HORSE CLUB Ride West

[b]CAN'T DO ARCHERY ON TOUCHPAD![/b] Do NOT buy if you play on a laptop with no external mouse! You WON'T be able to complete the tutorial and thus won't be able to progress in the game! 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 very 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.] If you don't too mind about any of the above, then do give this game a chance, because there are So Many Positives! :D [b]Why should you definitely get this game?[/b] [b]1. Horses are the center of this game - and there are [i]six[/i] of them![/b] Ride them, train them, bond with them. It takes time and progression to unlock all of the horses available, just as in real life: you start with a schoolmaster, and as you improve your riding skill, you get to ride more advanced horses. From the moment you unlock the second horse, you can change which horse you ride at any point in the game, which means you can either stick with your favorite horse for the e

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.