Anyone else disappointed?

[Rattle]

With the amount of hype the creators pushed, calling it the 'best horse game in a life time' my expectations were quite high. The game is... okay? Not great, not terrible, but just that some old middle ground most horse games run on. IDK, I'm going to play some more, but so far it's such a painful disappointment especially after the creators said they are "Significantly raising the bar for what this genre can be"

No idea what they actually raised here.

[Robin]

I'm most spooked by the day 1 dlc(which isn't currently available)
One of the most glaring issues with most other horse games is how horrendously monetized they are. It feels like an early access game to play, and I fear that's because they plan on cutting content for dlcs. Why have more than the current singular horse breed in the game when you can sell all of them as dlc?

There's also almost zero communication from the devs, it's just overall suspicious. I really want to like this game, and I was for the most part enjoying the riding, but with the bugs, the bare-bones character customization, lack of breeds, and overall jank of the controls I just can't help but feel there's something off with this game.

It should have launched early access.

[Rattle]

Originally posted by Robin:

I'm most spooked by the day 1 dlc(which isn't currently available)
One of the most glaring issues with most other horse games is how horrendously monetized they are. It feels like an early access game to play, and I fear that's because they plan on cutting content for dlcs. Why have more than the current singular horse breed in the game when you can sell all of them as dlc?

There's also almost zero communication from the devs, it's just overall suspicious. I really want to like this game, and I was for the most part enjoying the riding, but with the bugs, the bare-bones character customization, lack of breeds, and overall jank of the controls I just can't help but feel there's something off with this game.

It should have launched early access.

Early Access would have been perfect! Don't know why they didn't do that as clearly the game is terrible. EDIT: As it is. Sorry! XD

But still 'raising the bar of the genre' they're having a laugh. The game is almost exactly like Horse Riding Club Adventures, which is a kids game, bar the construction. It's a grind, a long distance running marathon with a lot of bugs, but it is pretty, at least.

I have no idea what they were thinking, tbh.

Early Access would have helped tremendously.

[Rattle]

Originally posted by Robin:

I'm most spooked by the day 1 dlc(which isn't currently available)
One of the most glaring issues with most other horse games is how horrendously monetized they are. It feels like an early access game to play, and I fear that's because they plan on cutting content for dlcs. Why have more than the current singular horse breed in the game when you can sell all of them as dlc?

There's also almost zero communication from the devs, it's just overall suspicious. I really want to like this game, and I was for the most part enjoying the riding, but with the bugs, the bare-bones character customization, lack of breeds, and overall jank of the controls I just can't help but feel there's something off with this game.

It should have launched early access.

Also, lack of communication IS worrying, they're nowhere to be found on this community tab.

[Nigolasy]

I also expected more. The jumping is super trivial and only gets hard through bugs and the clunky movement. For me this feels like this horse racing game (Alicia Online was it called I think?) just with building an estate. The jumping is so unrealistic, often times I jump tripple the distance you are supposed to jump with slightly tapping space and then I barely jump at all the next time. You can't even properly differentiate between far and high jumps and the horse and rider visually glitch through jumps and sneak bars.

This is basically a racing games with a horse cleaning simulator attached...
You don't even have time to bond with your horses, because you just tame a new wild one with better stats. The only horse that will be worth it to bond with is the perfect stat horse I guess. But yeah, great that every horse has it's personality I guess.

The only thing I really like is casually cantering across the landscape and getting my horse dirty within 5 mintues.

[☽Lynx☾]

I must admit this game is generic and the controls are horrible, I never get motion sickness but this game really really made me sick.
Anoter tip is to plug in a controller apparently the game is better then, it just goes to show it's a terrible console version ported to pc, hence why the frames are more or less stuck at 30-60 despite of how good a pc you have.

It really dosn't feel ground breaking other than being a buggy mess and somehow manage to feel like a game from the early 2000's with no originality..
I have heard from testers that it was promised the brushing mechanic wouldn't ruin the coats, but you bet it does they basically pulled a whildshade but instead of paying they won't tell you how to brush or build that washing station!
Gotta love the default shading used from Unreal engine, it's actually really dissapointing.
I like the chill vibes thw game gives me but that motion sickness and races where you feel lonely is only making me stray away from it.

- Also hi Rattle! :3c

[Disteerily]

The devs are definitely lurking in here somewhere, they gave a reply in "[BUG] Black Screen during Breeding" 3 hours ago promising a patch to fix that soon. (Whatever soon means with how Switch is the only one getting the Cob DLC any time recently from that twitter post, which is a bummer.)

They're here! Let's just hope they don't try to monetize every single horse breed with microtransactions, that would be the worst case scenario. A little more transparency from the devs would be appreciated tbqh

[76561199090608905]

I totally agree. I think they could have done wayyy more towards the game. I love how they implemented horse traits and personalities. I like seeing my horses behave certain ways and it's my job to know that. I also do like how they're adding different breeds. But I gotta say the Irish Cob is cute, however I think the animations could've been worked on a bit better. It kinda just looks like an old man walking. And the hooves glide a bit, not actually stomp on the ground.

I also don't like how there is NO fast travel or using the outposts as fast travel points. I'm sorry but I don't wanna haul my ass a whole fat 5 minutes to get to a certain location. Certain manes and tails are glitchy and terrible looking like the fluffy curly ones. I think they should add a lot more freedom too. Like how red dead has a free roam option and has npcs interacting with the world as well. I do not like games that has npcs so dead like. Like take Matteo for example, we see him standing in the same location all the time. What about just add a nice npc path for him where you can see him gardening, sharpening his tools, making some greetings bubbles, even seeing him saw wood. JUST SOMETHING LOL

I really hope that they add more stuff to the game, I also noticed you can't even pick your horses hooves to get that nasty dirty stuff out. I'd like to see us being able to teach our horses tricks, and have some horses who can not be rideable so we can have something to do with them. Also mini ponies like the little cute Shetlands awww, since we can't ride them, add a cool special competition for them and have us do cool and fun tricks with them! It's just the little things that really bring a game together. I love my realism games mmm.

[RosefortheHunter]

Honestly, this game feels less polished than some early access games I have right now, yes brutal but honest. The controls really need work, the camera angle is horrid, also I thought they're more than just racing it does feel like Alicia Online but well... perhaps that game is actually better at this point. It just feels empty and lacking, but I do feel there is potential, just right now it needs work.

[Robin]

Originally posted by RosefortheHunter:

Honestly, this game feels less polished than some early access games I have right now, yes brutal but honest. The controls really need work, the camera angle is horrid, also I thought they're more than just racing it does feel like Alicia Online but well... perhaps that game is actually better at this point. It just feels empty and lacking, but I do feel there is potential, just right now it needs work.

I'm still shocked they didn't release into early access. Reviews would have been significantly less harsh, which I think would have helped with long-term sales. Even if it is 'Feature complete' the state does not feel QA tested, and yeah it is almost more broken than some early access games. But even if they only hammered out most of these awful bugs, balanced things a little more(peppermints are awful), and fixed the camera before release I could have seen it getting mostly positive reviews, if not just positive.

Their next issue to bump that up would have been content and features:
-Seeing our horses roam our estate
-more breeds
-npc actually doing things
-at least some unlock-able fast travel, maybe like three points across the map (our estate, north and west)
-etc

[Yukiko]

I'm disappointed a lot. I know, game development isn't easy but this game was announced as "that horse game with so much new things and features". and what have we now? the game feels like a cheap ea title. I was so exited to play this, for month. I want it for switch, but what I've seen and read about this, sry that's a shame for the 50 Bucks for the physical version. I brought it here and play with a controller so far as I can, now I'm at a point where game breaking bugs comes and I'm leave story quests and waiting, if some was can fixed. it's nice that the DLC included the first week. but nothing works like it should.
what I thought to get: a horse game with complex horse breeds, genetics, some personal buildings on the estate, horses shown on the estate, breeds with different heights (all horses are same high), some feelings for bound with my horses, and so on, playtime for a long time (yes grinding stuff isn't a problem for me, when it make sense)

I'm also disappointed, that there's no fast travel, the ways are too long, and the horses get to fast dusty. we need an option for brushing like feeding while riding, I'm suck to ride back because my horse has a negative bonus, and when I ride again same on the same point. that's senseless and not a good balance. I also realized, that is one! small piano piece sound for the whole game, that's not epic. I play my own soundtrack list on background.

the game has so much potential, I will waiting for patches and grind stuff so long, or play other game.
but at the end, that is not the horse game that was shown in some articles and trailers (imo).

I know that the devs do what they can, that's nice, there are active to solve the problems. not every dev team do this, but my thoughts about this, why is it necessary? testing before launch a game on 3 platforms is what? to much to do? (btw, why isn't the game on xbox?) what is this on last time, so much games launches with a horrible big bag filled with bugs and as a player I'm very frustrated about this.

but, hope dies last 😕

[BeastyBby]

The game feels very bare-bones It is very disappointing, this game could of easily spent another year in development and polishing. I can't even really find myself excited for future updates when
- Theres is a lot of bugs
- the controls are clunky as all hell, esp when dismounted
- Not a lot of customization
- You can't mix match clothing items
- Ive only just started breeding however so far it doesn't seem too exciting...

[ZaraXIV]

I am very disappointed. There was so much hype for this game. However, there is NOTHING to do after completing the quests. The only thing that keeps me playing this is trying to find certain coat colors (buckskin and palomino). But that's it....wish there was more to do. I would love to have seen barrel racing, show jumping, dressage, etc.... Not much clothes or tack to choose from either. ***Spoiler Warning if you keep reading*** I was really hoping and waiting on something to happen after befriending Lilli. Like maybe a new rival? I feel like the story line was so lacking. I don't even know if you can even call it that (a story line). Taming the "Emerald Valley Devil" was very disappointing as well. There was no build up. The horse is suppose to be one of the best in the game and it literally takes 5 minutes to tame the horse....Its a "legendary" horse so I expected more of a challenge and more build up. Also, I would have liked to have seen more "legendary" horses in the game but as far as I can tell there is only the "Emerald Valley Devil". Sugar cubes are difficult to get and I haven't even found gold yet. I get promoting exploration but there really needs to be a fast travel feature in the game. Horses get dirty WAY TO EASY. I feel like I am having to constantly clean my horse. For the most part, I get the same coat colors on horses spawning in the wild so that's boring. I was hoping for more coat color variations. We need more breeds in the game as well. There is only currently three in game: the cob (dlc horse), mixed warmblood, and Selle Francais. Not much variety at all with horse breeds. Plus there is no difference between the mixed warmblood and the selle francais so what's the point in even having two different breeds? I hope the developers listen to our feedback and improve the game in the near future. If not, this game will not stay in my steam library very long.

[varjak_]

Spoilers ahead for the story because I'm gonna discuss it a bit here. This game is so bare-bones. I'm glad the devs seem active and I hope they put in the effort to uplift this game.


The story was absolutely the most disappointing thing about this game.

The generic "get a rescue horse, train it, enter the big competition, win, and now everyone lives happily ever after!" storyline would have been more enjoyable.

Lilli and what development we got with her was nice.
The characters are all distinct and well written imho. The dialogue is nice.
There are genuinely a couple of nice touches here and there don't get me wrong.

But so much is left unexplored. Is this just because they ran out of time, didn't think it was worth it or perhaps worst of all its just laziness? Do they not have a writer on the team or is this all going to be sold to us as DLC?

What's up with the giant horse head mountain, the psuedo-greek ruins everywhere, the castle ruins, why is there a castle gate in elderwoods, whats up with elderwoods in general? Why is the west side of the island blocked off? Why do Lilli's parents seem to have an obsession with mythology (fits in with the ruins, anyone?) that never goes anywhere? What's up with the dubouis homestead, or the hermit in the woods? Why are there so many shipwrecks?

I could go on. My point being is that the story just doesn't GO anywhere. It's just a bunch of vaguely related missions (missions that, tbh feel like a bunch of demo missions strung together) with no real tension or plot arc. Nothing is ever explained. I'm all for environmental storytelling but there's nothing.

All of the 'tutorial' stuff is sidequests. Which I understand why, as to not have the player bogged down with a bunch of mandatory "heres how you do this!" quests but very little is ever explained and you can go through the whole game missing out on key features such as breeding, changing tack, etc.

I just don't understand the decision to have apparently a complete lack of story or worldbuilding beyond "this is an island where people like horses".

[Yukiko]

Originally posted by varjak_:

Spoilers ahead for the story because I'm gonna discuss it a bit here. This game is so bare-bones. I'm glad the devs seem active and I hope they put in the effort to uplift this game.


The story was absolutely the most disappointing thing about this game.

The generic "get a rescue horse, train it, enter the big competition, win, and now everyone lives happily ever after!" storyline would have been more enjoyable.

Lilli and what development we got with her was nice.
The characters are all distinct and well written imho. The dialogue is nice.
There are genuinely a couple of nice touches here and there don't get me wrong.

But so much is left unexplored. Is this just because they ran out of time, didn't think it was worth it or perhaps worst of all its just laziness? Do they not have a writer on the team or is this all going to be sold to us as DLC?

What's up with the giant horse head mountain, the psuedo-greek ruins everywhere, the castle ruins, why is there a castle gate in elderwoods, whats up with elderwoods in general? Why is the west side of the island blocked off? Why do Lilli's parents seem to have an obsession with mythology (fits in with the ruins, anyone?) that never goes anywhere? What's up with the dubouis homestead, or the hermit in the woods? Why are there so many shipwrecks?

I could go on. My point being is that the story just doesn't GO anywhere. It's just a bunch of vaguely related missions (missions that, tbh feel like a bunch of demo missions strung together) with no real tension or plot arc. Nothing is ever explained. I'm all for environmental storytelling but there's nothing.

All of the 'tutorial' stuff is sidequests. Which I understand why, as to not have the player bogged down with a bunch of mandatory "heres how you do this!" quests but very little is ever explained and you can go through the whole game missing out on key features such as breeding, changing tack, etc.

I just don't understand the decision to have apparently a complete lack of story or worldbuilding beyond "this is an island where people like horses".

wow, that's interesting and my disappointment score flipp at the highest point immediately. I thought I can explore all these what you said and whatnus show in trailers. that it's a shame. sounds really we should payed for this things? I'm shocked. 🙁

[RosefortheHunter]

It feels very much incomplete, I am pretty brutal yes but I'm one of those that grew up on horse games like Pippa Funnell I expected something at that level at least but it's missing the mark big time. Like i said before this feels more Early Access than complete.