Horror game Horses has been banned from sale but is it as controversial as you'd think?

"On 25 November, award-winning Italian developer Santa Ragione, responsible for acclaimed titles such as MirrorMoon EP and Saturnalia, revealed that its latest project, Horses, had been banned from Steam - the largest digital store for PC games. A week later, another popular storefront, Epic Games Store, also pulled Horses, right before its 2 December launch date. The game was also briefly removed from the Humble Store, but was reinstated a day later."

"The controversy has helped the game rocket to the top of the digital stores that are selling it, namely itch.io and GOG. But the question remains why was it banned? Horses certainly delves into some intensely controversial topics (a content warning at the start details, physical violence, psychological abuse, gory imagery, depiction of slavery, physical and psychological torture, domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicide, and misogyny) and is upsetting and unnerving."

"The plot is fairly simple, though it turns dark fast. You play as Anselmo, a 20-year-old Italian man sent to spend the summer working on a farm to build character. It's revealed almost immediately (so fast in fact, that I let out a surprised Ha!) that the farm Anselmo has been sent to is not a normal one. The horses held there are not actually horses, but nude humans wearing horse heads that appear to be permanently affixed."

Horses was removed from Steam and Epic Games Store around its planned launch and was briefly pulled from the Humble Store before reinstatement. The removals helped the game climb sales charts on itch.io and GOG. The game carries a prominent content warning listing physical violence, psychological abuse, gory imagery, slavery, torture, domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicide and misogyny. Players control Anselmo, a 20-year-old sent to work on a farm where the 'horses' are nude humans wearing permanent horse heads. Gameplay mixes slow, menial chores with disturbing tasks and unsettling imagery; crude graphics often blunt explicit detail.

Read at www.theguardian.com