Horses; Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom as a game (or how mainstream platforms have NO clue what they are doing sometimes)

VGEsoterica

VGEsoterica

Member
Finally I get to use my very expensive, needlessly long fine art education and college professor of fine art filmmaking and cinema history knowledge :messenger_tears_of_joy: as I've never once seen a game be more wrongly reported on or banned as Horses.

Is it a "fun" experience? No. Does it have challenging content? Yes. Does anything rise to the level of something that should be kept away from audiences? No! It's actually a very meditative game on just how easy it is to convince something about how "right" actions or behaviors are when they know they are inherently wrong. It's just sad that now that is being hidden away on most major platforms.

So if anyone else enjoys cinema history...have fun with it! I cant be the only person to spend seven years obtaining useless fine art degrees!



(I searched and no topic about the content of the game came up but Gaf search always lets me down so if it was started I am sure someone could merge this)
 
We talked about it in another thread. Has the game title in it.

They know why it was banned. Naked kid on shoulders of naked woman of naked horse man or some shit.
 
I kind of wish you'd dive into deeper spoiler territory since I'll probably never get around to playing it

But either way, I had fun watching it! Good video.
 
Arsic said:
They know why it was banned. Naked kid on shoulders of naked woman of naked horse man or some shit.
Click to expand...
It was an early, abandoned concept. There are no kids in Horses.

The game is very tame. The worst things (such as rape and castration) are not shown on screen, and genitals are censored through pixelation. Comparisons to Passolini's Salo are absurd.
 



At a first glance this is very "problematic", censorship bad, let's cry about like the "censorship" in Stellar Blade... . But a movie like this ain't playing/distributed in your mainstream movie theaters by
massive studios either.
So, 🤷 what is stopping these devs from selling this game directly to consumers through their own website for example? (plus the storefronts that have no problem with the game's content)
 
ChorizoPicozo said:



At a first glance this is very "problematic", censorship bad, let's cry about like the "censorship" in Stellar Blade... . But a movie like this ain't playing/distributed in your mainstream movie theaters by
massive studios either.
So, 🤷 what is stopping these devs from selling this game directly to consumers through their own website for example? (plus the storefronts that have no problem with the game's content)
Click to expand...

This. You make artsy shit, even if I consider that art rubbish - fine, but you wouldn't expect such a movie to get massive promo campaign and open on all the screens nationwide. Steam is like your big chain theatre brand.
 
There's like 100 movies every year that are more "extreme" than this quite tame (and quite lame) title.


It's very amateur, has a hamfisted message, and feels like it's trying to ape David Lynch and maybe Ingmar Bergman but infinitely shittier.


It's stupid that it got banned (there's not any extreme gore, there's not any unblurred nudity, there's no children, there's really nothing particularly grotesque that happens. It's just weird) but it also has done nothing to earn the spotlight it's been receiving.
 
Last edited:
This game is absurdly tame compared what vile shit you see in easily accessible movies. I resent the double standard of pearl-clutchers around here and at steam that seem to think a child riding the shoulders of an absurd caricature is somehow going too far. If you want to hold to a standard then make sure its applied to all consumer entertainment, including books and movies.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but the game got banned from Steam for its early concept which featured children & naked adults together. Valve isn't obligated to spend time and re-check it again to learn if it's 'safe' now or is the more/less obvious unacceptable content still there. And the studio shouldn't have continued working on this project if they expected Steam to be their main platform for selling the game.

The entire drama right now is created (with the help of some journos) to have temporary buzz and sell some copies on epic and gog. The game will be forgotten a month from now.
 
Last edited:
First of all, thank you for your videos and threads, OP. I wouldn't become aware of all these interesting and sometimes amazing things if it wasn't for people like you who truly care.

As someone who hasn't played HORSES, yet, but has read 120 days of Sodom back in the day: Tbh I hope the games doesn't contain all of the stuff that's in there. I'm personally having a hard time distinguishing between art and something... different in this work, I get the outrage it caused when it was first released.

Anyways bought a copy on GOG and will eventually come around to try it out some day.

I also think content like this is a rare glimpse at some of the stuff that is really going on being closed doors in real life politics and other circles of power.
 
The big, fundamental difference with games is that the player is forced to make a conscious decision/choice to commit certain actions or not.
That's not the case with other forms of media, where the main decision you have to make is what to watch/read/listen, or continue to.

That's a difference that censors and authorities are still struggling with, and developers,academics and journalists need to acknowledge that difference, especially when comparing games to other forms of media.
 
Citing Salo as an inspiration may be a valid artistic justification, but objectively it too was heavily suppressed at its time of release! So I'm not sure what the lesson is here.

Pasolini was being intentionally confrontational and offensive with his picture, but also had many years of artistic success and credibility to ensure that it would be taken as a serious political statement. These guys, not so much.

When it comes to transgressive works, the difference between high art and low trash most of the time is about (critical) perception only. Its a dangerous thing especially as within gaming the general standard of critical analysis is sophomoric at best, plain moronic at worst.
 
Last edited:
Considering all of the questionable content on Steam, and hentai games out there (and most anime and JRPG depict very young looking characters in a very sexual, revealing way) and that is all ok? But really the problem is Steam and the others won't specifically tell the developers what the issue is.
 
Clear said:
Citing Salo as an inspiration may be a valid artistic justification, but objectively it too was heavily suppressed at its time of release! So I'm not sure what the lesson is here.

Pasolini was being intentionally confrontational and offensive with his picture, but also had many years of artistic success and credibility to ensure that it would be taken as a serious political statement. These guys, not so much.

When it comes to transgressive works, the difference between high art and low trash most of the time is about (critical) perception only. Its a dangerous thing especially as within gaming the general standard of critical analysis is sophomoric at best, plain moronic at worst.
Click to expand...
It's a very hard place to take inspiration from for a game because really what percentage of the potential audience even has seen the media you are referencing? If I wasn't sitting on a pile of debt (MFA) and an education in this shit I'd be sooooo in the dark as to what was going on

So as a "let's make a game" perspective they started in HARD MODE
 
Vlodril said:
Monopolies are good when it's Valve. Oh wait it's not a monopoly they just control the vast majority of the market i forgot.
Click to expand...
What has that got to do with anything? Can you buy the game? Yes
Does using Steam prevent you from buying the game? No
Can you launch the game from Steam?
Yes
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Games with side missions or extra content that are as good as if not better than the main game?
2
66
501
Cyberpunkd replied
GoY director says they didn't want to be violent for the sake of it in the game, even if "in games, you get a lot of pressure just to do it sometimes"
Opinion Game Dev  2
52
386
Gamer_By_Proxy replied
What is your the most anticipated game as of right now?
2 3
103
104
AzekZero replied
What are the most popular fighting game franchises as of now?
16
561
Robb replied
Are Western Devs the worst they have ever been these days or am I just having a bitter old man hot take?
3 4 5 6 7
311
4K
Durin replied
Top Bottom