Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch Critic Reviews

Overall, as Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch joins the ever-growing list of horse games, it's certainly one you should check out for yourself. Is it perfect? No. The bugs are annoying, but hopefully patches will deal with them. Aside from the teething problems, you'll find yourself getting lost in this game as you want to explore every nook and cranny, collect resources, expand your ranch, help the locals, and breed new horses.

If you don’t think the idea of becoming best friends with horses and just hanging out with them on an island sounds fun, you won’t enjoy this game. But if it’s going to tap into that same part of childlike wonder that I felt from the moment I loaded it up and chose my first horse, then it could be for you.

Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch is a sad tale for the much-needed resurgence of equestrian-focused video games. Littered with poor design choices and endless amounts of bugs, every attempt to seep some joy out of the game was hindered. This comes as a shame. The bones of a good game are in there from the exploration of an interconnected world to a good start in both horse gameplay and town management and restoration. Boiling down to more than just a game released too early, Horse Tales also is a game too ambitious for its own good and not what was expected or needed. Take this one out to the pasture, they’re done.

I know that, as a middle-aged man, I’m clearly not the target audience for a game about rebuilding your family estate and bonding with your horse. At the same time, though, I can’t imagine that the people who would be interested in that would want to put up with it, either. Horse Tales plays poorly and performs even worse, and it’s bound to disappoint anyone who picks it up.