Sunrise Parabellum Horses Review

Basically, I checked out HORSES mostly because of the whole ban situation. Its removal from major storefronts only intensified my curiosity anbd I'm personally against censorship, especially when it comes to art.. hence I wanted to see for myself what this game was trying to say. And after finishing it (3 hours) I can confidently say that it is truly a unique piece of confrontational art that pushed me into discomfort in a way very few games ever have. It disturbed me, challenged me... but I endured, and it is still lingering even after it ended. For me, this didn't feel like standard horror at all. The terror ccomes actually from the absolute worst disgustang parts of human nature. The game dives straight into taboo topics such as physical and psychological abuse, slavery, torture, sexual assault.. all very heavy themes. It is very graphic and extremely uncomfortable, but to be honnest, I never felt like it was exploiting these ideas for shock value. Furthermore, it comes off neither pornographic nor edgy, everything fely deliberate.. like meant to provoke thought and force the player to confront things most of us would rather avoid. The presentation is cinema, "Chef's kiss" 🤌: the black-and-white palette, total lack of sound, just like an old silent film style. It kinda created a constant sense of claustrophobia for me, and those uncanny close up zooms on faces drained of humanity and mouths made every interaction feel threatening. It is incredible how it was very effective in spite of its visual simplicity. But THE part of HORSES that stayed with me the most wasn't the disturbing imagery.. iot was the choices it pushed me toward... It was weird how being trapped in this oppressive world made me act out of fear or pressure at times, and I caught myself on many occurences doing things that went against my own values simply because I wanted my character to survive. I questioned every interaction, every intention, myself even.. It really feklt the weight of power dynamics and hierarchy in a very visceral way. For me, I believe THIS is the most powerful aspect of the game. It is so powerful ut makes it transcend from simply being a horror game, to become an experience designed to unsettle and deny the comfort of emotional distance Finally, for a game this unconventional, it runs great. The price is cheap, no bugs, no crashes, no getting stuck in the map. It also makes it very clear it doesn't endorse anything it shows: it's portraying horrible things yes, but only to criticize them and not to glorify them. Movies and books tackle topics like this all the time but surprisingly enough, games still get hit harder for it. One smol issue: Objectives can be unclear at times.. leading to some aimless wandering while searching for the right item or trigger. It hurts the pacing a bit but it's not a big deal overall. To conclude, I don't think everyone needs to play HORSES but I do think it deserves recognition for its artistic ambition. Even if it's not something you enjoy, it's hard to deny its intent or its impact. This is less a form of entertainment and more an emotional ordeal that exposes and critiques, and refuses to sanitize the kind of horrors the world too often turns away from. Honestly, I still think banning it was an excessive reaction, especially considering the truly questionable games that still sit on Steam untouched.