Indie developer Santa Ragione has announced a release date for HORSES, their new first-person horror adventure game.
HORSES is set to launch for Windows PC on December 2nd on virtually every PC store – on GOG, the Epic Games Store, itch.io, and the Humble Store – though its Steam release was banned.
The developer noted the game’s Steam release was reportedly banned with no actual explanation from platform owner Valve. They noted the game “appeared” to depict sexual conduct with a minor, though the developer has adamantly noted everyone in the game is “clearly older than 20 years old.”
Here’s the full wording from Valve:
“After review, we will not be able to ship your game HORSES on Steam. While we strive to ship most titles submitted to us, we found that this title features themes, imagery, or descriptions that we won’t distribute. Regardless of a developer’s intentions with their product, we will not distribute content that appears, in our judgment, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor. While every product submitted is unique, if your product features this representation—even in a subtle way that could be defined as a ‘grey area’—it will be rejected by Steam. For instance, setting your game in a high school but declaring your characters are of legal age would fall into that category and be banned. This app has been banned and cannot be reused. Re-submissions of this app, even with modifications, will not be accepted.”
Santa Ragione was given this notice from Valve back in 2023 when announcing HORSES, and while they’ve been petitioning for some kind of an update or clarification since, they’ve reportedly been left in the dark. Now, they’re moving forward with releasing the game on every other PC store, though Valve is the biggest PC store by far.
“We believe this explanation is deliberately vague and unfounded,” Santa Ragione said. “There are no scenes or characters in the game that fall within that grey area, and we were refused any detail, review, or guidance on what to change or remove.”
Due to not being able to ship the game on Steam, the developer will possibly close up shop after the game ships.
“HORSES was refused by Steam prior to release with no path to appeal,” the developer said. “After launch, we will wind down operations and face a high risk of closing the studio.”
Here’s a new trailer for the game’s release:
