It's a mess

[@YTRattle]

How would you go about fixing horse games? Also, thank you ko-fi supporters! I didn't record the thank you in the vid! I'll make it up in the next one! ♥ Strange Alchemy - store.steampowered.com/app/3365370?snr=5000_5100__

[@MarliPie]

Let's start with using asset pack for what they were meant to be. PLACEHOLDERS!!! and nothing more!

[@DissonantSynth]

​@@MarliPiethere's no shame in using premade assets, as long as they fit in with the style and proportions of the other models, and the dev tweaks them where needed. The execution (how they are used) and stylisation makes a big difference.

[@akantiia]

Less features and less laser focus on realism

[@MarliPie]

@DissonantSynth I would agree with you, like i said use them how they were meant to be used but all we are seeing here is asset flips upon asset flips and not a singular difference or any stylised changes to fit any theme or unique characteristic. And they kniw the assets look bad but still publish these games as is.

[@suvjl]

0:16 "Daily grooming session" just made me think of sso's chat features💀

[@Lemon-wu9lr]

HELP LMAO😭

[@YTRattle]

WTF???! 😂

[@pandoraelfe3373]

i half howled half snorted half choked on my laughter this is hands down the best comment

[@ComicalConsumption]

It would be funnier if it wasn't so gut-wrenchingly true.

[@definitely.ssmart]

“Friend me for rp!” “Hi! What kind of roleplay were you thinking of?” “b r e e d i n g”

[@ax3247]

I'm quitting the horse girl fandom, too many sweats 💀

[@poppy_pixie]

I just want studios to start creating horse games that have an actual plot that doesn't revolve around just riding and caring for horses. Give me mysteries. Give me a STORY. For example: Growing up, I played these German horse games that were about a group of kids that would investigate mysteries and go on adventures. And they just so happened to have horses and would ride around while doing their investigating. The plot & story is what really gripped me, not how "realistic" the horses looked. The horses were pixely, blocky & unrealistic, and yet they were part of the best horse games I've ever played. (If anyone is curious about those games, my favourite from the series was called: "Die Pferdebande: Weiße Stute in Gefahr" which translates to "the pony club: white mare in danger". there's playthroughs on youtube and pictures on google)

[@spoopyvirgil4944]

So I play a Roblox horse game called Horse Life. And it's funny you should mention stories because Horse Life is working on adding story to their game. Even before the first story mission, they had hints to a story and lore, like the NPCs saying that you're not from around here and the statues scattered around the island being interact-able and saying things like that they pulse with magic. Hell, even their seasonal events have lore (Like ancient Alces, a seasonal moose style horse, being frozen in ice after defeating some type of monster, their final moments preserved).

[@roseabee7503]

I loved the Pony Club as a kid.

[@poppy_pixie]

@@spoopyvirgil4944 omgosh that's amazing! I've played Horse Life before!! I always lost interest eventually because of the lack of story and direction but i'm so excited to know they will be adding a story in the future! I'll keep an eye out for it! Thank u for sharing :)

[@crazyducklady5500]

Oh dude I read the books!!

[@IgaChicken]

Red Dead Redemption 2, anyone? lol But no, seriously, I agree! The old Star Shine Legacy games are some of my favorites, BECAUSE of the story. SSO, currently, lost so much of what made it special. It was unique, but now feels flavorless by comparison.

[@godeaterclown6910]

i think having a mature conversation about toxic positivity would be huge in horse games.

[@WhileShayeh]

Especially if big games like SSO would talk about it, considering a lot of the fanbase is pretty bad with the whole toxic positivity and echo chamber they have put themself in.

[@krickette]

I got banned from an ETG group for critiquing the game lol

[@Nyans]

Horse games and cozy games have most divided fandoms.. lol

[@starvampyr]

I feel like SSO and it's previous games definitely had success because it WAS innovative (notice I use 'was' and not 'is') as a horse game, yes it has it's pretty horses and you ride on them and do competitions (well.. basically just races with some jumps nowadays) it had an overarching story that was the main focus alongside the horses... However, nowadays thanks to SSE's management and its shareholders (amongst other things) there is no story anymore and it's just fallen from grace to be like every other horse game where you buy, buy, buy, occasionally race and if you feel like it you might just feed one of your 50 horses a bit of hay.

[@crazyducklady5500]

Yeah, unless you have a club keeping you on the game it's dryer then the Saharah desert. Just crossing my fingers they'll release more non-horse related content. Such as a new place in the map or GETTING RID OF THAT DARN TORNADO.

[@brandicounsil4015]

🙋‍♀️ 130 horses here 🙈 oh the shame lol

[@parsley_herb]

ugh, I wish people in this community would actually stand up/ against bad devs. Like ETG. Why are people still playing it, even after how they’ve been treated and scammed.

[@pigeon6333]

I saw a few people get upset with the rift team due to one admin claiming a property that had a wild horse buyer. And they said to players that they had to ask their permission to go on their property to sell the wild horse. But in the rules any player can go on what ever property as long as you're being respectful. The rift team threatened to shut down the server when players brought up the issue. I won't be going back.

[@pyramidheads]

RDR1 and 2 is the way to be, for a franchise that isn't about horses, it sure knows how to make it a strong part of the gameplay and make it feel engaging and fun

[@spretten]

I was gonna say 😂 RDR2 / Red Dead Online is easily a horse game if you want to.

[@pyramidheads]

@@spretten i mean, technically u could label it as so, since the horse mechanics in the game are so realistic and thorough that no one actual horse game can compete with LMAO - i have more fun riding Roach from witcher 3 which is just a means of a transport around the world but still, much more fun than any other horse game that has been pushed out lately

[@Sassafrass95]

untl the online mode of rdr2 got abandoned and all the stuff people payed for either mysteriously dissapeared or is no longer availible

[@spretten]

@@Sassafrass95 huh? its still online and playable, new monthly bonses tomorrow. idk about things being mysteriously gone, never heard about it. open world sandbox with realistic horse riding (compared to other games), i'd say def worth a try for horsegamers

[@spretten]

@@pyramidheads yees ✨ i'm not a horse girlie myself, but i know there are RDO communities for horse girls (and boys), that do trail rides together and stuff. looks so fun!

[@steampunkwardyn]

Reminder to all that if you want to support an EXCELLENT horse game, Ranch of Rivershine is your jam.

[@Sleipnir800]

I really wish there was a Console port!

[@Tirel123]

Ranch of Rivershine is really THE horse game, with Rival Stars being second only for the graphics. No other games hit the mark.

[@akantiia]

I've seen good stuff about RoR from other horse lovers, need to get my hands on it at some point!

[@Talesse]

I was just a tester for yet another horse game this time developed by Blue Scarab Entertainment. It’s apparently going to be a horse focused true crime horse riding MMORPG. I can’t share much due to the NDA but I’ll be interested in seeing if it goes anywhere. We had 3 days to test and it was mostly to find bugs. Only thing I will say the horse animations are yikes. But hey they got to the tester stage. Good for them.

[@IgaChicken]

How I would love a game about a knight, and his horse. I have heard before that a knight and his horse had a bond on the battlefield like no other. Even beyond your fellow human soldiers, your horse was your greatest ally. Give me a story about the trials, and hardship faced by a bonded pair like this. The struggles of war, on both human and horse, where we can see through the eyes of both. A history, fantasy, story game. I've very vague at the moment, but something with solid emotional beats. In short, I want a game that punches me in the feels, with solid characters, and just happens to have great horse riding and battle mechanics lol

[@spicysalad3013]

there's an animated short about that, don't remember the name sadly

[@IgaChicken]

@@spicysalad3013 Oh, for shame. If you happen to remember, I'd be curious to know :D

[@spicysalad3013]

@@IgaChicken do you have a d1scord? I can look for the video and send it to you since youtube doesn't like it when you post links in comments

[@spicysalad3013]

@@IgaChicken I found it, it's Old Knight by Gabe Hordos

[@X2XImTheNewCancerX2X]

I think for me personally, what I want to see so much LESS of is the breeding mechanics. I want a story--an ACTUAL story, not just a loose framing device as I put a ranch back together one paddock at a time--and I want the horse to actually BE A CHARACTER in that story. But if you can breed 600 horses and make them entirely interchangeable, the horse can't actually be a character. The horse can't even really be part of the story, except in a very vague 'a horse, literally any horse, is required' sense, because if there are 600 interchangeable horses then no characterization can be assigned to the horses. The game may as well be about fixing up your dad's old chop shop and street racing on weekends, and it would be functionally the same game. I want ONE horse that I will have no choice but to absolutely adore by the end of the game because it actually has a personality for me to get attached to.

[@KKLUVYALL]

The fact that Red Dead outrides (no pun intended) all of these games without even TRYING to be a horse game is crazy. I'm not trying to compare at all because I know that Rockstar is a big company that obviously has more people to help and stuff but.. I hope that this disease that horse games have will be cured in the near future.. 💀💀

[@celarts5752]

I feel like cozy games in general currently are just plagued by people who think that they can make a quick buck off of us and that we'll buy anything. All we can really do is just not give them our money and hope that they'll move onto a different grift, cause y'know they'll never stop grifting.

[@azureequus8045]

Bang on with horse developers being very inexperienced tbh I wish more focused less on SUPER REALISTIC HORSE STUFF and a fun story with horses and interesting characters sso used to have this and its why so many damn people stick around there is not much to sso's current lore and world but it did have a lot and there is lots of room for theories and story creation it does have a world you can somewhat get lost albeit it is shallow for mmo's and I want sso to really focus on this world and they don't! and that's frustrating but I'd love to see more of that and instead of this obsession with realistic horse stuff, It'd also be WAY easier on the developers because you could have or start off with very basic horse stuff and flesh out the rest of the game and world around it than when you get better you can go in and update the horse game play to be better.

[@mokono5331]

Please learn to use punctuation. I can't even read your comment, it's so confusing.. 😭

[@azureequus8045]

@@mokono5331 I was talking about how its annoying how so many horse games focus on being a horse sim basically and I wish they focused on more stories and unique worlds like sso cus that's what draws a lot of people into games.

[@NotaScrimp]

Horse games need to remember that they’re GAMES **with** horses

[@deadlydreamin]

Red Dead 2 and RedM equestrian-based servers are literally the best horse games. Realism with horses and movement, but also the setting is so gorgeous that just riding around and taking photos of pretty scenery, hunting and doing the cowboy ranching stuff is fun. I'd love to see something similar in a different setting, like a semi-realistic medieval setting (perhaps KCD2 might be that for me lol).

[@MarliPie]

Now if rockstar could just lock in and realize the absolute GOLDMINE they are sitting on with RDO and pour a little bit of effort into updating the game we would all as a collective in this community go feral. I am foaming at the mouth with rage because all rockstar has to do to get people obsessed again is add the 28 horse coats currently not availible in online. 28!!!!! I made the list just to be sure! Sprinkle in a bit of tack a few new coats here and there, some new gameplay mechanics that are already in the game just not online mode..... the possibilities with that game is endless if rockshart could just pull their heads out of their asses! I cannot begin to explain how my heart broke when they announced there will no longer be content updates for RDO to focus on GTA6. And yet I find myself going back and just taking turns riding all my horses around because there is nothing else to do... I hate it here fr. Huge thank you Rattle for being the voice of reason and being our official spokes person. I know these "devs" hate to see you posting these videos lol!

[@carissasantos9657]

I’m just going to stick with using RDR2

[@roseabee7503]

saaame.

[@GirlKingThatOddThing]

If you have rdr2 on Pc you can join horse based servers ! The Rift Trails is amazing, it’s a horse based rdr2 server that’s pve

[@hisokaspaws4280]

My toxic trait is that I love starstable😔 I cant get away from it. I played it since Im 9 years old. Im 18 now😭 and yes they really 🦆ed up bad and they are FREAKING expensive but i hope it will get better

[@bonehead2641]

Alright, so an idea to make a horse game stand out is making it horror or zombie survival(please please please please please please).

[@spoopyvirgil4944]

Horror horses do seem like a fun idea :O

[@bonehead2641]

@spoopyvirgil4944 you could make sure the horse doesnt get scared or comfort it or you gain comfort from your horse. Or if you are out and about making sure you don't mount a Kelpie. There are so many things that can be done with it.

[@spoopyvirgil4944]

@@bonehead2641 Oooo yes, kelpies are such a good option for a horror horse game! Especially considering their whole thing is dragging riders to drown.

[@Whattheheckgives]

I'm still waiting for my post-apoc sim where you travel the country breeding, raising, and selling horses to survivors while occasionally fighting off raiders or helping people in need. Maybe even with a wagon train of survivors to back you up who also happen to craft most of your stuff for you. Also said wagons would preferably be de-engined vehicles because wooden ones would just be weird.

[@bonehead2641]

@Whattheheckgives that sounds wonderful.

[@SAMMYTASTISCH]

Actually, I would love a Wild Horse Game, like Wolf Quest. You start as a bachelor, looking for a mate/mates, founding your own herd. Raising foals, travelling to other grazing grounds, protect the herd against predators, finding water sources and competing with other herds. It just sounds like a cozy and fun project 🥹 maybe it would also raise awareness to Mustangs and the BLM...

[@HaughtyToast]

Good luck. That would make it an animal survival game. That's the boys version of horse games. They have all the same problems. Greedy scams, games going silent, devs with bad attitude, glitches everywhere, unfinished mechanics, etc. etc. etc..

[@fennex0185]

All of these examples are the exact reason my own project will only ever see the light of day when it is nearly done. Adding on to this, i also have my friends and soon teachers to keep my ideas in check. 😂 Feel the need to add on a bit more. I feel thats its important when youre making a game, that the audience your working for is yourself. Again 😅 On the former point also if you do release a game you made for yourself, be prepared for feedback and be perpared to accept it.

[@spicysalad3013]

what's your game gonna be about?

[@freya5019]

I've been following the development of Tales of Rein Ravine, Astride, Unbridled and Ranch of Rivershine for about 2 years now. Tales of Rein Ravine has gorgeous graphics, I still have the old demo installed on my PC before the graphics changed. The mechanics are in-depth and enjoyable to learn. I also really like the atmosphere. I adore the models and breeds the Astride devs have introduced, but I feel like they're going to crash and burn. Working on introducing new horse models before establishing proper features seems like a risky move, albeit, I'm no game dev. Unbridled, they're my favourite. Their models and current features may not be the best at the moment, but their developers are active and kind in the community. A sweet little Easter egg in the demo are cat mugs sprinkled around the house. I asked for them. Well, 12 year old me near harassed the devs for them. But they took time out making their game to add cat mugs for a random child on their discord server! Ranch of Rivershine is one of the best horse games I've played, the gameplay can get repetitive but the developer has consistently released quality updates and fulfilled their promise of exciting new features.

[@mokono5331]

God the old footage of Alicia Online hits such a soft spot, i miss that game, especially when i was younger!! I cant wait to see the new port theyve been working on

[@pansy4741]

Thank you Rattle for consistently voicing out loud the problems with horse games and trying to imagine solutions to improve them. Like you said, most of us just want to chill with pixel ponies so we've been used to make do with mediocre projects these last 20 years. It's wholesome to see the community and content creators questioning that and expecting better. I really wish for the passionate devs to be able to launch the games they are striving for, but tbh the general state of horse games rn is pretty bleak.

[@AfterArtist]

I’m currently going to a University that specialises in Video Game creation, and I’ve heard that one of th either students is set on creating a horse game for their final project, the chill that ran down my spine for her😭😭

[@akantiia]

I don't want to see anymore "save the ranch/stable/yard" (whatever you wanna call where horses are kept) games. I'd like to see things like what tales of rein ravine is trying to be (without the usage of ai slop) or read dead redemption but without all the hassle of some numnut running up on to ruin my day (I only have second hand experience with the game, I don't own it)

[@WardenOTN931]

I feel like there should be more polls about updates before they get added. It would create a sense of community in letting the players be heard and devs can know exactly what the players expect. Additionally the only horse game that hasn't let me down is Alicia Online, the fanbase is small but dedicated and so are the devs

[@fantasyfinale6976]

I'm at a point where I just don't trust most projects, especially if a lot of focus is put onto the horse model and nothing else. I haven't played most modern horse games because they're just not fun at all. Everyone sees pretty horses and jumps at funding these games, but what's the point of pretty horses if everything else is an after thought?

[@kitteh3024]

Im so glad I found a horse game KZbinr who understands a wide range of games and not JUST horse games. Having knowledge of what makes games outside our niche successful helps to support and develop your points, while also just making it a lot easier for everyone to understand, even if you aren’t apart of the community

[@crossanddream2]

I've only ever really wanted a game that allowed me to ride and care for a horse, a story is nice and I want that as well. But most horse games I've played the story is completely boring and I just can't bother with the game, or the game doesn't allow players to interact with horses how I want. Such as star stable its a game i like because I liked how I could ride and interact with my horse. And rival stars was a game I just couldn't enjoy, because I could only play on mobile and it honestly got boring pretty quickly. Though their was this one horse game that I absolutely adored as a child and have no memory of what it was called, I only remember the gameplay. Which was to me really fun, and I found the story actually engaging and had me interested. And it was actually one of the only horse game I found where you could buy horses with money you earn in the game, and it was super easy since the horses were quite cheap and you did earn a lot. Though their was one annoying little thing about it, their was one quest that you were required to complete which basically locked you from continuing the story until you did it. Which was basically teaching your horse to go through waterfall and into shallow water. And this did require a lot of money, which wasn't that hard to get since their were still other quests and such that you could do to earn money. But the absolutely worst part of it, I for some reason taught one horse how to go through water and the other how to go through waterfalls. And when I finally realized my mistake, their was nothing I could do since the game immediately saves whever you left off when closing the app. And I honestly didn't have the patience to save up enough money again to teach one of the horses the skill they needed. And I abandoned the game, which I honestly regret because out of the horse games I've played. Which is kinda little, it was and is definitely my 1 one top favorite horse game with horse riding tales second since it honestly reminds me of the game a bit in terms of some of the graphics and gameplay

[@lionmon-ej8qu]

I dont know the whole animal game landscape seems pretty cursed and we got nobody but ourselves and our readiness to throw money at shit to blame... oh and the isle too.

[@js.existingx]

Ayy!!! I love your videos, Rattle! (adding this, ik its only been like 2 weeks but i could wait for a new video lol!)

[@YTRattle]

LOL!! Thanks! ♥

[@Seratu_Gustabu]

The horse game genre is just rage bait

[@fawniiYT]

Rattle, have you ever heard of/played a horse game called Horse Isle 3 Infinite Wilds? :0 it’s definitely an older game with simpler graphics but is actually up there for my personal best horse games! The devs are still continuing to release updates. The community is fairly small but friendly from the people I met in-game so far! (It’s multiplayer-I’m usually not a fan but the map size compared to how many players are online usually makes it to where you are alone most of the time unless at “clubs”) The only downside is it’s fairly grindy and uses a lot of real time waiting for things. It can be sort of hard getting started at first-you have to do a lot figuring things out yourself but the overall gameplay is actually fairly fun! Lots of horse breeds with genes/stats, catching wild horses, exploring different biomes for different horses, working towards purebreds, and loads of other stuff! :D

[@MCP_Blackout]

I am not a horse game fan, but as a Star Citizen supporter I can absolutely relate to the frustration with the developers, the developing process, bad management and especially scope creep (also some shady business tactics). Maybe they'll add space horses some day, then you can be frustrated about Star Citizen with us as well. :P

[@TCGrey]

As a developer myself: read post mortems before you even think about your own game project. PMs are full of mistakes (and things that worked!) made by other developers. You don’t need to make the same mistakes somebody else already has. Sure, making mistakes is an important part of learning. You will make those mistakes regardless of reading/learning about them beforehand, but your mistake would be far more fatal and hurtful for your own game if you didn’t know about them and made adjustments. A video post mortem I can recommend is "The Story of a Failed Dev" by Kurt Indovina.

[@thekitten9777]

Wake up babe, Rattle posted! 🎊

[@longatti]

looks like wildshade was sold and now have a single/multiplayer release for switch, xbox and ps5

[@sandpitturtle3577]

Ohhh, I remember seeing it on the PS store and I genuinely thought it was just a rip-off from the mobile game

[@longatti]

@@sandpitturtle3577 if u open the game on your phone doesnt say tivola anymore, it says trophy games, that's how i found out the switch, xbox and ps5 version

[@Aksiosa]

I'm personally starting to put Tales of Rein Ravine into abandoned category. Maybe it isn't yet,but the dev is radio silent for 3 months now. And i understand not adding stuff,as it's one person team. But just giving a sign of life would be nice. Even just "sorry,a lot going on in my life. Updates will be delayed".

[@drawingwithpaws1189]

She’s back! 🎉🎉

[@xRaptorDog]

I rather not ride the horse. I want to BE the horse

[@seeing8spots]

Im honestly shocked we haven't seen this yet

[@QuicksilverTheElegant]

Now I’m gonna go off on a rant for a bit, but I saw someone mention Horse Life on Roblox in the comments (and I’ve seen it on other videos) in a positive light. Personally, I *despise* Horse Life and I don’t think it’s a good example. Yeah it does things right that most horse games screw up, but it still has major issues. I’ve been playing Sonar Studios’ games for many years at this point, I first played Creatures of Sonaria on day 1 of the OG early access beta, and I’ve started to see that all their games are the same: an extremely boring mobile dress-up game in a trench coat. Horse Life especially is a grind fest with really unfair prices to selling ratio, and every update they did just made me more irritated and bored, such as the unlockable species’ tasks being very tedious and not very rewarding to finish, especially since you pay an arm and a leg for a tiny amount of stable space so it’s not like I can catch the new species anyway. I was tweaking and ready to snap someone’s neck after I spent 3 hours unlocking perytons. I know others are excited for the prospect of a real story but, SS has done mini stories before in their other games for events or a specific world and, they were all just kind of generic to me (I didn’t experience either lore event in CoS so maybe that one is slightly better, I don’t know). Even the characters already existing in Horse Life are boring. Not to mention the toxic freak at the helm that is Erythia but I don’t want to get into a tangent about her. My point is, from my perspective, horse games are still cursed and Horse Life doesn’t change anything. Adios, I will leave you with a direct quote from Erythia when a dev creating a creature survival game on Roblox felt CoS was plagiarizing his game 👋 “It isn’t theft if the game isn’t popular.” -Erythia

[@Aksiosa]

yea,playing the beta was fun! I really liked it. ...until they made you unlock species. It made it so annoying that i completely stopped playing. And after beta ended and i got only a small gift for that,pat on my back,i didn't opened that game again. And tasks for unlocking them are annoying. Unlocking more stalls are annoying. Getting cash is just buying cheap lasso,running around and catching cheap horses and selling them. They only know how to make expensive games about grinding. Nothing more.

[@sneezingowl5560]

Ohhh the rift trails. So many memories, quite a lot of tea. All the stuff that happened behind the scenes...

[@mhtprgt]

The horse games I will forever come back to will always be the Alexandra Ledermann series & Imagine Champion Rider ❤❤

[@Flairfoxy]

I've learned to hold horse games very loose, and not get my hopes up when I hear about a new one. Even it is still a little shocking how badly some of the games sink.

[@DelilahMistfall]

Another amazing vid, Rattle! Thanks once again for sharing!

[@imdrunkmk427]

Can you do a update on SSO's new anti-hack mechanic?? O:

[@YTRattle]

Going to do a What's Happening Horse Games on Wednesday! ♥

[@Foervraengd]

All I want is a game like RDR2 or BOTW with the only difference that I play as a horse. I dont wanna groom a horse or ride a horse I wanna BE THE HORSE.

[@101Asa]

I have an idea for horse game(s) that would be easier. Pick a currently wild breed and have you play as the horse. Avoid capture and if captured, you then have to learn what your human ones, be as tameable or untameable as you wish, be better at and be taught different disciplines, etc. This would limit the horse models, limit breeding and could limit other aspects. Basically Wolfquest but you're a wild mustang or something.

[@paulinawolfnose4240]

Breeding is actually very easy to implement since you only have to "push" data around to make a genetic system happen. I would also not say that Wolfquest is an easy project.

[@101Asa]

@@paulinawolfnose4240 No but it's easier than say Star Stable or other massive equine games Also for breeding, you'd have to see how much breeding you want. Mixed coats or pick a coat or random coat? Mixed breed or pick a breed? Foal models? Etc.

[@paulinawolfnose4240]

​@@101Asa As a side note Wolfquest hits its 10 years of development btw. Breeding does not involve any interaction with a physics engine or complex flocking simulations, collisions, ray casts etc. Depending on how deep you want to go you don't even need complex calculation or algorithms. I would say that a simple genetic sim is well achievable for a beginner. It will unlikely weigh you down if you are doing something as complex as an entire wildlife sim like Wolfquest.

[@101Asa]

@ It would simplify other aspects as well as I said. I just haven't seen any horse games try out the whole feral horse side of things where you aren't the human.

[@Sleipnir800]

Amazing video, thanks Rattle! I'm so anxious about Legends of Khimori. I wanna back it and seeing it succeed so bad but damn, Aesirs background is worrying me. I can't afford to put money into trash, like I did with Horse Tales... 😔

[@Sassafrass95]

1:23 I'm not going to lie when I heard you say this my brain thought you were ripping on TCG Card Shop simulator and I was about ready to bring out my pitchforks XD All is good though you are only talking about a ripoff I haven't heard of until now

[@Mumble785]

I think a lot of people forget that you Really need coding and backend experience to create a multiplayer game as well, which is Extremely difficult for solo devs (esp New ones) to keep up with..because of Security Problems. If you don't know enough about cybersecurity to compete against hackers who want to compromise player info, then developing an MMO solo is Not for you!!

[@caprifastford]

Sso I've got bored, double money, here comes another horse and another

[@mochi.1424]

Rattle, I know you talked about Ropin' Ranch before. Do you plan on making an update video or mentioning it in any videos? It's gotten a lot of updates since you last talked about and I would love for it to get more recognition since it's only being worked on by Red, and her passion for her game deserves so much recognition imo

[@bemtevijoga]

I will never be able to ride a horse (both because of my weight and also because there are no barns here) so I'd like to play horse games, but I can't because there are NO good horse games out there

[@nhendrickson04]

I would kill for a video about all the drama with the Rift Trails.

[@yourpersonalfrenchfryoffical]

I love the sso chat filter ( I can’t say my friends user but me and my friends have figured out how to get illegal stuff through the filter and cause we can’t swear we say cookie batch lmao)

[@SlytherinQueens]

Someone needs to crack and post my horse, and me 2, I beg, i used to have the demo and want the full game so bad. Idc if its just clicking and jumping

[@sworddev5798]

a horse game pack is on the to do list i just got bodged down trying to automate my asset creation process

[@HaughtyToast]

I grow more attached to the horses from Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley than I do to the ones in these kinds of games. Mainly because the horses themselves aren't the main goal but they're there to help you with your goal anyway. They're a companion, not a pet. Same goes for Agro from Shadow of the Colossus or any of the Zelda horses. I think that's the main thing these games mess up. It doesn't have to be a big project with tons of details. It just has to be engaging. Racing and shows are good side activities but I need a reason to be invested. Give me a horse game where I'm given a horse at the start that turns out to be a monster and starts eating the townsfolk or something halfway through the game because I've raised it too well and made it too strong. Make me have to raise a new team of horses to track down my horrible mistake and stop it by any means necessary.

[@HyperFerret93]

If I had infinite time and money, I would make a game where you play as a medieval knight who takes care of his warhorse. I think too many horse games take place in the modern day which makes a lot of them samey. Alas.

[@singularity613]

You nailed it perfectly. Too much focus on realism and not enough on actual substance. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE games with realistic things, like breeding mechanics, looks etc. But that's all horse games seem to be nowadays. In a lot, you just breed for better stats/looks and that's it. The horses are just... there. I feel like we're lacking a lot in terms of horses being their own character. Like in Ghost of Tsushima. Your horse was it's own unique character in the game and the more you play, the deeper the bond became! Epona is another classic horse character, in a game series that's not even about horses as well! I think a lot of horse game devs need to stop being afraid of making a single horse and focusing on story rather than a massive stable and like 30 horses at at time. I want a story. I want unique horses that stand out beyond just a mode of transportation. I want the horse to FEEL alive. And that CAN be accomplished without too much emphasis on making the horse look as realistic as possible. All that said, I am actually quite excited for Legend of Khiimori, purely for it's new take. No sporty warmbloods? No extreme focus on English equestrianism? Not based in modern times? Sign me up! Even with the breeding mechanics, it seems to make sense in the scope of the game. You need different horses for different biomes! I love that! Breeding for a purpose rather than just for looks! So yeah. Too much focus on realism and not enough on just making a unique game.

[@UnaPinata]

At this point I might as well stick to playing Wild Horse Island on Roblox. It may not have the best horse models and it's on roblox, but at least you can breed horses and use them for mario kart style races and won't run away with my dang money.

[@DeadlineG_]

Keep up the good content my fellow Commentator!

[@zippyshuman1464]

The Long Dark is supposedly doing a sequel that will be multiplayer and have horses. I think it won't be out till like 2026-2027 but I'm hyped for that 👀

[@seeing8spots]

Shoutout to Ranch of rivershine for really being solid and regularly worked on. It plays like a full game even now in early access. I still hold out hope for astride even with their fumbled launch. But i fully second wishing devs would stop focusing on multiplayer. Cement a good single player game first and formost. Similairly stop trying for 100% realism is sooo time consuming and dev heavy. Honestly i wish rockstar would just embrace their horse game in rdr2. They could literally just take the fighting out, add some small things (like larger stables, breeds/coats, some jumps maybe and a home you can purchase etc) and basically just slap a new title on rdr2 as a horse game. Like the maps and horse models are already there! So much of the game is already done lol 😆

[@BlinkingTwin]

As far as horse games go I'd lose my mind if they either did a PC port for Derby Owner's Club: World Edition or just straight up made a Derby Owner's Club for the PC. Given how crazy people went for the games in the arcades during it's heyday (hosted tournaments and people willing to spend a lot of money on ebay to buy good horse cards) I'd argue that it'd be perfectly capable of giving Rival Stars a run for their money

[@Mumble785]

Also, I agree that a lot of horse games aren't Necessarily for kids, but I do think that that contributes to the lackluster games we get; regardless of what the audience for horse games *actually* is, people outside of that market assume that the audience is going to be Little Horse Girls, so they are going to make games with kids in mind, which is how you get game mechanics like SSO's. And most AAA game studios Don't make kids games, so they don't market to their perception of that audience. imo that's a big part of the reason why most of the more promising games are being made by people who are In that audience to begin with; they know their audience better than the stereotypes and stigmatization. Any art made for yourself is going to be better than a cash grab made by someone Guessing at the market for it lol. I don't think that games like rdr2 went all in on the horses because they wanted to appeal to equestrians, they made a game about Cowboys. and you Cannot have a game about cowboys without horses, and you can't have a Realistic game about cowboys on horses if the horses act like cars. There were 100% horse girls on that team don't get me wrong, but I don't think that appealing to them was a main focus, call me skeptical. xD overall tho Big agree on like 99% percent of your points here rattle, well said as always!!

[@anonymousclouds2460]

I know this is so off topic, but I’m desperately looking for horse games on console (aside from Red Dead, love it)

[@steampunkwardyn]

Just play on pc.

[@isabellp.5730]

@@steampunkwardyn That's not helpful at all

[@fariahcriss5696]

Releasing this video as the Horse Reality community is actively exploding with drama over an artwork redo is crazy work 😂

[@definitely.ssmart]

What I think horse games lack is planning and preparation for updates. I’m going to make a stupid example: Genshin Impact. Yes. The anime gacha game that refuses to give its characters melanin. Has many flaws, but is VERY consistent with updates, patches being planned MONTHS ahead of release. Compare that to star stable, which adds new stories that are mainly just dialogue once every blue moon inconsistently. ETG promised dressage AT RELEASE but it just kept getting delayed until it was completely scrapped. And my horse bonded spirits… Yeah we dont talk about that. The one thing that I think would really help horsey devs is story based games. One player model, no multiplayer, limited horse options and models. That way you can plan how your game is going to be and just follow a story. TORR did a great job at that. Even the DEMO has me hooked (which for some reason is the only version I can play since as soon as i boot up the steam release my computer screen goes black despite being able to run minecraft on a heavily modded server with texture packs at 100+ fps but that’s a different story lol my problem). Imagine :Champion rider is a great horse game for its era imo, you should check that out

[@candilx7827]

i never really played horse games as a kid, but im really enjoying horse life on roblox at the moment ^-^ considering ranch of rivershine next

[@SILHOUETTED..PHILOSOPHY]

Rein ravine and ranch of rivershine are great! Also i will edit this comment later but so far great video, Rattle!

[@itsnyxiechu]

i just need a horse riding live service mmorpg with UE5 graphics and no micro transactions and i’ll be set for life!

[@CL-lx2pm]

I have a genuine questions for horse game lovers as I'm not quite in the "fandom" as it were, does anybody actually like the "daily grooming," stall mucking, etc in horse games? I see devs flaunting these features (whether the game actually includes them or not) but I don't personally know anyone who would enjoy something that would get *so old so fast.* Sure petting and bonding with a pet is nice, but is something that keeps you from actively playing the game really considered a feature?

[@seeing8spots]

Its pretty polarizing. Personally I'm not a fan unless it's just like a click or two ,(ranch of rivershine does a pretty good job of making it a task but it's quick and easy and you can skip it technically). But I have spoken to people who really enjoy the immersion and roleplay aspect.

[@rachelchayko]

Ever since the early 2000s I always looked for good horse games to play since the idea of playing games that involved my favourite animal interested me. Yet now in 2025 I think I’ve finally given up on trying to find a horse game that will give me something to enjoy. I can understand how difficult it is to create and maintain a game that is albeit a niche market. Despite the amount of horse people around the world that do play games, it is hard to make money off an audience that is predominantly on the younger side who will not be able to pour money into these games. Maybe in the future there will be a good horse game that will not be a money pit, scam, or made by ai and I will gladly play it, but I agree that the state of horse games are just not it. And at this point I cannot even bring myself to care anymore..

[@pidge7219]

Love Ranch of Rivershine ♥ they just released the Azure Coast update

[@marthamaywhovier5962]

Whenever I wanna play a good horse game, I just start up rdr2 💀

[@echidna7970]

I would fix horse games by actually having them finish their games and listen to players requests or advices. I would like to see more Horse game themes becoming more bold and unique varieties. It feels like we are just playing the same games in different fonts. I dont need realism either in both gameplay and art style. I think it would be nice too if horse games stopped putting us on an island jut make the whole world unique to Horses or have a large culture surrounding horses that maybe they are a lesser being or something, make the magic feel more natural to its environment like Alicia Online compared to SSO I feel like if I left Jorvik the Magic leaves me but in Alicia if I left for a different continent it till feel like im in the same world. I I dont mind single player horse game too if they cant make them Multiplayer I dont need MMO type online all the time either but if a certin mount of friends could join i think thats fine, I often like when my BF can join me sometimes but its not a huge importance for me personally. Having a Horse MMO should be left for larger companies who can handle all that. I could probably go on for longer then i have so i'll leave it here😅

[@Kokoismybbyy]

Please make a video on sso and how they handle problems in the game such as glitches and stuff and they don’t work fast!!

[@DissonantSynth]

Apologies for the multiple comments, but I notice you haven't talked about horses in the The Sims games on your channel; specifically, The Sims 3 Pets, and The Sims 4 Horse Ranch. Would probably make for a decent 10-20 minute video.

[@aerkame]

I told you, it's a curse.

[@brandicounsil4015]

Exactly way I like Horse Isle 3. It's free with the option of buying a subscription but if you play long enough and make enough ingame money you can buy the Tokens from other player store to pay for your subscription. And there is no better horse breeding game out there. There are hundreds of different breeds of horses plus donkey's, zebra's, mule's, cow horses ECT. My personal favorite is grade horses which you can breed any color or confirmation. Super complex breeding system. Create or join a club set a store up in the club to sell stuff. Like horses, ingredients, crafting material, crafted stuff, art, and studs, ect. Outside of horses the world graphics aren't great and missions are boring, but the map is never ending and you can build a ranch/ranchs anywhere as long as its 5miles away from club, or become a gold member of that club to build closer. You can also build your own courses and invite player to run it. If the developers where to ever upgrade the landscape graphics in the world plus caves and sky islands. This game would be epic and probably have more player. Tho I think the dev team likes having a small community of play

[@zippyshuman1464]

HI3 has some pretty heavy drama but I agree it's the best free option- for people who like real time based aging at least

[@Lalaam98]

I think we should just give up at this point.

[@spicysalad3013]

it's funny you say "stop trying to make the next rdr2!!" because you have to remember that game had possibly HUNDREDS of people working on it and it still took them AT LEAST SIX YEARS

[@linneaeh2661]

The only reason Astride is stil going is because the programmer they shoose had alot of experince and never worked on any horse games before. Green horse said in livestreams he had to learn basic things like gaits, tack, competitons rules ect when he started. But thanks to that he made the foundation for the game and trained another programmer i also dont think have worked on a horse game before to take over the work when he had to take a step aside for health reasons. Thats why in my opinion horse games should be made by a horse person who dont make weird choices like unrealistic tack, feeding horse bread, weird gaits and an experinced dev who have never worked on a horse game before so they can kinda meet halfway to get the best of both sides. I feel like ETG also got the balanced between realism and good gameplay pretty good at the start, and then their bad communcation and the CEO just made everything go downhill.

[@kerontherun]

I just want one (1) good big offline horse game. Is it so much to ask?

[@Smudge__]

If you want a good “horse game” play Red dead redemption (2 not the first one) THOUGH IT IS RATED MATURE the horses in the game is so magical. If I remember correctly I think they spent a large portion of the game’s money on horse rigging and used actual live horses as models.

[@VeinInthings]

I disagree about the single player aspect. Single player games don't evolve and become boring extremely fast. The problem is that all these developers want to add so many features that don't actually provide interesting content. Being able to change leads or having different jumping mechanics isn't what's going to keep players interested for more than two weeks. I would love to see a very simple multiplayer game that focuses on an in game mechanic that players can do consistently while being able to earn rewards e.g. rdr2 and roles. World building & quests should be the priority, not breeding, customization, riding styles etc. That can come later once they've built a fan base. This is why all these games are so dry and poor. AO is one of the most popular horse games because they polished a consistent feature that allowed players to enjoy the game with friends, and the best part is they weren't making money. Online games have the potential to gain more popularity than any single player game ever will. They just need to focus on the basics and do what sso did when they started, but be better by not getting greedy when the money comes in and actually listen to their player base. I will support a game financially if it can provide a solid concept, multiplayer and a consistent feature. I wouldn't mind limited breeds/coats until the community grows. I would never support a game where I just ride in an arena/empty world while only being able to do different moves/choose how my horse looks. That is more boring than training the full map on sso

[@niniemecanik]

You know Abigail Pinehaven will never let you forget you said Rival Stars is the best, right? 😂

[@RebeccaRavenbird]

I think you should try stepping into the shoes of a game developer for a day Rattle, OR participate in a game jam. I think it would make for interesting content for your channel for you to get your hands really dirty with game development. Women in STEM! I also bring it up because it would be interesting to see your perspective as a female game developer, even if for a month, since if you look up "game dev log" on youtube, you don't see a lot of women making content about making games. I feel like if there was more of a positive market for female game developers, horse games *might* be better. Not to say that men or non-binary people can't also make good horse games, but you mention about target audience: horse games stereotypically reach female audiences, therefore- more female game dev logs, more inspiration for female equestrians to make horse games I started making a game on Roblox. Very, very, very, very, very early development: learning scripting, writing out concepts, and barelyyyy yet touching on modelling. I have no plans for any sort of release, but I just feel like I'd feel a little more motivated if I saw actual detailed dev logs from people like me.

[@AKTA4]

If I had a choice between today's horse games vs old verison horse games, I would prefer the old games... Today's horse games are just... What's the word for this... cringe? I played a lot of the horse games today and I never stayed on them since they don't have enough either 'story' or 'personality'... I don't really care less about horses being brought out so often (SSO), I just rather have something to do that has something to do with the story, I don't care about the graphics that much, I am looking for a damn good horse game with actual story that lasts for a good while. The past horse games I played the most was 'saddle club willowbrook stables', it didn't have great graphics but it was still gave some magical feel to it, you may not get to create your own character (you have to choose either Stevie, Carol or Lisa) but you can create the horse (the horse will still have the same name of either Starlight, Belle or Prancer depending which Saddle Club character you choose), you are sent off to some place in England (I believe) and you are there on a holiday and end up going around the island trying to save the stables, Willowbrook, the characters have their own voice characters when in story missions and meeting people. I would spend hours playing the game, there is even little competitions you can play just for fun. There also "Riding Star" where you just go into competitions and try your best in said competitions, and it had decent graphics; I would play hours on it on either single player or mulitplayer. Today's horse games don't give much character, today's horse games I always end up going back to Alicia Online, cause they do try their best on everything and willing to listen to players and try and deliver, other horse game is mainly just 'Assassin's Creed Odessy', because I like the horse models, sure it's not a horse game but it still has a horse and I would spend hours looking at my horse depending on the skin I get haha I rarely play Rdr2 but I sometimes play it. I don't play Rival Stars anymore mainly since it's no longer a horse racing game like it's basically named for, but I understand they are adding more things to please other players but I brought Rival Stars Racing because it was about horse racing, there's little horse racing games and more general horse games. But like I said, I don't really enjoy most of today's horse games... But I am glad everyone else enjoys the horse games; but most of the horse games aren't in my interest.

[@beatrice1089]

And this is why I just play rdr2 😭

[@Tirel123]

I wish there was more criticism towards tales of rein ravine regarding the use of AI assets. The developer may have made interesting gameplay mechanics, but its an insult to players, artists, and other developers to use Ai generated assets.

[@Aksiosa]

Wait,they used AI assets?

[@Tirel123]

@@Aksiosa Yes, they used genAI to make things like logos in-game

[@foxbiscuit]

khimori and horse tales are the same company??????

[@teleportingtoaster783]

Yay, rattle posted!

[@longatti]

8:36 🤣🤣🤣 i feel ya lol

[@mizzuzu]

awesome video!! :D