For years now, Steam has been a (mostly) reliable ally when it comes to providing a platform for talented indie developers and niche genres. From The Ranch of Rivershine to My First Horse: Adventures on Seahorse Island, all the way to big name publishers such as PikPok and Aesir Interactive with Rival Stars: Horse Racing and the highly anticipated Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori respectively, horse games are slowly emerging from many years of drought. But of course, as the saying goes, not all that glitters is gold. Case in point is today’s release: a free-to-play, merge-style puzzle game titled Barn Quest, published by EndlessFun Games.
BARN QUEST: MERGE AND REBUILD
Barn Quest starts off with a very familiar premise. As the new owner of this rundown farm, it will be your job to bring this sprawling establishment back to its former glory, armed with nothing but a dream and a suspiciously bossy cat. Merge items to unlock upgrades that will help you restore every corner of the map, and develop your business skills to build your very own equestrian empire. As you progress through the game, you will meet and care for a herd of horses, each with their own, unique personality and quirks. Promising a “cozy, low-stress world where the biggest emergencies involve wet hooves and missing apple buckets”, Barn Quest might sound fairly appealing to many animal lovers… if it wasn’t for one, glaring detail.
That’s right, folks. We’re talking about microtransactions.
How many premium currencies can you shove in just two screenshots?
Barn Quest © EndlessFun Games
Microtransactions are a contentious topic most of the times, and for good reasons. One one hand, games that are otherwise free, like this one, do need some kind of revenue to stay in business (and, hopefully, trot out some more content along the way). But on the other, it’s not that hard to see through the blatant cash-grabbing attitude put in place by many game studios to make a quick buck off their user base. Readers of The Mane Quest might remember this 2019 review, take one good look at Barn Quest and find virtually no difference whatsoever. From the odd placing of buttons, to the oversized icons and cluttered screen, everything points to a PC port not even trying to hide its mobile roots.
THE PRODIGAL COLT
At this point, you might wonder: is it possible to port a mobile game without this kind of excessive monetization? And the answer is yes, actually! For proof, look no further than the aforementioned Rival Stars: Horse Racing. Released on the App Store and Google Play the 24th of April 2019, the mobile version features several premium currencies, which are completely absent in the desktop release. Instead, the game can be purchased outright, with gold coins becoming the standard tender. And what’s more, PikPok has released tons of new content for both versions, and doesn’t seem ready to stop anytime soon—something that truly deserves to be celebrated.
While remaining faithful to the original mobile layout, Rival Stars actually made strides to adapt its core gameplay loop for PC users.
Rival Stars: Horse Racing © PikPok
Of course, such a long-standing effort wouldn’t have been possible without the success of the mobile version. Rival Stars is also not the only game in PikPok’s lineup: in April, the studio released their newest title, Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days, a side-scrolling shelter survival game set in 1980’s Walton City, Texas, now overrun by a zombie outbreak. We’re obviously talking about a whole different ball game here, but I believe my point still stands.
Furthermore, I would like to point out how googling ‘Barn Quest’ or its developer, EndlessFun Games will yield you pretty much nothing, aside from a website dedicated to gaming services. That is not at all unheard of—many horse games, especially older ones, often end up under inconsistent labels. However, when combined with this particular brand of monetization, it should definitely raise some red flags.
CONCLUSIONS
On a first look, Barn Quest unfortunately appears to be yet another poorly-made PC port designed to draw unsuspecting players towards addictive spending habits. While its premises and graphic presentation might be acceptable on their own merits, the many different currencies and blatant mobile layout doesn’t leave me very optimistic about the overall soundness of gameplay. I will give it a try nonetheless, and hopefully amend my initial judgement, but I’m not holding my breath for that.
In the meanwhile, if you are looking for your next equestrian fix, I sincerely advise you to take advantage of the Steam Summer Fest sales to check out some of the games I’ve mentioned in this article, like The Ranch of Rivershine and Rival Stars: Horse Racing, which I guarantee will be a far better use of your time and money.
Yeah, that doesn’t look good.
Barn Quest © EndlessFun Games
Barn Quest is available to download on Steam.
