HORSES is a deeply author-driven horror experience that uses the language of videogames to portray a world where violence does not appear as an exceptional event, but gradually integrates into everyday life. Through an essential structure, restrained narration, and a strongly symbolic staging, the game builds a subtle and persistent form of horror that...
Horses2025
Horses
2025 Santa Ragione73Good
Playtime
BriefIt typically takes about 2.5 hours to finish the game.
Playable on
Game modes
Details
- Launch
- December 2, 2025
- Developer
- Andrea Lucco Borlera
- Publisher
- Santa Ragione
- Themes
Overview
In Horses, you will take on the role of a summer worker taking a break from his college studies. You will be responsible for taking care of the farm and its animals for a fortnight. Each day, as you explore the farm, you'll encounter many "surprises," peeling back the layers of the farm's unsettling mysteries.
Screenshots
Reception
Press74
Good- Metacritic73from 19 reviews
- OpenCritic75from 7 reviews
Much of HORSES' notoriety stems from its 'forbidden' status, but beneath the controversy lies a valid, experimental narrative for adult audiences. It is a worthwhile provocation for those seeking something off-beat, succeeding as an uncomfortable and fleeting audiovisual piece.
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...
In terms of striking visual presentation, shock-driven imagery, and overt messaging, it certainly manages to draw attention, but technically, it’s just an average walking simulator.
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...