Horses (video game)

Horses is a first-person narrative horror video game.^[1][2] Players complete tasks over a series of consecutive days, which are presented as a list attached to the exterior of a farmhouse.^[2][3] The tasks, such as watering the crops, begin as simple, but become more abstract and disturbing over time.^[3][4] Completion of many tasks requires tools collected from throughout the farm and using them in their instructed context, with players only able to carry two at a time.^[3][4] Completion of some actions are interspersed with live-action cutscenes depicting the action players are undertaking,^[1] and some events are overlaid on the screen to draw the attention of players to them.^[1] Dialogue with characters is presented via an intertitle after the character speaks.^[5]

The player is Anselmo, a young man who is sent to spend two weeks working on a farm. He is immediately introduced to the farmer and his "horses", who are humans kept naked except for masks, fed on hay and water, "ridden" on the shoulders, raced, and forced to pull a plow. Anselmo soon learns that the farmer's dog, Fido, is also a human in a mask and serves as a guard and supervisor.

As the farmer takes Anselmo into his trust, he learns that the farmer captures people caught engaging in sexual activity in the nearby woods, injects them with horse fluids, and brainwashes them into servitude. He is aided by a corrupt businessman, a preacher, and a vet, who visit the farm to abuse the "horses" in different ways. "Horses" who have sex with each other are punished by beating and castration, while the farmer wears a large locked chastity belt at all times. On one of several occasions, the farmer gets drunk and puts on his own horse mask, then has a female "horse" raped by Fido while the farmer watches and attempts to masturbate.

Anselmo befriends a female "horse" named Linda, who informs him that she is in contact with Fiero, a male "horse" who previously escaped and plans to free all the "horses". Fiero and Linda's plan fails, resulting in the death of Fido, Fiero being nailed to a stake to die, and Linda being recaptured for torture and brainwashing. Anselmo locates Linda and releases her, but is caught by the farmer. The farmer prepares to inject Anselmo to turn him into the next Fido, but Linda ambushes him, and together she and Anselmo tie the farmer down and inject him with horse fluids. The game ends with the "horses" holding a funeral for Fiero, with Linda giving Fiero's mask to Anselmo, who leads the "horses" off the farm to freedom.

Horses was conceived by Andrea Lucco Borlera, a film graduate at the Roma Tre University,^[6] developing the game's concept and directing the live action sequences.^[7] Borlera stated the design and aesthetic of the game was inspired by surrealist filmmakers Luis Buñuel and Jan Švankmajer, and the work of filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos.^[4][6][8] Borlera also cited childhood experiences of fear of horses and their handlers on his grandfather's farm as a source for the game's direction.^[4] The game was developed by Santa Ragione, an Italian game studio formed in 2010 by Pietro Righi Riva and Nicolò Tedeschi, who had created titles including Wheels of Aurelia and Mediterranea Inferno.^[9] After finding difficulty in pitching the game to studios, Borlera stated the partnership arose from a chance meeting with Riva.^[6] Development cost the studio approximately $100,000 in costs, half of which was raised from friends.^[10]

Horses was announced in June 2023 as part of the IGN Summer of Gaming event, alongside the release of a trailer.^[3] The game experienced delays from its intended 2024 release date due to then-undisclosed reasons,^[11] with developers announcing the final release date and trailer for the game in 2025.

In November 2025, immediately prior to the game's release date, Santa Ragione announced that they were unable to release Horses on Steam as Valve Corporation had made a final decision to not permit the game on the platform due to it breaching the platform's content guidelines.^[9][12] Following this announcement, Epic Games Store sent an email to Santa Ragione stating that they had resubmitted the International Age Rating Coalition questionnaire for Horses and received results suggesting an Adults Only 18+ (AO) rating, and that they would therefore not sell the game as it was against their policy to carry AO-rated games.^[13][14] Santa Ragione stated that when they had done the same, their questionnaire results suggested a Mature 17+ rating.^[13][14] Distributor GOG issued a statement that it would retain the game on its platform, stating that it was "proud" to host it as "players should be able to choose the experiences that speak to them".^[15] GOG's managing director Maciej Gołębiewski said of their decision, "We believe in creative freedom, because once a company, through their own terms of service, decides what's good and what's not good - what's acceptable; what can be sold and what cannot be sold - it's a slippery slope from that point onward."^[16]

The studio stated that Steam provided an automated response following an initial review that the game would not be distributed as it, in Valve's words, "appears, in our judgment, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor".^[10] The studio characterized the judgment as "vague and unfounded" and that Steam did not provide further feedback on scenes or elements that triggered the ban. They speculated that the decision stemmed from reviewers seeing a scene in a dialogue sequence depicting a child being carried on the shoulders of a naked adult woman, which they stated was "not sexual in any way". This character was later changed to an adult during development. As a result of the ban, Santa Ragione stated that whilst the game would receive post-launch support, the studio may need to wind down its operations, as the inability to secure an external partnership with a publisher due to the ban led to an "unsustainable financial situation".^[10][11] Following announcement, Valve shared a statement with media outlets stating that the platform had pre-emptively banned Horses based on a review of the game's store page and content in 2023. Following a later request by the studio to appeal this decision, Valve stated they undertook an internal content review, "extensively" discussed the game, and communicated to the developer a final decision that the game could not be shipped, consistent with their rules and guidelines.^[17][18]

The announcement prompted commentary on the role of game distribution platforms in approving or rejecting works with adult content. Several critics discussed that moderation of the game raised issues around artistic freedom of expression,^[19][20] and Chris Tapsell of Eurogamer wrote that it exposed a "much bigger problem" for freedom of expression, including the monopoly of Valve on digital distribution, the opaqueness of its decision-making, and similar issues faced in other industries.^[20] Citing discourse relating to Steam's content moderation of adult games required by payment processors following activism by Collective Shout, Nathan Grayson of Aftermath stated that these decisions reflected censorship and would "reverberate through the industry" and argued platforms should not decide "what does and does not constitute commercially viable art".^[21]