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If you’re looking for any specific article, I generally recommend typing “the mane quest” plus your keyword(s) into Google. The Squarespace site search is not always helpful. A full list of all my articles can also be found over here on the Horse Game Database, which is very useful if you want to quickly search all my content!
Horse Isle 3 is an open world online multiplayer game focused on catching wild horses and breeding them for better stats. The game went live in August, after several months of open beta testing.
The decision for the game to get “released” came as a surprise to some players, considering the game’s status: The game’s 3D art and user interface look rough to put it mildly.
Read MoreMost horse-focused games feature brushing your horse and picking its hooves, feeding or combing mane and tail. Unfortunately, many of these horse care minigames quickly grow tedious or even frustrating: let’s take a look at why that is, what developers could do differently, and whether or not horse care mechanics are even necessary to begin with.
Read MoreAfter the less than stellar experience with My Riding Stables, I would likely not have bothered with this game if the publisher hadn’t sent me a review code. Fortunately, Bibi & Tina auf dem Martinshof frustrated me a lot less than My Riding Stables did. Is that enough to make it a decent horse game however or is the bar just incredibly low?
Read MoreThe Mane Quest website was launched on October 23rd 2018, exactly one year ago today. The site started out with 10 articles, many of them much shorter than most that have been published since.
For The Mane Quest’s first anniversary, I want to share some interesting site statistics, tell you all a bit about what this project means to me, and to ask you for your feedback.
Wild Horse’s Valley is somewhat unique among the genre in that you control a herd of wild horses rather than managing a stable or equestrian center. You take the role of the lead stallion in charge of protecting your herd. In the wild, you may encounter dangers or new herd members.
Read MoreGerman developer Caipirinha Games has a new horse game in store in time for this year’s Winter Holidays:
The Unicorn Princess is an open world horse game with a fantasy twist: “Befriend Unica the unicorn while exploring the real world and the world of dreams,” says the promotional material.
Read MoreAfter some teasing and speculation via a Livestream the past weekend, the official Pokemon YouTube Channel has announced a new creature for Pokémon Shield: Galarian Ponyta.
Read MoreSix Ages: Ride Like The Wind is a story-driven strategy game where you lead a clan of horse riders. The game is out on iOS already and will be released on Steam in October 2019.
I’ve had Six Ages on my list of games to review ever since The Mane Quest was launched, because the developers offered me a review copy early on. I’ve finally had a look and realized that I won’t be able to give this game a fair review after all.
Outside of the genre of “horse games”, there are plenty of games in which one or multiple horses are a secondary feature. The horses in games like The Witcher, The Legend of Zelda, Assassin’s Creed or Red Dead Redemption have varying depths of gameplay and serve purposes such as being a means of transport, an important Non-Playable Character or one of many collectible items. Broadly speaking, most implementations of horses in video games fit into one of two categories: Companion Horses and Collectible Horses.
Read MoreIf you’ve been following TMQ for a while, you’ll know that good horse animation is hard to find, and for those of us more gifted in game design or coding than in art, a sprite pack like this can be an incredible ressource.
Read MoreHorse Isle 3: Infinite Wilds has officially gone live on August 25th, after several months of open beta testing.
Unlike its predecessors, Horse Isle 3 is fully 3D, with the exact looks of horses being determined by their stats and genetics. “No two horses look or behave alike!” claims the game’s website.
Read MoreStar Stable Online is a massively multiplayer online role playing game or MMORPG that has been out for almost 8 years. Despite the often underestimated target audience of teenage female PC players, the game is a huge success and continues to grow and improve.
The Mane Quest spoke to SSO Product Owner Nika Bender about the work she and her team do behind the scenes of what is probably the most successful horse game of all time.
Read MoreDash Society is a horse-themed MMO with an ambitious take on artificial horse intelligence. Solo developer UnknownHero writes about his work on the game’s dev blog, with the most recent entry dreaming big about what could be done for horse AI in games.
Read MoreHundreds of people search for terms like “best horse games 2019” and “horse games pc”. I dearly wish I could give these people any wholehearted recommendation where I can call something a genuinely good horse games without caveats about its quality. While I still consider the entire genre in dire need of some innovation and respectable implementation, here is an overview of what is available on each platform:
Read MoreTivola has been making and publishing games since 1995. While their portfolio has always been family-friendly, they have recently put more focus on horse-themed games in particular.
Product Manager Inga Panten invited me to visit Tivola’s offices in Hamburg for a day to get a look behind the scenes.
Read MoreOstwind is a franchise of horse themed books, movies and video games. At their center stand teenage girl Mika and the stallion Ostwind, who form a deep friendship and supernatural bond.
At a glance, Ostwind quickly looks like having the highest production value of any horse game ever made, with its highly detailed environments and promises of a big open world. Does that impression remain after a closer? Find out below.
Read MoreThe Unity Asset Store offers everything from code toolsets, over individually animated character models to complete game projects. The quality of these assets varies drastically, with many being created by hobbyists.
In the case of one particular Horse Animset Pro however, the assets popularity has lead to several games having the same problem: the walk animation is completely wrong.
Read MoreMany horse games set the wrong priorities and get the most basic things wrong about horses. By stark contrast, watching the social media updates of Equestrian The Game has been an absolute delight. The Mane Quest reached out to developer Kavalri Games and found a kindred spirit in the team’s Vice President and Co-Founder Molly Ericson.
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