Equestrian the Game 4+

I really like the game so far, I just can’t find the dressage courses or vice versa. I’m stuck on the jumping courses.

I was super hyped for this game for a lot of reasons, but one was because of ETG’s beginning statements. As quoted from ETG it was to be “a horse game for equestrians, by equestrians” which put a lot of horse crazy people craving a Good horse game into a whirlwind of excitement…But the logo should actually be “an equestrian game for the rich, by the lazy”. Yikes! Put your pitchforks down, and I’ll explain…

Upon loading into ETG you are met with a red and blue clashing outfit. Beyond your physical body form, you cannot customize the outfit/character at all. This is intentionally done so that you immediately want to spend e-coins and upgrade your outfit…Which would be fine, if a single colour of pixel shirt didn’t cost almost $5 in Real Money! Yes, you heard me, you can get One colour of a pixel shirt in this game…Or a real shirt!! The paywall is obscene, and very pricey. Everything costs 20 e-coins or more, and you do not get very many opportunities to earn these coins outside of buying them with real money. Hurray, a horse game riddled with micro-transactions we can barely afford!! Honestly, just get a real horse and it’ll cost the same (/sarcasm).

They have put a lot of effort into the texture of the pixel clothes, and very little effort into the texture of the game. It clashes. Everything except for the clothing is extremely flat and dull. A fully black horses basically looks like a black blob. There are no muscle definitions, no shine on the coat, no fur texture. It’s a lifeless game, beyond what they want you to spend money on, that is…Because, again, the clothing has great textures!

So because of that, I find gameplay is pretty boring. The scenery is flat, there is zero interaction with the world, and if you so much as brush a bush your horse stops as if its hit a brick wall…It takes away from the immersion of riding. My IRL horse stomps over bushes just fine, thanks. And if you think, “well that’s okay, I’ll just ride in different places to change it up” then jokes on you. Currently there are four or five different places to ride, and that’s it. Don’t get hyped for different competitions either, all of the jumps and scenery is the same there too, aside from the arena and maybe a few different items in front of an obstacle. So if you plan to play a lot, get used to looking at the same things for hours on end. Repetition is this games ultimate goal.

Not only is the gameplay boring but it’s kind of awkward too. There is a disconnect that happens between the controls and the horse, that is affecting many players. It is not clear whether this is a control only issue, a purposeful attempt at making the riding seem difficult, or a glitch. It would be nice to know, as it can be extremely frustrating.

Overall, I am really disappointed in this game. Before global launch ETG could get away with claiming all of my points being attributed to being beta, or unfinished, but as of global launch that feels like a cop out. They have made purposeful choices with an intent to line their pockets, with little regard for their future player base. Unfortunately for ETG, three new horse games are in the works and have shown incredible progress in areas ETG lacks, and promised a lot of things ETG has not. I hope this lights a fire under ETG to do better, because as is, this feels like just another cursed horse game with so much potential, and not enough passion behind it.

this game and its community has been RUINED by the developers negligence and they blamed it on everyone but themselves. YOU THE DEVS are at fault for the fall of YOUR game. I supported it for years before global release, and yet all anyone got in return was rarely a thank you. Any of our criticism was thrown out as toxicity. The game is broken and generally terrible, and the devs even worse.