The first-person horror game *Horses*, told through the eyes of its protagonist, endured an extraordinary series of setbacks in its release journey, resulting in multiple sudden bans just as it prepared to reach players. Only hours before the highly anticipated launch on December 2nd, the Epic Games Store abruptly removed the title, citing its content policies. The following day, Humble—initially one of the game’s proud distributors—followed suit, pulling the game after only briefly hosting it post-release. The decision left the independent Italian studio Santa Ragione, known for the critically acclaimed *Saturnalia*, both stunned and disheartened. For years, these digital storefronts had been safe havens for the developers, especially after *Horses* had previously been preemptively barred from appearing on Steam. Now, once again, their work found itself displaced, the reasons shrouded in ambiguity.
According to statements from Valve and Epic, *Horses* allegedly violates respective sexual content policies. Yet the developers insist that neither company has been transparent in explaining which part of the game’s narrative or imagery was deemed impermissible. Humble, too, has refrained from offering an official justification for its post-launch ban, adding to the perplexity surrounding the game’s fate. Santa Ragione has publicly maintained that this recurring lack of clarity has left them in a precarious position, threatening the studio’s financial survival. What began as an obscure but promising indie project has, through these controversies, transformed into a focal point in the larger debate about the limits of creative freedom, the interpretation of platform guidelines, and the power imbalance between independent developers and the storefronts that determine their visibility.
The conflict, though it intensified in recent weeks, traces back over two years to the earliest interactions between Santa Ragione and Valve. In an extensive FAQ, the developers revealed that *Horses* had originally been rejected by Steam’s content review team in 2023 without any explicit explanation. Steam, they note, operates under a policy granting it broad discretionary authority to refuse publication without the necessity of detailed feedback. The only statement the developers received was that Valve could not legally distribute *Horses*—a vague assertion that offered no actionable guidance or clarity on potential revisions. This opacity laid the groundwork for years of uncertainty and repeated appeals that ultimately went unanswered.
The game itself places players in the role of a farmhand at a strange ranch where horses are, unsettlingly, human beings who assume equine characteristics. This disturbing premise sets the tone for the uncanny gameplay and morally ambiguous environments that define the experience. Pietro Righi Riva, co-founder of Santa Ragione, explained in an interview with *IGN* that one particular scene might have provoked platform concern. In an early development build, a man and his daughter visit the ranch, and the child expresses a wish to ride one of the so-called ‘horses’—that is, a human wearing a horse mask. The player facilitates this moment, entering an interactive dialogue sequence in which the player leads a naked adult woman, pixelated for modesty, while the girl sits upon her shoulders. Although the developers clarified that the scene was entirely nonsexual, they acknowledged that the imagery could have raised alarm during the review process.
Importantly, Riva explained that this depiction existed only in an early version, submitted at Steam’s request for a playable demonstration needed to secure a ‘Coming Soon’ page. In the finalized version, the younger character was replaced with a woman in her twenties. The decision, Riva said, was artistic as well as pragmatic: the revised character age allowed the scene’s dialogue—focused on the socio-political structures within *Horses’* bizarre world—to resonate more effectively. Despite these modifications, the team’s repeated requests for review and reconsideration of the original ban were systematically rejected. Santa Ragione reports that for two full years, every appeal met with a generic redirect to Steam’s standard content policies, and no pathway to compliance was provided.
Eventually, following renewed publicity around the game’s release plans in late 2023, Valve issued a belated response. In a statement to *GameDeveloper.com*, the company explained that after thoroughly reviewing the submitted build, it conveyed its reasons for declining distribution in accordance with its onboarding rules. Santa Ragione then requested a reevaluation, but Valve’s internal review committee reaffirmed the original decision, closing the issue definitively.
For the independent team behind *Horses*, this outcome had grave financial consequences. Without access to Steam—the dominant hub for PC gaming sales—the project’s commercial viability was severely undermined. The studio explained that publishers and investors often refuse to support titles ineligible for Steam release, viewing them as too risky to fund. Left without institutional backing, Santa Ragione continued development largely through personal investments and the support of friends, aware that the studio’s existence now hinged on the game’s eventual success.
In the interim, the developers pursued alternative distribution platforms such as GOG, Itch.io, Humble, and Epic Games Store. GOG publicly embraced *Horses*, reaffirming its commitment to player choice and creative diversity. Epic appeared to follow suit, approving the build and even preparing the game’s release page. Yet mere hours before the planned launch, Epic unexpectedly withdrew it, citing general prohibitions against inappropriate or Adults Only (AO) content. The timing made the blow sting even more deeply—especially given that the game’s Mature rating (17+) from the ESRB remained featured on its Epic page. Epic offered no clarification when questioned about the discrepancy.
Santa Ragione maintains complete transparency about the disturbing and multifaceted material contained within *Horses*. The official content warning—prominently displayed on the game’s website—lists an array of difficult subjects, including psychological and physical violence, gore, slavery, torture, domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicide, and systemic misogyny. The developers emphasize that all nudity is censored through pixelation and that contentious scenes are intended to provoke thought about societal hierarchies rather than shock for its own sake. Riva reiterated that the controversial scene in question possessed no sexual undertones whatsoever; however, he suspects that the juxtaposition of characters and imagery may have inadvertently triggered moderation algorithms or subjective discomfort among reviewers. What troubles the developers most is not that some platforms might find their content objectionable, but that none have chosen to engage with them in dialogue or provide precise criteria for compliance.
Perhaps most puzzling to the team is Epic’s reversal, since it had approved the final, achievement-ready build more than two weeks prior to the scheduled launch. The decision to ban *Horses* so close to release appeared, in the developers’ eyes, driven more by external pressure or fear of controversy than by a consistent application of guidelines. This sudden shift deepened their frustration, reinforcing the perception that opaque moderation processes and inconsistent enforcement leave small studios vulnerable to unpredictable, even existential, threats.
Despite the formidable challenges, *Horses* remains accessible through limited channels. The handful of reviews published so far have been broadly positive, commending its artistry and psychological depth. Yet for Santa Ragione, critical acclaim alone may not suffice to offset the devastating financial toll of these bans. The studio now faces an uncertain future: burdened by debts to investors and denied access to major markets, it warns that without remarkable sales performance, it could be forced to close. The story of *Horses* thus transcends a single game’s struggle and emerges as a poignant case study in the ongoing conflict between platforms’ authority to filter content and developers’ right to artistic expression—a struggle that continues to define the landscape of independent gaming today.
Sourse: https://www.theverge.com/news/837278/horses-banned-steam-epic-games-store
