Horror game Horses has been banned from sale – but is it as controversial as you’d think?

Pulled by Steam and Epic Games Store, indie horror Horses shook up the industry before it was even released. Now it’s out, all the drama surrounding it seems superfluous

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n 25 November, award-winning Italian developer Santa Ragione, responsible for acclaimed titles such as MirrorMoon EP and Saturnalia, revealed that its latest project, Horses, had been banned from Steam - the largest digital store for PC games. A week later, another popular storefront, Epic Games Store, also pulled Horses, right before its 2 December launch date. The game was also briefly removed from the Humble Store, but was reinstated a day later.

The controversy has helped the game rocket to the top of the digital stores that are selling it, namely itch.io and GOG. But the question remains – why was it banned? Horses certainly delves into some intensely controversial topics (a content warning at the start details, “physical violence, psychological abuse, gory imagery, depiction of slavery, physical and psychological torture, domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicide, and misogyny”) and is upsetting and unnerving.

The plot is fairly simple, though it turns dark fast. You play as Anselmo, a 20-year-old Italian man sent to spend the summer working on a farm to build character. It’s revealed almost immediately (so fast in fact, that I let out a surprised “Ha!”) that the farm Anselmo has been sent to is not a normal one. The “horses” held there are not actually horses, but nude humans wearing horse heads that appear to be permanently affixed.