Sound of Horses

I did not play SSO growing up, so reviewing this without the nostalgia lens. On reflection, I have decided to give this game a “not recommended” despite many positives, for one specific reason which I’ll detail in the feedback below! Things to be aware of: - It doesn’t say it anywhere that I could find, but the target audience is young girls. There’s no option as yet to make a male character and I would put the age rating for this at 7-10 years. It would need tweaking to be less hand-holdy and with better written dialogue to make it suitable for older kids and teens. - This game is in early access and made by only two devs. Positives: - Really beautiful, big, well-built world for riding around in. The world is a massive strength and for those who just like to ride around and explore, this is a fantastic game for that. - Aesthetically nice all round. - Very well optimised and smooth to play, especially for an EA game. - Ability to create your own character and horse with customisation options, albeit ones which are limited at the time of writing. It’s clear this is an area the devs are already looking to expand on. - Some nice horse mechanics included, such as swimming and cart pulling. - After a slow start, the main fantasy story is engaging and will capture young imaginations. - Nice balance between filler low-stakes story that help flesh out the world, and the slowly developing grand mystery. - The game is “made with love” and it’s clear to see in the little details, such as NPCs waving to their friends while you drive them about, or making hand gestures when they want you to slow down. - The current price is really good and final price seems fair if all planned chapters are about the length (story-wise) of this one. - Nice music, especially the dramatic score (e.g. when there’s a storm). The horse clippy-clop sounds are really lovely too. - Horse care tasks are quick and easy to complete. - NPCs actually move around the world, which is rare in a horse game and makes the world feel more alive. There’s also wildlife, pets and farm animals moving about. - Simple WASD movement and mouse controls, easy for a child to pick up. - Cozy, cutesie feel, nothing inappropriate or too scary for children in the visuals or story. Why it’s not recommended: The camera is so bad it makes the game frustrating to play, and distracts from the positives. I checked other reviews as the camera issue was coming up a lot, and the only response I’ve seen from the devs is that this style of camera control is “normal in 3D games”. I would encourage the devs to check out Ranch of Rivershine (made by a single dev), Equinox: Homecoming or Legend of Khiimori to see how horse games can better implement camera controls. The issue with the camera in Sound of Horses: it’s slow to flip behind the horse as you take tight turns, making the races frustrating; the right-click mouse control is awkward to use; when you right-click mouse, it zooms in which is distracting and annoying while trying to ride. If the camera alone was fixed, I would change my review to recommended. Other constructive feedback: - The horse moves like a tank and levelling up didn’t bring any noticeable changes. Between that and the terrible camera controls, races were not enjoyable and I frequently collided with objects. - Too many follow quests. The game is VERY hand-holdy and very rarely in the story let me find my own route or take things at my own pace, since I was mostly having to follow other characters about and match pace with them. - The character you mostly follow, Lily, loves going fast. From the very start of the game she makes you charge about at full speed down narrow streets and round tight turns, which is not a gentle way to practice the controls when you aren’t used to them yet. It's also hard to appreciate the gorgeous world the devs have built when you're just trying to keep up with a speed maniac. - Not much incentive to explore because beyond the main story and competitions, there’s nothing else to do. A collection mechanic would go far in this game. - During races with other characters, the other characters very frequently barged into my horse and knocked me off course or slowed me down. This made races frustrating and almost impossible to win. - There’s a lack of purpose behind most tasks, which I think derives from a lack of character development in general and especially of the main character. The main character is basically everyone’s errand girl, but… why? She’s clearly old enough to move to the island without parents, so why does she not have a job? Why is she doing the postman’s job for him?? I would suggest the devs look at Equinox: Homecoming for a better take on the “girl moves back to her home island, gets a horse and runs errands for everyone” storyline and how to make it feel believable and realistic. - [spoiler]The Margot-Walter storyline has some serious issues. Margot’s concern about leaving her family home is legitimate, but she is gaslit as “stubborn”. She’s essentially forcibly evicted through peer pressure… why? Beyond “it’s Walter’s dream” the game never explains to us why it’s so important for the railway to reopen. If it’s my dream to live in someone else’s house, should I harass and get the town to peer pressure them into moving so I can fulfil my dream? This is ridiculous. The real scandal is that the railway company were allowed to build their line through her land in the first place! A more ethical storyline would have been to dismantle the tracks and build them somewhere else, or make Walter a model railway or something.[/spoiler] - Dialogue is clunky and exposition-heavy. - [spoiler]During the missing cat storyline, you only have to look in 3 of the places you’re supposed to check at each location. This makes it feel like your character isn’t really trying, and it doesn’t help when Lily’s dialogue is “let’s give up”. It feels tone deaf.[/spoiler] - The “you hurt your horse” pop up when you accidentally hurl yourself off a cliff is a little alarming. It could maybe do with gentler phrasing for the target audience. - A little thing, but after I picked my horse/character, it bothered me when I got into the game and realised that I'd inadvertently picked an identical horse to Lily's. It annoyed me every time my horse clone had to follow hers about. The option to change your horse appearance (even if by paying) in-game would not go amiss, or alternatively give Lily a unique horse. Overall: Really promising game and one I hope the devs continue to work on. I will happily play the rest of the game if the devs fix the camera, but won’t bother otherwise.

Very beautiful game, just finished running through episode 1. -- I do have a few things I'd like to make points out at. My BIGGEST anger was the fact the NPCs, Lily, Amber or Emily not being a transparent element. I kept being pushed away and out of jumps, body slammed and never felt like I could run the races on my own. The other idea on these if not that is to make Lily faster in races so she's ALWAYS ahead of you and you cannot catch up to her to even be body slammed. Storyline wise, I know Im a tad older than target audience, but I also think that the story line is a bit dramatized. I kept expecting like severe danger due to the suspense and backstory everyone said. The ominous danger. I kept worrying I was going to be jump scared and something actually traumatic would happen. [spoiler] Our horse being so traumatically scared by a ghost sheet just didn't feel like it. Maybe WE needed to be scared more or have it be where WE get injured so we have to find our way back and go on this journey, but Im sure that this will be edited in general :) [/spoiler] I think it'll be fun if eventually the quests do change more into the way SSO has - which I know you guys have been within that team before -- but things like side quests, or markers that trigger the main quest so that you can elongate the 10 days. I think adding in more of a push on clothing as rewards, the ability to dress the character even more things like that won't make it feel as rushed. By the time the "big thing" happens in the end, I was very ready for it because I knew SOMETHING had to happen, but I also felt like 10 days was a bit soon for our main character to experiencing things like that. Just some opinions & tips though! Yall did an amazing job and excited for the other episodes :)

I love your game, I wish I could keep riding in the game and doing the jumping until new stuff comes out in game that be cool, And I hope you guys keep it a single player game those are hard to fine online now a days but I love everything about this game and it works great on my computer. Keep up the good work :)

Just finished Chapter 1 and here are my thoughts Some things that I liked + the main story is interesting and intriguing, and even a little spooky at some moments (the fans of old SSO will likely love it) + the game does have a nostalgic feel, especially the graphics + great attention to detail such as horse getting agitated if you run into obstacles (or trees lol) or graze them, horse getting hurt if you ride over sharp rocks or tracks, and horse taking longer to eat and drink if it's more hungry + the game is very cozy despite the mystery of the story and the ambience is great + the soundtracks are nice + the horse will gradually slow down if you do not encourage it, however I wish it showed somewhere that the horse is about to slow down Some negatives - my biggest issue is the camera movement - it doesn't move fast enough to stay behind the character when you turn, thus making you turn the camera manually but even then when you press the right mouse button to do it, it zooms in for some reason, limiting the field of view. The zooming in thing is annoying to me as I often keep my right mouse button pressed even in games with fast camera movement because I like to shift my view a lot - no consequences for neglecting or hurting your horse. Maybe I just took really good care of it but even when the hunger circle or nervousness circle were full - nothing happened, it just tells you on the screen that your horse is hurt and then it continues to gallop like nothing happened (I understand that it's a kids game but maybe the horse could slow down for a bit each time you hurt it or something like that) - the animations can be a bit stiff and the rider doesn't move with the horse but I don't mind it much except for the horse's butt - why does it move that much and fall like that? Nitpicking - no tutorial or training for jumping and it takes a while to get used to - no tutorial explaining the horse stats and afaik no explanation for them anywhere in the character sheet either (as in how exactly the stats improve your riding and how to increase them) - unless you look through the journal/character sheet, you won't know you can collect your horse by pressing 'shift' to make sharper turns and better jumps - it says nowhere that you can press 'X' to stop instantly/rear (figured it out by poking and messing around) or press 'shift' to switch between running and walking while on foot Neutral points/my wishes for the game = the story is very railroaded, and while it sometimes feels nice to not really think when playing a game, you can't choose what quests to do and only one quest is available at the same time = separate daily quests: like the mail delivery quest - instead of it being the quest you need to do in order to progress the story, it can be a daily task you can do to earn coins = it would be nice if the horse became visibly dirty when the "dirty" circle gets full = would be cool if circles/horse stats were visible all the time and not just when they start to get full so we can track our horses condition better = maybe some more horse breed and coats variations? both upon character creation and for NPCs = I noticed that Tom rides in western tack, it would be awesome to have that tack in the shops in the future Overall I liked this game, and while it needs some improvements, it feels like it's on the right track, and I would totally recommend it!

A cautious recommendation. I love the vibe, it's good for a 10€ game. The characters each have a story and persona. However: 1) I hope they fix the camera control 2) would love if the horse asset was more stylized, with better animations, and most importantly 3) put whoever or whatever is making that chalkboard squeak in the background in jail. It's like my horse's hinges need oiling. Maybe it's just me, but it's driving me nuts :') Overall, very promising, I hope with a little fixing this game can be as amazing as it has potential to be.

Le jeu est SUBLIME. On voyage dans un univers magique, doux, où l'on suit une jolie histoire, simplement et librement. J'aime beaucoup la mécanique de jeu de laisser le cheval boire et manger directement dans l'abreuvoir et l'auge. Lors de l'épisode 1, une histoire calme nous permet de découvrir l'univers dans lequel on peut chevaucher avec d'autres PNJ (ce qui est vraiment adorable, surtout qu'ils vont à une vitesse qui ne nous oblige jamais à nous arrêter pour les attendre comme dans la plupart des jeux), les personnages, commencer à s'attacher à eux. On peut aussi personnaliser son équipement et sa tenue, ce que je trouve vraiment sympa, même si on est plutôt limité en argent, donc on ne peut pas acheter sans bien réfléchir à son choix. Le jeu est très joli, autant au niveau de l'histoire, que du gameplay, que des graphismes, c'est un élan de douceur, et on retrouve avec nostalgie le genre de jeux équestres avec lesquels on a grandi. Les seuls et gros bémols selon moi sont : - La caméra, si on ne touche à rien, la caméra suit un peu trop lentement et lors des virages serrés, elle ne permet pas de voir correctement devant nous (cela peut surprendre à l'arrivée d'un obstacle juste après un virage). On peut diriger la caméra avec le clic droit de la souris, mais sincèrement, je trouve cette option horrible, ça effectue une sorte de zoom qui est très désagréable (j'ai l'habitude des jeux équestres où je maintiens le bouton de souris pour bouger la caméra à ma guise, et de le relâcher régulièrement, ici l'effet de zoom rend cette façon de faire impossible). Et si on garde trop longtemps le bouton droit de la souris enfoncé, allez savoir pourquoi, la caméra fait des siennes (??) On se retrouve à regarder le ciel sans bouger la souris, et à ne plus voir où on va. -La traduction a de gros problème qui nous sortent subitement de l'histoire. Je trouve cela vraiment dommage, je suis sûre qu'il s'agit d'une traduction automatique, et en tant que traductrice, ça me fait vraiment de la peine de voir ce genre de résultat alors qu'il y a tant de traducteurs expérimentés capables de retranscrire la magie et l'émotion d'un jeu. Je recommande tout de même le jeu car malgré ce défaut de caméra, tout le reste est vraiment mignon et cozy, j'ai passé un super moment à jouer à l'épisode 1, et évidemment j'ai hâte de jouer à l'épisode 2 !

Wow. Einfach nur wow. Bei Early Access Spielen bin ich ja oft skeptisch, aber das hier ist wunderschön. Die Grafik, das Verhalten der Pferde, die Steuerung, die Storyline. Wunderschön. Ich habe die erste Episode gerade beendet und wirklich auf die nächste gespannt. Die Episode war einfach wunderschön. Weiter so.

So I will admit the slow pace in the begining bored me a lot it was alot of just random deliverys all over the place but once the story got going i really started to enjoy it. The game world is beautiful and the music is amazing some of the songs i would love to try and dowload they were just amazing. One thing i hate is that it is episode based and i didnt read that before playing other wise i probly would have waited till more came out just cause i hate cliffhangers so much. would deffinetly recomend playing though.

Хочу сказать, что очень приятно удивлена от этого маленького, но очень уютного проекта. Игра напоминает мне старый SSO или Звёздную подкову, которая ещё на дисках продавалась, от этого такая ностальгия. Очень приятно видеть живой мир, животные ходят и при твоём приближении могут двигаться. NPC тоже создают живое окружение в игре, ходят и сопровождают тебя в миссиях. Есть и минусы, но думаю так как игра пока в раннем доступе, всё исправят. А те кто пишет, что графика старая( у вас скорее мышление старое ), SSO тоже графикой не блещет в 2026 году так, но люди всё равно играют. Поэтому ждём крупные обновы и выход из раннего доступа и будет круто.

super jeu, bon rythme, bonne ambiance, bonne mécanique, j'adore les animations et la map doublage des voix très attendus, ce serait cool de pouvoir plus reculer la caméra du cavalier je prie pour qu'on puisse avoir une version multiplayer, ce serait vraiment 100% parfait