the protagonist is shown to be upset and afraid and at the mercy of the Farmer. You do horrible things to progress the game but Anselmo the young man out of his depth does horrible things out of compulsion and the implied threat of dire consequences.
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| He is always watching |
In moral terms Horses is heavily invested in attacking abusive relationships and their justifications, and the sympathies lie with the victims. It reminded me of watching the film Fiesta! Directed by Pierre Boutron. The film is set in Spanish Civil War and is told from the point of view of the Francoist army.
It also depicts a young man sent off to the cares of a strange and twisted patriarchal figure with the goals of turning him into a `real man`. It also shows just how brutalising that life and ideology are to even the `special ones` who have privileges and power over others.
We are committed to producing challenging, adult storytelling. HORSES uses grotesque, subversive imagery to confront power, faith, and violence. We reject subjective obscenity standards and believe this kind of moralizing censorship evokes a darker past in which vague notions of “decency” were used to silence artists.
One facet of the game that struck me while playing was Anselmo. Anselmo is a victim, he's isolated in a strange and hostile world in proximity to a very dangerous person who is accustomed to acts of violence and personal tyranny. He must keep this man appeased to keep the implied threat implied, but in the process he must assist in some of the crimes and violence of the farmer. He is similar to Fido a man turned into a guard dog by the Farmer. Both Fido and Anselmo occupy a position of relative privilege on the farm, but both are still vulnerable to the whims of the true power that is the farmer, and their privileges are contingent on collaborating with him. Anselmo must do chores on the farm, that can range from picking veggies in the garden to holding a victim done, so the Farmer can administer "correction". Even with the rudimentary models and animations its clear that Anselmo does not want to be there and taking part in these actions, but he continues to take part. Until he doesn't, at certain points in the game there are opportunities to rebel in small ways, which eventually snowball into more effective actions that eventually topple the reign of the Farmer and free the Horses. In my play through Anselmo even joined them, donning a Horse head and running away with them in an act of solidarity.
The game is telling us in a very blunt way that disapproval of atrocities is not enough to stop them and that in a pyramid of tyranny the lower rungs are also victims to an extent, though this does not excuse the actions of those below in upholding the system. The only way to stop abuse is to take action and dismantle abusive institutions and relationships.
The use of Horses was an inspired choice. How can the Farmer and his associates treat people in such horrific ways? Simple, they don't see these people as human beings they see them as animals. Yes, the way the Farmer treats his "Horses" is extreme and cruel even if they were real Equines, but it is perfectly normal and socially acceptable to exploit animals. Especially in a farming setting, chaining people to a plough and forcing them to work in the baking sun is a criminal act, attaching a literal Horse or Donkey or Ox to one is not. Dehumanisation is a near constant when abuse and atrocities are present. The abusive father views his family as his property. The Israeli government views all Palestinians and Lebanese as fanatical terrorists so it's easier to bomb villages and apartment buildings. Hitler compared Jewish people to vermin and the Hutu paramilitaries denounced the Tutsi as cockroaches. Right now in the United States, multiple governmental agencies from the police to ICE are carrying out waves of violent assaults and captures of "Illegal Aliens".
The hard part of getting people to do horrific things to other human beings is to convince them that their targets are not full functioning human beings, but something else, something lesser, than it becomes surprisingly easy. Its worth asking why. Why is it so easy for a man to capture a dozen people, keep them naked in a pen and beat them as he sees fit once he's gone through the rigmarole of putting a rubber horse mask on them? These are some of the uncomfortable questions HORSES confronted me with while playing.
The Controversy
It can't be overlooked the ban from Epic and especially Steam put the game and the studio in serious bind. Steam has a monopoly on PC gaming so any game not available on there has almost no chance of making it. Fortunately the storm over the game was big enough to get people curious and retailers like Itch.io and GOG (where I purchased my copy) did still stock it so it was able to stave off financial ruin, but it should alarm us all that one storefront has that much power in the first place.
Steam’s refusal removed our primary path to reach players on PC, with no way to appeal and no clear path to compliance, as detailed in our FAQ. Steam has also stopped granting developer keys to indies that do not meet undisclosed sales thresholds, limiting third-party sales and retroactively affecting our catalogue. In a de facto monopoly, opaque decisions like these can quickly determine a small studio’s survival. We have set aside funds to support HORSES post-launch with bug fixes and quality-of-life updates for six months, but we will not be able to start new projects unless HORSES somehow recoups its development costs without access to more than 75% of the PC gaming market.
I enjoy Steam products and services, but it is a corporation and a very large and heavily entrenched one at that, the power of one company to decide if a game and the developers behind succeed or fail is not a good thing for anyone, and differs little from a powerful state censor. We don't exactly which line HORSES crossed to get it blacklisted from Steam and Epic but whatever specific element was the issue HORSES is a game that tackled uncomfortable subjects for a purpose, it is unique and bold and deserves support, in recognition of the work put into it.
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