Horse Game Updates Recap: Star Equestrian on PC, New Breeds in Rival Stars, and DLCs for Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch
There have been a handful of horse game updates in the past few months that I haven’t managed to cover individually. Let’s recap a few interesting updates and additions, for those of you who have not already heard of them.
Star Equestrian
When I reviewed Star Equestrian last year, I lamented its choice of platform and longed for a PC release. Foxie Ventures has answered my prayers: the free-to-play MMO was released for PC in September 2023.
Unlike Rival Stars, Star Equestrian carries its monetization model over between mobile and desktop, and lets players use the same account to log into both. While I still don’t love Star Equestrian’s lootbox horse model, the big upside of this choice is that players keep their character, progress and unlocked horses when switching between platforms.
From a quick look, the PC version offers the same features as the mobile version, though I haven’t spent a lot of time with the latest version of either. Unlike Foxie’s previous horse game, Horse Riding Tales, the PC port of Star Equestrian has obviously had more care put into it where controls and interface are concerned. There are short cuts for many screens and controlling rider and horse with WASD and mouse is intuitive and fluid.
On my PC, the game also runs very fluently and looks a lot prettier than it did on my old phone back when I initially reviewed it, but your experience with that will of course vary depending on your hardware.
Rival Stars Horse Racing
Rival Stars Horse Racing keeps updating both its mobile version as well as its desktop release, although the former is usually first to receive updates. Recent additions on mobile include the introduction of two new breeds: the Arabian horse and the Selle Français. Previously, RSHR only had one breed in the English Thoroughbred. As of writing, the breeds are only available in the mobile version, but if past updates are any indicator, desktop players should receive the same features with a few months’ delay.
The game has also introduced a new racing mode with Steeplechase, some tweaks to breeding and stats inheritance, and has added a new character and quests to its main story. These updates are available in mobile and PC version already.
I’m not actively playing RSHR at the moment, but I do occasionally return to it and still feel like I’m getting excellent value out of the one-time-purchase Desktop Edition instead of the free-to-play mobile version. Rival Stars retains my utmost appreciation for being a well polished and well working horse game obviously aimed at an adult target audience. That it is doing well enough to keep getting new features and new content is wonderful.
Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch
Disclaimer: I work for Horse Tales developer Aesir Interactive and am therefore not an unbiased observer when it comes to this game.
Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch has received a big patch and two new DLCs in late 2023: The Arabian horse breed is a “cosmetic” update much like the already available Irish Cob. The Foal Care DLC on the other hand adds cute foal models, animations and interactions, as well as a few Western riding outfits.
Releasing these paid DLCs has allowed Aesir to invest additional dev time into updates for all players too:
The free patch 1.1.5. added the much-requested feature that horses actually populate the pastures you build. We’ve also packed in a variety of bugfixes as well as other minor additions such as new outfits, usable hitching posts, and a few balancing adjustments to wild horse genetics and horse dirtiness. Detailed patch notes can be found on Steam, as always.
Other Updates
Apart from the above, Astride and The Ranch of Rivershine are still in Early Access and getting updated occasionally – I recommend reading Steam reviews and update notes to learn more about what these games offer in their current state. I haven’t yet been able to play and review them in depth myself.
All in all, there are definitely more things happening in our little niche than has been the case in many past years, which always brings me a ton of joy to see.
Which of these games are you actively playing? Which do you occasionally return to? Which are you watching from a distance? Let me know in the comments!
Foxie Ventures’ Founder and Director Dineth Abeynayake and Product Manager Steven Ready took some time before the release to show me a preview of what their newest game would offer, and to answer a few questions about Star Equestrian’s development and its future.