HORSES is a deeply unsettling indie horror game that appears to have plenty of violence and sexual content, even visible in its fifty-four-second trailer from two years ago. However, is that enough to get it banned from Steam? Developer Santa Ragione doesn’t think so.
Two years after the announcement for HORSES, the game is finally coming in just a month. But over the last two years, Santa Ragione has been attempting to find out why the game has not been allowed on Steam and has allegedly not been given any straight answers from Valve.
According to developers, the team has been requesting clarification since 2023, but Valve has repeatedly sent them Steam’s guidelines. Which don’t really hold the answer.
Is HORSES breaking Steam’s guidelines?
Steam recently became stricter with its mature and inappropriate content. However, HORSES has been banned far before these new policies came into play. Either way, does HORSES break these stricter guidelines?
Apparently, Steam believes that HORSES “depicts sexual conduct involving a minor.” This is something that Pietro Righi Riva has denied. In an interview with IGN, he explained that all of the characters in the game are over 20 years old and there is no pornographic content. There is a scene that was submitted to Steam that had a naked adult woman with a young girl on her shoulders, but it’s not sexual, Riva emphasized.
Of course, HORSES is full of jarring imagery like this. But is it a bannable offense to be, well, disturbing?
“HORSES uses grotesque, subversive imagery to confront power, faith, and violence. We reject subjective obscenity standards and believe this kind of moralizing censorship evokes a darker past in which vague notions of ‘decency’ were used to silence artists,” developers recently wrote.
“Games are an artistic medium and lawful works for adults should remain accessible. We respect players enough to present the game as intended and to let adults choose what to play; lawful works should not be made unreachable by a monopolistic storefront’s opaque decisions. Steam publicly downplays human curation in favor of algorithmic sales optimization, yet intervenes with censorship when a game’s artistic vision does not align with what the platform owners consider acceptable art.
“Steam’s behavior passively shapes which titles developers feel safe creating, pushing preemptive censorship.”
In other words, is Steam censoring important issues because they make people feel uncomfortable? Or is this a black and white case of showing inappropriate images with a minor, which goes against Steam’s guidelines?
HORSES developers shared the full text from Steam’s review back in 2023, which states:
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.
The devs behind HORSES have found this to be “deliberately vague and unfounded.” Since Steam refused to give specific examples of scenes that broke the rules, they’ve continued to stick to their guns on this matter.
“The game is not pornographic,” devs wrote. “While it does contain some sexual elements, the intent is never to arouse. It uses challenging, unconventional material to encourage discussion. It invites players to examine why something feels the way it does, what it says about the characters and systems at work, and where their limits lie.
“It is about tension, not erotic content. (We apologize if we got your hopes up for horse porn.)”
I can safely say I did not want that.
HORSES studio may be in trouble after Steam ban
Not being released on Steam did more than deny us of disturbing images of horses. According to Santa Ragione, the studio was not able to find an external supporting publisher or partner to help fund the game “as no one in the industry considers an indie game that cannot be released on Steam to be viable.”
For the past two years, developers have been desperately searching for private funding and other ways to support the game. Unfortunately, the initial $50,000 investment and a lack of consistent help has left the studio in an unsustainable financial situation.
The only solution? The game makes up for the money spent on its development.
Do I think that HORSES will make back the money? Not really. It’s a three-hour game full of strange and disturbing visuals that seems to only be gaining traction due to this drama with Steam. The game has good reviews, but that doesn’t mean it’s the kind of experience that most mainstream gamers are looking for.
In the past, Santa Ragione had another game taken off the Apple Store due to low downloads and a lack of updates. Apple even called Wheels of Aurelia “obsolete.” The indie community accused Apple of “gatekeeping” by making it impossible for indie games to meet the requirements necessary to stay listed.
It seems like Santa Ragione is always in a predicament that shines light on the struggles of indie game publishers (REAL indie game publishers, not the ones nominated at the Game Awards 2025). It’s a noble cause and offers interesting insight into the indie gaming space, like the fight for freedom of expression and silencing of art and whatever else.
But are you actually going to play a game full of naked horse people? Let’s see come December.
The post HORSES’ doomed release following Steam ban shines light on indie struggles, but it won’t save the game appeared first on The Escapist.