Indie Horror Game Horses Sells 18,000 Copies Despite Steam and Epic Ban

Indie horror game Horses sells 18,000 copies

Horses, the indie horror game banned from both Steam and the Epic Games Store ahead of its launch, has still managed to sell over 18,000 copies, according to publisher Santa Ragione.

The publisher revealed in a press release that the game has generated around $65,000 in net revenue through sales on Itch.io, GOG, and Humble.

This amount was enough to cover royalties owed to creator Andrea Lucco Borlera and repay loans taken out to complete development. However, Santa Ragione admitted that the revenue isn’t sufficient to fund a new project, despite the attention the game’s controversy attracted.

The team explained that while the launch compared favorably to their past Steam releases, the economics of Steam rely heavily on "multi-year long-tail sales" and bundle distribution. “These structural differences are why a strong two-week result on smaller storefronts does not tell us what a full Steam release could have looked like,” Santa Ragione noted in its statement (via IGN).

For those unfamiliar, Horses is a first-person horror game where you play as Anselmo, a young man spending two weeks working on a remote farm. Early on, it's revealed that the "horses" are actually naked humans forced to wear horse masks and treated as livestock—enslaved, dehumanized, and abused. The game explores themes of power dynamics, familial trauma, religious repression, violence, slavery, and personal responsibility through increasingly disturbing events.

Gameplay involves everyday farm tasks that escalate into complicity in horrific acts, with limited player agency in many sequences. It draws comparisons to films like Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salò for its grotesque critique of fascism and abuse.

The game includes extensive content warnings for physical/psychological violence, gore, torture, domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicide, misogyny, and depictions of slavery. Nudity is heavily pixelated/censored, and sexual content is stylized, brief, implied, or off-screen—intended as critique rather than titillation.

Valve banned the game two years ago after reviewing an early prototype. While no specific reasons were shared, the publisher believes Valve objected to a scene where a child rode one of the masked naked human "Horse". That character was later aged up to an adult in the final release, with no underaged individuals present.

Epic Games also blocked the title just 24 hours before launch on December 2, citing violations of its policies on “inappropriate content” and “hateful or abusive content.”

Humble Store briefly delisted the game after post-launch due to ongoing controversy, but reinstated it after review.

In contrast, GOG openly supported it, releasing a statement saying they were “proud to give HORSES a home on GOG, giving players another way to enjoy the game,” and reaffirming their belief that players should have the freedom to choose the experiences that resonate with them.

Reviews are generally favorable but mixed. Some praised for unsettling imagery and thematic ambition, criticized for clumsy storytelling, repetitive tasks, lack of deep moral resolution, and over-reliance on shock. Some outlets (e.g., WIRED, Guardian) argued the controversy overshadowed a merely "fine" or "half-baked" game, not as radical as hyped. Others saw it as a bold (if flawed) art-horror piece pushing boundaries like extreme cinema.

If you're interested in provocative, uncomfortable horror exploring dehumanization, it's available on GOG, the Humble Store, and Itch.io at €4.99/$4.99.