OBSERVE, the game has TONS OF BUGS, if you're expecting a complete finished game, its nowhere near finished. You've been warned.
I will first state that the game is an RPG game, I have seen a ton of people thinking or hoping this will replace star stable online. DO NOT COMPARE IT TO SSO.
Equinox enhances proper RPG as it should be, where you might have to spend hours to get to a goal or a certain amount of collectables even to upgrade certain things, this means you may have to travel across the map sometimes. If you're not a fan of questing and grinding, do not get the game.
I do understand that the devs probably had the idea of not letting the game be entirely based on the back of a horse back, which i think is great, whatsoever, in the end of the day i still think its rather unrealistic that i can't speak to a NPC while being mounted on the horse.
The story is intriguing, the music in these cutscenes are also intriguing. It kind of drags you in and keep you going because you want to know what happens next, most games miss this today and are usually complete waste of time and slop, this is not.
The landscape is fine, i like the mountainous-ish landscape but i do not enjoy how repetitive the forest is, its somehow too much forest at one place. I don't know if the devs are planning on making the map bigger and opening up to different parts being different biomes but as of rn, it bores me by seeing the absolute same colours everywhere in the middle of the island.
Different sounds, there's no difference between horse hooves on dirt/grass than on asphalt road(??). Such tiny detail, unfortunate they didn't add this before putting it out of early access.
Already fair amount of horse races and one multiplayer activity called "crown chase". I hate the multiplayer activity, mainly because with the harsh movement availability and tight arena, its just not made for this quite yet (regardless of gait used, also really slow to get the horse to speed up or slow down). I hope they add more multiplayer activities and im certain they will, i will regardless bring it up here.
Horse care, im loving the stable. The stable scene where you feed, clean the hooves, and so on reminds of a really old horse game, i do hope the devs have some little idea where they can make the horse care more personal between a rider and their horse, where you actually have to move your mouse or something to brush the horse and clean the hooves.
Already good amount of quests in such short period, literally got nothing to complain about when it comes to this.
User friendly menu / inventory, few horse breeds already available in such short period and an actual level system in place (i haven't checked this out a ton but for now i have not seen any huge rewards from the level system).
MOST IMPORTANT THING:
Don’t have to pay for in-game currency to get special things (like a new horse), you can actually earn them one way or another.
“Riding pass” optional with to earn some in-game currency, it only gives a bit more of what you already get without a “riding pass”.
Optional micro-transactions (you don’t HAVE TO pay anything more than the game itself if you don’t want to).
Can collect materials to upgrade the gear, no need for p2w here (for now, i don't know what the devs are planning).
The game is missing some settings options that are sometimes vital, specially when it comes to motion sickness.
No motion blur disable option.
No FOV option.
No disable shader options (FPS stealer).
I read in the roadmap that there's coming updates to the animations, as they right now are really awful and stiff, but its not a huge deal, i did not expect it to be flawless and neither should anyone else this early on.
The dutch warmblood model is just an eyesore unfortunately, i hope they make this one a tad bit better later on.
Minimal customizable options for your rider right now, im quite sure they will add more face options, hair colours, so on later.
Missing a help section for the game or a codex, this bothered me a ton since it’s a relatively new game and not a ton of information available online yet. (Like a codex giving hints to where one can find certain materials). There could also be other things in this codex, like history or backstory of locations on the island or about characters, it would add a ton to the story.
The in-game phone reveals a ton of things the devs have planned, ex. a text message app. Would be cool to be able to use this with other players or if they use this in the story that you get texts from a NPC.
I need to say this too, the lightning is bad. When you enter a building, it becomes almost black outside the door, the lightning on your character is weird as well, i hope they fix this.
SUMMARY:
Pros:
story is really exciting so far.
Intriguing landscape
Horse care and already several races available, as well as multiplayer activity.
Good amount of quests available
Already a couple horse breeds
User friendly menu / inventory
Not too demanding on pc system (average 50 fps w medium settings)
Level system
Don’t have to pay for in-game currency to get special things (like a new horse), you can actually earn them one way or another.
“Riding pass” optional with to earn some in-game currency, it only gives a bit more of what you already get without a “riding pass”.
Optional micro-transactions (you don’t HAVE TO pay anything more than the game itself if you don’t want to).
Can collect materials to upgrade the gear, no need for p2w here.
Cons:
Several bugs
No motion blur disable option
No FOV
No disable shader options
Shaders can also be improved
Stiff rider animations (some animation update is on its way this year).
Can’t talk to an NPC while being on the horse(??).
Turning the horse, regardless of gait is very very frustrating and slow.
The Dutch warm blood model genuinely could be better.
Lack of customisable options for both horse and rider.
Same type of forest in a huge area, could’ve done more variation to the forest.
Missing a help section for the game, this bothered me a ton since it’s a relatively new game and not a ton of information available online yet. (Like a codex giving hints to where one can find certain materials).
I might update this as the game progresses, but as of now, I will unfortunately state that this game was not ready to leave early access but i am seeing the potential this game can have.
I hope the devs do not decide to abandon this game.
I will regardless recommend the game as its not bad, its just not finished.
