Unbridled: That Horse Game

1. Summary

Unbridled is a realistic horse ownership and riding sim, and the reviews are clearly positive. What horse fans praise most is the horses themselves: lifelike models and gaits, small touches like lip licks and twitches, and a hands-on stable routine of grooming, tacking up, feeding and leading horses to pasture. Dozens of reviewers say they ride or own horses, or grew up playing horse games, and some go as far as calling it the best or most realistic horse game they have played. Players also like the relaxed pace and the regular patches, and plenty of reviews end by saying they look forward to the next update.

The catch is how little there is to do. It is the most common complaint, raised in 18% of all reviews and in more than half of the negative ones, often alongside a price that feels high for the amount of game. After the opening quests, players describe a loop of jobs, training and resource gathering, with no competitions or breeding to give a trained horse a purpose. Other frustrations are bugs, slow walking and awkward controls, and a money grind. Striding-based jumping is the one real split: about as many players love counting strides as find it baffling. Many positive reviewers put the thin content down to early access, and some still warn buyers about it.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

Realistic horses, animation and small detailsHigh

The most common praise in the reviews is for how real the horses look and move, raised in 29% of all reviews. Players single out the gaits, the canter lead changes, the way horses react to hugs and scratches, and details such as "the game includes the horses twitches and lip wrinkles" or horses having chestnuts and dapples. A few compare the horses with the ones in Red Dead Redemption 2. Several negative reviewers grant this point before explaining why they still can't recommend the game ("Sure the horses are well-made and highly customizable, the animations are nice, and graphics are generally beautiful. But that's not gameplay.").

Some players call the human models and general graphics dated, and a handful point to a stiff gallop, odd tail physics or horses that don't bend through turns. They mostly treat these as things to polish, not reasons to skip the game.

Hands-on horse care and stable routineMedium

For players who enjoy the game, the daily barn routine is the main draw: grooming, picking all four hooves, carrying tack to the horse, filling hay nets, putting horses out to pasture, using fly masks and rugs, and growing your own feed. Real-life riders and horse owners are especially warm about it, and one lifelong equestrian writes "No being forced to replay competitions a million times to level up your horse." Once players know the routine, the horse management screen lets them skip some of the walking.

A small group finds the care shallow, describing it as pressing E to trigger an animation. A few find carrying tack piece by piece tedious and ask for saved tack sets per horse.

The horse game fans waited years forMedium

Around a tenth of reviews frame Unbridled against the horse game genre as a whole: the best horse game they have played, the game they dreamed of as a child, a modern heir to Let's Ride, Pippa Funnell or Barbie Riding Club. Reviewers compare it favorably with Star Stable, Rival Stars, Ranch of Rivershine and Astride, and adult players value that it is "totally suitable for adults" and has "no infantilizing, embarrassing stereotypes of horses and horse enthusiasts". A few critics turn this around and argue that horse fans grade on a curve because good horse games are so rare (see the player conversation below).

Steady updates and a visible roadmapMedium

A smaller group credits the developers with frequent patches, devlogs, livestreams and a public roadmap. A few players who bought at launch say the game has come a long way since, and one says that after the 0.2.0.0 update they became "OBSESSED". Some reviewers give this as their reason for buying into an unfinished game. The long wait for the next big update is covered under frustrations.

A relaxing, cozy paceMedium

Players describe the game as calming, cozy and good for unwinding after work, with some calling the slow routine a form of ASMR. Several say they happily roleplay a story in their heads while doing chores. One reviewer explains why the loop doesn't bother them: "the grinding is actually fun since its mostly riding horses or grooming them".

Where players are split

Striding-based jumpingMedium

Jumping asks you to time takeoff to your horse's stride using an indicator on the HUD, and the players who discuss it divide roughly evenly. Fans, some of them riders in real life, love that "you have to count strides to jump!!" and call it easy to pick up, hard to master. Others find it unexplained and luck-based: they miss jumps they believe they timed well, fail the same lesson courses over and over, or can't level up jumping at all. One negative reviewer writes "your eyes are just focused on the blinking light" instead of the course. Another player, who recommends the game but can't count strides in real life, says "It feels like being set up for failure."

A few players found their own way through: one realized "I needed to be watching the front legs", and another says a later patch (0.2.1.1) added a more user-friendly option. Requests include an indicator nearer the center of the screen, a clearer tutorial, and an option to turn striding off.

Whether the early access price is fairMedium

Price comes up in roughly 11% of reviews, and opinion leans critical. Those against it say the asking price buys a "demo" with a few quests and nothing to do afterwards, and a few say they refunded. Those defending it say they got dozens of hours of enjoyment, call it fair for the detail on offer, or see it as supporting a small team. A common middle position is to buy it on sale.

Horse and character customizationMedium

Players like the horse creator for its coat colors, markings and detail, and the tack and clothing shops get praise for their variety. The criticism is about limits. Full horse customization requires gold or silver tickets, and the market horses can't be edited. Breeds share one body model, so a Shire looks like a warmblood and "all the horse body types look the same". Requests for different heights, feathering and breed-accurate conformation recur. The rider creator divides people more sharply: some found plenty of options, while others found few face presets, odd proportions and trouble making a masculine character.

The jump course builderLow

Players like being able to design their own showjumping courses in the indoor and outdoor arenas, and some call it a highlight. The same players often criticize the interface (hard camera control, no distance units, no rotation for some jumps), the cost of each jump, and having to rebuild or redecorate courses instead of saving presets.

Resource gathering and craftingLow

Chopping trees, mining ore and foraging at the campground feed the job board and crafting. A few players enjoy it as a background activity. Others say it doesn't belong in a horse game ("Collecting resources not even related to my horses is grinding I could do without.") and describe each harvest as too many clicks for two or three items, with resources that are hard to spot at night.

MultiplayerLow

Some players enjoy riding with friends at the campground. Others say there is little to do together, chat is limited, or that multiplayer should wait until the single-player basics are finished.

What frustrates players

Not much to do yetHigh

18% of all reviews and 57% of negative reviews (27 of 47) say the content runs out fast. After the opening quests, players describe a loop of the same few jobs, training and gathering, with no story, no competitions and nothing to do with a fully trained horse except sell it. Negative reviews put it bluntly: "Sure the game has potential, but potential isn't playable." One player who refunded finished the tutorial and asked "Was that it...?". Many positive reviewers say the same thing more gently ("Very very bare bones atm but what is there is very good.") and recommend the game for its foundation and future. Launch-week reviews also flagged missing basics such as sleeping, skipping the day, pausing and feeding horses; later reviews describe feeding and crop growing as added.

Bugs, getting stuck and lagMedium

About 11% of reviews mention bugs, and several of them put the bugs down to early access. The reports are scattered, each raised by one or a few players: getting stuck in bushes or trapped in a stall by a horse (one player points out there is no unstuck button and "it desperately needs one."), the lead rope coming off while leading, clipping hair and saddle pads, lag when jumping, quests that stay on screen after completion, job boards that stop refreshing, and inventory items vanishing or duplicating. A smaller group reports menus freezing after an update or a crash when going to sleep.

Waiting on breeding, competitions and more disciplinesMedium

Wish lists appear in many positive reviews. Breeding and foals come up most alongside shows or competitions with prize money, followed by dressage, cross-country and western riding. Players present these as the missing purpose for training horses, and a few were confused that perks and quests refer to competitions that don't exist yet.

Slow movement, awkward controls and cameraMedium

Around 7% of reviews complain about controls, and a few more ask for a first-person view. A few players say the character walks and runs slowly ("My character moves like they're walking or running through quick sand."), and some object to changing gaits with Shift and Ctrl: "quite why you have to use Shift and CTRL to speed up and slow down while riding is beyond me". Other complaints cover a clunky camera, menus that don't close with Escape, a confusing hotbar, and controller support that some found only works after manual mapping. A few players defend the controls as intuitive once rebound.

The money grindMedium

About 6% of reviews say earning money is too slow for what things cost: jobs pay a few hundred, a custom horse costs thousands, and individual jumps and tack add up. One negative review says that by the time you can afford everything "every day is the same", and another says training any stat other than jumping is a slog. A smaller group says the grind is fine or that money comes easily through the job board.

A small, quiet worldLow

Players describe the maps as small and walled off by invisible barriers and fences, the town as pretty but lifeless, and the farm as lonely. Requests include more NPCs, more shops, wildlife, longer trail rides and the ability to ride between locations.

Tutorials that leave players guessingLow

Some players found the onboarding clear, but others say the tutorial skips key systems: how striding works, how to garden, how the course designer works, that jobs exist in town, or what to do once the quests end. One player still didn't know, after a long stretch of play, whether horses can be sold.

The game won't start for some playersLow

A small but steady group, spread from launch through 2026, couldn't play at all: a "fatal error" after character creation or the first cutscene, a black screen, or an apply button that wouldn't work in the creator. A couple of them say they asked for a refund. These reports make up 8 of the 47 negative reviews.

A long wait between big updatesLow

By the first half of 2026, some players who had praised the update pace started asking for the next big update. A negative review in August 2026 says the promised update was postponed twice and "now it's been almost 11 months without update", and others ask the developers to hurry or hope they deliver what they promised.

3. The player conversation

The tone is warm and often protective. Many positive reviews remind readers that the game is in early access before anyone raises a complaint, and a couple argue with negative reviewers directly. A few negative reviewers answer that horse fans have low standards after years of weak horse games, and that potential should not be graded as content. Both sides largely agree on the facts: the horses are excellent and there isn't much to do. They disagree on whether that is worth paying for before the game is finished.

Who raises what follows a clear pattern. Players who left within the first two hours tend to write about launch failures, the price, the empty world, the rider creator and controller support. Players with dozens or hundreds of hours write about the grind, training stats, gathering, the course builder and long wish lists for breeding and competitions. A noticeable share of reviewers identify as real-life riders or horse owners, and they judge the game on horse details (striding, tack, breed accuracy) that other players rarely mention.

Sentiment was lowest at launch. Launch week drew the most reviews of any week, 73% of them positive (36 of 49), with complaints about missing sleep, feeding and quests and a price that felt high for a near-empty game. From March through December 2025, reviews ran 89% positive (149 of 167) as updates added crops, feeding and more jobs. In 2026 they stayed close to that at 86% (85 of 99), while the talk shifted toward waiting for the next big update and the features it promised.

4. What the developers could do

1. Ship the promised breeding and competitions. Thin content is the main reason players vote no, and players keep asking for a purpose for their trained horses beyond selling them.
2. Add an unstuck option and fix collision traps. Players describe getting stuck in bushes and stalls with no way out but quitting, and others report the lead coming off and clipping.
3. Speed up walking and rework riding controls. A few players call movement painfully slow, and others ask for gait changes on standard movement keys, a smoother camera and full controller support in menus.
4. Rebalance income against prices. Players who raise the money grind point to costly jumps, tack and custom horses, and suggest higher job pay, prize money from competitions or cheaper basic jumps.
5. Make striding learnable for non-riders. Roughly half the players who discuss jumping find it opaque, and they ask for an explanation of the timing, an indicator near the center of the screen or an optional assist.
6. Fix the startup fatal error. Players who never got past character creation or the first cutscene account for 8 of the 47 negative reviews.
7. Expand tutorials for jobs, gardening and the course builder. Players describe learning key systems through YouTube or guesswork, including where jobs are and whether horses can be sold.
8. Give breeds their own body models and sizes. Riders notice that drafts, ponies and warmbloods share one model, and breed-accurate horses are a recurring request among riders and horse owners.