HORSE CLUB Ride West

I played all three horse club games. I'm a sucker for horse games, even if often times they are for children. So for what it is, it's alright. I liked the first game a lot. The second, I had many issues and difficulties with and annoyance with the ballon races (I despised them) and the controls were yanky. With the third installment came a lot of improvement, the overall gameplay was much more smoother. The controlls and animations were a lot nicer and less yanky. The cell shading is very pretty. The clothing options were alright, but also confusing to reuse some clothing from the first two, yet also seemingly not all of them. As much as I liked the different horses - and my mistake for buying the game without doing thorough research, but I was heavily disappointed that I no longer had my "own" horse. Genuinely, that's the part I probably hated the most. I loved the other horses, but why can't I have my own? Everyone else has their own. In the past installments I had my own horse. And the games are interconnected are they not? I was a fan of the map. Sort of. Not fully. I got really excited over the knowledge that we could travel back to Lakeside and vice versa. Yet it was straight up only the home area and not the full map with the cafe and hazelwood town, etc. You guys reuse a lot of the assets, as if you couldn't have added the full "lakeside" map with the side games as collectibles like in the "main map". Besides that, I unironically felt like there was a lot of attention and story with Sofia, Lisa and Sarah. But not really with Hannah, who seemingly seems portrayed in the images as the main girl / horse club group leader. I get there was also this nudge to choose them as your partner when riding around and not Hannah. No problem with that, but I ironically noticed that Hannah was oddly enough barely involved in the story compared to them? At least not on purpose it led to me never riding with Hannah. Besides that it felt more like a split group, then the actual "Horse Club". In the other two installments, the games focused much more on all of them going together, etc. I get the technicality part - it was easier, etc. But, come on. Besides that, the side quests were not well managed. Like I'm sorry, but I'd like a "log" for the quests or something to turn them "off". Because unfortunately for me, I came across a bug that affected my whole game. I did the quest that led to the arabian horse at the cacti oasis. No problem there - I get the cutscene that shows the horse. I approach the horse sit up on it. And well, I noticed my quest log bugged. Or at least it telling me to get off the arabian and get to the oasis, but there was nothing I could do at the oasis. And I now own the arabian horse. And have it at the stable, yet I won't get the achievement for getting the arabian - even though later in the story, I got the "all horses" achievement. Anyways, I won't be able to get all the achievements now. Oh and the most important part about this bug - it keeps telling me to get off my horse and get to the oasis in the side quest - meaning I had to play through the game with this stupid "get off the horse" - icon above my head. NPCs behaviour or quests can also be a little funky sometimes. Like what do you mean, someone tells me "let's go to XXX" and then I go that way, only to realise the waypoint shows me towards the npc again, and I have to go to the npc, because I am meant to follow her or talk to her again, even though they already said where to go. Besides the point, that they often times are just too slow, when following, which is another annoyance, which I can live with. Also I noticed, there were barely any other npcs compared to lakeside - the place overall felt very empty. Like pretty map, but even Lakeside felt more alive in the other two games with the immense characters there. Also the blonde snobby girl from the other two games didn't show up here, confused me as to why not. Even at the finale, it was jus

I have mixed feelings about this one, but it isn't really bad. Pro: + the nostalgic feeling + different horses to meet and train + a "secret" horse to find and unlock + open world, kinda + different gaits + actual voice actors Con: - I dislike the artstyle, which is very different from the two other Horse Club games - the horse models look very wonky - the movement also looks off - the story is very short and the side quests are repetitive - I hate, that you can't really care for your horse and especially that you don't even have to put your horse back in the stable or field. It feels like teaching it's okay to just leave the horse where it is. And since this game is funded by the government, there should be at least a little bit of real education there I can't really recommend the game for the little content it is. But I guess it is nice to get at a reduced price. For the horse game girlies: there are and will be better games than this for our niche. :)

What a fantastic game this is! I didn't expect it to be this much fun. The setup differs significantly from the first two installments, and that’s exactly what makes it so good. I was briefly worried it would just boil down to endless back-and-forth riding, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Not a single mission feels like a chore. The story is well thought out, and the side quests are also fun to do. The option to ride different horses is a brilliant idea; I’m really enjoying it. But hey, that’s just my opinion—you don’t have to agree with it, of course, though you’re certainly welcome to. 😉

Cozy and very relaxing horse game!

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The game is amazing!!! so much of nostalgia .. and the grafics are pretty good there a few things that i think is sad .. no firstperson or waypoint when youre exploring the map and the settings of the mouse i had one bug but it wasnt a big deal just went back to the loading screen and the bug was gone but after all i love the game .. feels like i played it back in the day would be perfect if it was on 'SALE'' idk if the game is worth 25 euros but if ya can pay it i would recommend it bc its a great game to play in the evening i hope to see more updates with breeding or first person

[b]CAN'T DO ARCHERY WITH TOUCHPAD![/b] Do [b]NOT[/b] buy if you play on a laptop with no external mouse! You [b]WON'T[/b] be able to complete the tutorial and thus won't be able to progress in the game! [[i]After[/i] the tutorial, archery is optional, so you'll be fine.] Fortunately, I found an external mouse, completed the archery tutorial, and could continue with the game (and write this review), as this game runs perfectly well on a laptop. :) I played plenty more hours than what Steam counter says (and still going strong!), and what can I say? It's [i]very[/i] different from Horse Club Adventures 2, that's for sure! Mostly for the best, but in some aspects... not so much. I do give it a big thumbs up. It's super fun, has lots of charm to it, revolves around horses and riding (and training), provides dozens of hours of content, and gives you the same level of freedom and escapism as (or sometimes more than) HCA2. HOWEVER, if any of the following downsides is a deal-breaker for you (especially if you played Horse Club adventures 2), then maybe you should skip this game: [b]Downsides[/b] [b]1. Can't change key binding[/b] This one is really disappointing and is the reason you must have a mouse for archery quests. I strongly suggest you do the tutorial as fast as you can, so that if the existing key binding doesn't work for you, you can still refund the game. [b]2. Art is not Schleigh-like.[/b] It's not that the art is bad (there's some charm to it) , and now that I'm used to it I sort of like it, but it's nothing like the art of HCA2 and it doesn't look/feel like Schleigh anymore, which is disappointing. [b]3. Diary entries were replaced with a narrator... (Why On EARTH?!)[/b] There are no more charming diary entries like we had in HCA2. This whole game feels like a story that the narrator wrote and you play a character in it, rather than being [i]your own story[/i] at in HCA2. During each day you are free to do the activities that you prefer, and ride/train the horses that you want. But the immersion breaks at the beginning/end of each day when the narrator says something like "the girls rested for the night". [b]4. Dialogue is too long and too slow[/b] The narration is slower, and the dialogue is longer, because the narrator constantly interrupts with what the horses/dog are doing/thinking. It's cute for the first minute, but then it gets tiresome and you find yourself binge-clicking through the dialogue just to get it over with. [b]5. Not much Western...[/b] I'm a western rider (reining and western-trail mainly), and I was excited about western riding coming to Horse Club Adventures. Yet, the emphasis in the tutorial is on show-jumping, and the only Western (at least at the moment) is gymkhana, which we also had in HCA2. Yes, the horses are of western breeds (Quarter, Appaloosa, Paint), and have western saddles, but I was looking for more varied western disciplines. [b]6. Not much of a "club" anymore[/b] You start together as a club, but then you pick which club member you want to hang out with (or you pick none and just ride on your own). There no option to choose to ride together as a club, and there isn't much of the "horse club" spirit as in the previous games, which is really disappointing. [I'm not saying it's bad. It's good that you can ride on your own if you wish to. But if you want to ride with all of the girls together, then tough luck.] [b]7. "Problem Horse" storyline...[/b] This one will be relevant for all the real horse trainers out there. Tom and Nyla are two adults who trained horses for years, and yet they [i]just[/i] can't saddle a particular problem horse (oh no!). But worry not! Teenage you + Sarah will help them, using the [b]dumbest[/b] approach possible, which, with any real horse, would launch you to the ER. [Generally, I'm fine with "teenagers save the day" plotlines (it's HCA after all), but [i]not[/i] when it comes to giving [i]dangerous[/i] advice (and people [i]do[/i] get serious

I did enjoy playing through and recording this game. A lot of the game felt like older horse games, so plenty of nostalgia to go around. It was family friendly with some decent horse facts along with being satisfying in the way the achievement system was set up. All the side quests felt like there was a reason to do them and everything was linked together well. There were some bugs, but nothing game breaking. Some things were a bit awkward with a keyboard and mouse, but even then everything was playable. I did have some trouble figuring out you had to select the song for the guitar mini game in order to start it but even then it was a very simple mistake of understanding on my part. I did feel like some character lore was missing since I hadn't played the first two game and a lot of the main characters carry over, but even then it was easy to pick up on their personalities and who they are to the story. The game is a bit on the shorter end, but still very cozy and something you can play in smaller chunks without feeling lost or overwhelmed with needing to get to a check point so you can save. The only thing that did disappoint me was seeing the AI Generated Content. I wasn't aware it was in the game until I saw the first cutscene and then checked. -MY OPINION- on the matter is that I would like to see the cutscenes and other AI Generated content removed and replaced in the future, not only because of what it is but because the artists have a great art style that gave the game a wonder feel. The cutscenes tried to mimic the style but failed in a way that was a bit jarring to see. I can understand being wary of using splash screens/ drawn in screens though. Still that is my opinion. I would recommend this game to people looking for a cozy horse game, especially if you are looking for one for younger relatives to play that is fully family friendly with easy to use and learn controls.