Horses

« Santa Ragione delivers a subversive, sometimes shocking, often funny first-person narrative horror that, while perhaps a little insubstantial, remains an engagingly unconventional exploration of some timely themes. »

« HORSES isn't a game for the faint of heart, nor those who struggle to be confronted with intensive imagery. It's a rudimentary video game that uses the medium as a vehicle for exploration of intensive themes, which creates an incredibly unsettling and disturbing atmosphere. There may be other horror games that you'd prefer to play, but very few will evoke the kind of disgust and repulsion that HORSES achieves, and evoking emotion is what art is all about. »

« 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. »

« Horses is an important video game that aims to scandalize by working within the uncomfortable space typical of provocative art. It has no intention of being harmless: it wants to unsettle you on every level. It is a reflection on the banality of evil, on the anarchy of power, and on how dehumanizing others pushes us to commit atrocious actions. While it evokes the horrors of twentieth-century totalitarian regimes, it is a highly contemporary work that stages mechanisms power still exploits to undermine our humanity. It is a video game that does not seek approval and has the courage to remind us how easy it still is, even today, to simply follow orders. »

« 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. »

« Horses is the kind of experience that doesn’t look for compromises and has no interest in pleasing everyone. Santa Ragione plays with incendiary material and does so with a confidence that’s almost disarming. It’s a “small” title, one that inevitably divides, because it demands from the viewer the willingness to look exactly where we usually turn away. And that’s precisely where its value lies: in its ability to dig, provoke, unsettle and, above all, leave a mark. »

« Disturbing and outside of any canon: horses is a journey into the loss of innocence. »

« 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. »

« 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. »

« 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. »

« Horses is a reminder that games can be poetic, disruptive, and deeply human. It’s a triumph of vision and storytelling, and one of the most refreshing artistic experiences in recent memory (including a scene that will haunt me for many nights). »

« 5/10 (site won't let me pick 5/10) Read the review by the dude named bkuch on here and see what kind of pseudointellectual and pretentious people like this game lol. The game is not good from a gameplay standpoint with the game basically just being you doing mundane tasks. There is a point to the mundane tasks but they are mundane nevertheless. The presentation is good which is why this is not a 0/10. The creators tried to do something unique and did. The story is generic, formulaic and basic. There is a level of shock value but every theme explored here has been explored, ad naseum, in much better ways, many times before. This is the type of game that is made for simple people that want to feel deep. If you are not simple, there is nothing here. »

« A short experimental game that can be appreciated by anyone familiar with the works of Pier Paolo Pasolini ("Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom") and similar neo-realist or surrealist auteurs (Luis Buñuel, anyone?). If you haven't got a clue what I'm talking about, perhaps better you move on. ;) »

« An intense journey into the depths of the human soul. Discovering what it means to live and accept a totalitarian system. "We are not horses." »