Horses is back on the Humble Store: 'After a full review they determined that while the content is heavy, nothing in the game warrants removal'
Original story: The saga of Horses has taken another unexpected twist as the Humble Store, which just a couple days ago affirmed that it would carry the game as a DRM-free download despite its ban on Steam and Epic, has now apparently stopped selling it.
Steam was the first major storefront to refuse to carry Horses, a first-person psychological horror adventure about "the burden of familial trauma and puritan values, the dynamics of totalitarian power, and the ethics of personal responsibility" set on a ranch where nude human beings in horse masks are treated as livestock.
Publisher Santa Ragione said in November that Valve declined to carry Horses because it contained "content that appears, in our judgment, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor." Santa Ragione disputed that characterization, but an appeal was rejected and the ban stands.
The Epic Games Store followed with its own ban on December 1, one day before Horses was set to launch. Which brings us, indirectly, to the Humble Store: In an email sent to PC Gamer following the Epic ban, Santa Ragione said the Humble Store had confirmed that it would continue to carry the game. Humble was initially going to sell Epic store keys for Horses, but with Epic not selling it, Humble was instead offering a DRM-free release for direct download.
Today, however, it's gone: The store page, previously at humblebundle.com/store/horses, has been completely removed from the Humble Store, without warning or explanation. A Santa Ragione rep confirmed with PC Gamer that Humble did have the DRM-free version of Horses up for sale yesterday when the game launched, but said they have no idea why it's gone now. The publisher has reached out to Humble to inquire, but as of now has not received any response.
That leaves Horses available for sale on GOG and Itch.io: Perfectly fine storefronts, but a significant reduction in the game's overall visibility. Making the matter even more frustrating is the fact that Horses is apparently quite good—or at least, it accomplishes what it sets out to do. The content is decidedly uncomfortable but reviews and reactions on social media are largely positive: By all outward appearances (and I haven't played it myself so I can't judge beyond that, but I'm talking about reactions from reputable gaming sites here), Horses is not low-effort, throwaway trash, but rather a game that genuinely seeks to provoke consideration and conversations.
The one upside for Santa Ragione is that the widespread bans may be drawing more attention to Horses than it would have had with a regular, uninterrupted launch, because where it remains available, it's doing quite well: It's currently the top-selling new release on GOG. Frankly, I hope the good old storefront makes a tidy bundle on it.
It's also currently sitting atop the best-selling games chart on Itch.io. (Note that you'll need to have adult content enabled on your Itch.io account in order to see it in the list.)
So that's a little bit of good amidst the bad, at least. I've reached out to the Humble Store for comment and will update if I receive a reply.