Steam Bans Disturbing New Horror Game

Steam has banned a brand new horror game that is coming out soon, and the studio behind it fears it could lead to their doors closing for good. Steam is the most prominent PC gaming platforms out there. Although competitors like Epic Game Store have given Steam a run for its money, the simplicity and accessibility of Valve’s store is largely unmatched. Not only that, but the customer service is tremendous and devices like Steam Deck only create more value in investing in the platform. Massive AAA titles and tiny indie games all have a place on Steam, but recently, there has been some controversy.

Adult-oriented games have had a harder time being published on Steam recently, though what is specifically triggering these games from being published largely remains unclear. On the platform, Valve allows a wide range of games, including pornographic games. There are limitations to this, of course, such as every character having to be a legal adult, but Steam is a lot more freeing for creatives than other platforms. Pornographic games aren’t allowed on Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo, for instance, but Steam has always been viewed as a very open platform. However, there has been a crackdown on a variety of games on Steam, which has baffled some of the people behind it.

New Horror Game, Horses, Banned on Steam; Developer Speaks Out Against Censorship

The latest example of this revolves around a game called Horses, a brand new Italian horror game from indie studio Santa Ragione. The new surreal and disturbing horror game releases next week on December 2nd and is about a man who takes a summer job tending to horses at a farm. However, the “horses” are actually human beings with horse masks. They’re nude, they’re chained up, and there’s all kinds of weird, twisted, almost cult-like things happening on this farm. Needless to say, it’s graphic and unnerving. However, it’s far from the worst thing that would be on Steam.

Studio co-founder Pietro Righi Riva told IGN that Valve banned Horses from Steam about two years ago after submitting an unfinished playable build, per Valve’s standards. Valve never told the team why the game was specifically rejected from the platform, though they have tried to get answers for years to no avail. An automated review made a general reference to not allowing games that put minors in any kind of sexual context, regardless of “grey areas” such as legally aged high schoolers or subtleties.

The team believed the thing that may have flagged the ban on Horses was a scene where a young girl asked to ride one of the “horses”, which are actually human beings in masks. However, the studio changed the scene to make the character an adult woman instead. Riva stressed that nothing about Horses is meant to arouse anyone, even if the content is sometimes sexual in nature, but realized it would be better to remove the younger character from the game.

Despite the studio’s attempts to make adjustments to the game’s content to appease Valve, nothing worked. Valve never specifically told them what needed to be altered and never gave them an opportunity to appeal. It more or less just is what it is at this point. Still, Horses can’t sit around and wait for Steam to change its mind, this is an indie studio with limited funding so the game must release.

As a result, Horses is moving forward with a release on Epic Game Store, GOG, and even Itch.io which has had its own controversy. However, without Steam, Riva fears that the studio will eventually fold, as it won’t have the visibility of the biggest PC gaming platform. As such, the studio has spoken out against Steam for being anti-art, even noting that mature and graphic films are accepted on large platforms like Netflix.

“We are committed to producing challenging, adult storytelling. Horses uses grotesque, subversive imagery to confront power, faith, and violence,” reads a statement from an FAQ. “We reject subjective obscenity standards and believe this kind of moralizing censorship evokes a darker past in which vague notions of “decency” were used to silence artists. Games are an artistic medium and lawful works for adults should remain accessible.

“We respect players enough to present the game as intended and to let adults choose what to play; lawful works should not be made unreachable by a monopolistic storefront’s opaque decisions. Steam publicly downplays human curation in favor of algorithmic sales optimization, yet intervenes with censorship when a game’s artistic vision does not align with what the platform owners considers acceptable art. Steam’s behavior passively shapes which titles developers feel safe creating, pushing preemptive censorship.”

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