There are good, moral ideas that are worth being expressed and bad, immoral ideas that are worth being punished for. That’s the philosophy underpinning countless forms of oppression and intolerance, from casual expressions of transphobia and racism to systemic persecution and censorship. Developer Santa Ragione’s Horses explores the psychology of those who perpetuate oppression, putting you in the shoes of a young man hired to help manage a farm full of enslaved people forced to wear horse masks — and it’s been banned from Steam and the Epic Games Store as a result, putting its studio’s future in jeopardy.
The roughly three-hour Horses takes place over two weeks, as young Anselmo is hired as a farmhand at the end of a summer vacation. He’s greeted by the cheerful but unnerving owner of the farm, who takes a liking to Anselmo and assures him that he’ll enjoy the two-week gig. But almost immediately, things take a dark turn. Anselmo is taken to see the “horses,” who turn out to be human beings, stripped naked and forced to wear horse masks, crammed into a tiny enclosure together. With a constantly traumatized look on his face, Anselmo goes about his duties, feeding the horses and tending to a vegetable garden, as events become more shocking and surreal.
