Epic Games has hit again at claims it made “provably incorrect statements” about controversial horror recreation Horses, and as an alternative insisted it was clear with developer Santa Ragione about its incapacity to promote the recreation through the Epic Games Store as deliberate.
Horses, the indie horror recreation banned from each Steam and the Epic Games Store forward of its launch in December 2025, is an indie first-person horror recreation with live-action sequences set in a horse farm. Over the course of 14 days, it “welcomes you into encounters that check your obedience, complicity, and restraint.” The participant experiences “the farm’s unspeakable horrors by means of every day distinctive interactions,” as they need to “stand up to 14 days of spiraling dread as the actuality of the farm unfolds.”
Horses was first banned from Steam two years in the past after the workforce submitted an in-progress prototype. Whereas some suggestions was offered, Santa Ragione insists that no specifics have been shared with the workforce at the time, nor was there a possibility to enchantment. It was banned once more in December as a consequence of its disturbing imagery, and whereas violent and sexual content material is hardly new for both Steam or Epic, Santa Ragione took difficulty with what it deemed to be censorship, calling for “clearer guidelines, clear processes, and significant accountability from close to monopolistic distribution platforms and the methods they implement.”
Quick-forward to this previous weekend, and Santa Ragione posted an announcement refuting Epic VP Steve Allison’s remark that stated “we love [its] studio,” blasting the agency for “refus[ing] to offer particulars supporting their claims,” and accusing Epic of constructing “provably incorrect statements about the recreation’s content material.”
“Epic made provably incorrect statements about the recreation’s content material, refused to offer particulars supporting their claims, and has not shared their claimed AO IARC certificates, which usually features a hyperlink for the developer to enchantment,” the studio posted in response to an interview with Game File. “They don’t ‘love that studio’, they’ve successfully ghosted us.”
“The truth that the recreation doesn’t deserve an AO ranking is obvious from the extensively obtainable full walkthroughs on YouTube and Twitch, in addition to from its distribution on the Humble Store.”
Epic Games, nevertheless, has remained adamant that the recreation violated the Epic Games Store’s Content material Pointers. In an announcement to IGN, Epic Games’ senior communications supervisor, Brian Sharon, stated: “Our workforce performed the recreation and discovered it violated the Epic Games Store’s Content material Pointers, particularly the ‘Inappropriate Content material’ and ‘Hateful or Abusive Content material’ insurance policies.
“We did a secondary verify by filling out the scores questionnaire for the recreation ourselves and the content material bought an Adults Solely (AO) ranking — which we don’t permit on the Store. As a result of this wasn’t an official submission, we do not need a certificates to share with the workforce. We did give the builders context round the insurance policies they violated. Once they appealed, we reviewed the content material once more, and allow them to know the determination was appropriately utilized and will stay in place.”
Regardless of the distribution points, Horses has managed to promote over 18,000 copies. Although that is not sufficient for the writer to fund a brand new recreation, it says it has been in a position to generate $65,000 in web income by mid-December, which was sufficient to repay loans and settle royalties owned to creator Andrea Lucco Borlera. Our personal reviewer gave it a 7/10, calling it “an affecting first-person horror recreation that, regardless of some repetitive duties and signposting points, delivers a harrowing story you gained’t overlook in a rush.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, in addition to a critic, columnist, and advisor with 15+ years expertise working with a few of the world’s greatest gaming websites and publications. She’s additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually Excessive Chaos. Discover her at BlueSky.