Horses of Hoofprint Bay — Demo Review & First Impressions

Since its reveal, in November of last year, few modern horse games can count on a more enthusiastic reception than Horses of Hoofprint Bay. Developed by Theresa Thoma and Anna Glinsmann, with The Mane Quest as publisher, this stable management title went straight to the heart of the equestrian gaming world for its charming art style, grounded gameplay and community-driven inception. Under its tried and tested premises lies a quintessential issue with the genre: is it possible to appeal to both a grown audience seeking to recapture the feelings of their childhood, and leave the door open for a new generation to join in on the fun?

Nostalgia is a powerful force, as my excitement for Giddy Up might suggest. Who hasn’t dreamed of making the ‘perfect’ game and right everything the industry gets wrong? Alice Ruppert expands on this in her own article announcing Horses of Hoofprint Bay, aiming for a “very classic take on the horse game formula”, but full of heart, passion and care— the kind that only a team made up of horse lovers can provide. With Horse Fest just around the corner, let’s check in with Thogli Studios to see if these promises have been fulfilled!

HORSES OF HOOFPRINT BAY: FIRST STEPS 

The story of Horses of Hoofprint Bay starts out rather unceremoniously. We are dropped on a ferry ride, ready to begin a new life. Our trusted mare is safe and sound in the cargo hold, waiting for us to land. This first part offers our first glimpses into what Thogli Studios brings to the table in terms of innovation. For starters, the character model is pretty much androgynous, with the name choice being the most overt indication of gender. Haircuts and clothes are similarly interchangeable, with the added bonus of looking like real stable wear. Details perhaps unremarkable on their own, but who do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to immersion.

How to make character choice and exposition look natural.
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

Once on solid ground, the game hands us the reins. After picking a starter horse, we’ll have to take a short hike to our new home. The controls are pretty straightforward—WASD and arrow keys for moving, Space Bar for jumping and changing routes while on the trails, making for an accessible core gameplay loop. This will come in handy very soon, as we are introduced to the fundamentals of horse care.

BARN, SWEET BARN

Our starter barn will provide us with nothing but the bare necessities. We have our House, which is actually an old trailer, and a rickety shed and mud lot serving as the Stables. Every day we must clear the lot from waste, feed, water and groom our horse(s), to prevent disease and injuries. The game offers a comprehensive list of ailments, each with their appropriate treatment plan. Indeed, the first few minutes make abundantly clear that, in order to become a good trainer, we must read—a lot! Thankfully, the player’s own Library will get progressively more well-stocked of books which, aside from explaining most of the game’s systems, also provide a basic learning guide to the horse world.

I just know Alice was waiting for this moment to vent her pent-up frustrations about My Riding Stables.
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

Finally, there’s training. In Horses of Hoofprint Bay, our steed relies on Strength and Endurance, determining how long and fast they can run, and how well can they replenish their energy even during high-stake rides. However, each horse has a set potential, which caps their progress in competitions. Horses also have an Activity meter, which fills up the more they are worked throughout the day. Once it reaches a set level, which increases slowly with training, the horse becomes overworked, and more exposed to sickness.

Finally, we have Morale, which gauges our relationship with the horse. When it’s too low, our steed will be slower to pick up our cues, and may even stop abruptly mid-training. Morale can be increased by successfully completing training exercises, feeding the horse some tasty treats and generally taking good care of them—a paramount tenet of making good business in the horse world.

Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

LET’S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS

With no story beats to drive the plot forward, progression is dictated by objectives. New goals can be unlocked on specific days or after completing previous ones, rewarding the player with money upon completion—which turns out to be quite helpful in the early stages. Indeed, while small, our newly-established business will require our full attention from the start. Buildings have running costs, expansions are far from cheap, and the horses must be fed and cared for every day. From the Office we can get a detailed overview of all our current expenses, as well as ways we can grow our meager bank account. At this stage, we have three options: winning competions, giving lessons and taking up boarders.

SHOWJUMPING 101

At the moment, Horses of Hoofprint Bay features showjumping as its only discipline. To enter a competition, the player must build a Parking Lot, so they can trailer their horse(s) off to the show grounds. However, you must first earn your competition license, by completing the appropriate training courses in the Riding Arena. Competitions are open on any day, and require you to pay an entry fee. You also cannot ‘jump’ from one level to the next without placing or winning in your current class. This will also require you to buy a new horse fairly soon, as your starter mare cannot reach high enough mastery to win the Medium level.

Jumping relies on getting a good eye for the distance, rather than having a dedicated ‘take off’ zone.
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

One thing that I’ve found particularly endearing about the game is the jumps design. Once again, Horses of Hoofprint Bay keeps true to its premises by taking the creative road: when training at home, jumps are barely more than wooden poles resting over dismissed car tires and old brooms, suggesting they were put together with things our character found at the yard upon moving in. Much like the ferry scene, this is another nice bit of immersion, which also serves to reinforce the game’s overall feel. You can be a perfectly good trainer even when your  jumps aren’t made out of pristine bars coming from an expensive saddlery. You are enough, and that’s okay.

A Medium level course, showcasing our makeshift jumps and the Riding Arena.
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

LESSONS 101

While showing is nice and good, your main source of income at the beginning are riding lessons. These are divided in three tiers, with progressively higher pay, and require one of the player’s own horses. In this minigame, you must correct your pupils on the right posture to keep while riding. This includes their balance, hands and legs, which will slowly swing towards two major extremes. Each of these can be corrected using the appropriate button, earning extra tips by promptly noticing any mistake.

This kind of minigame is, at best, criminally underwhelming in most horse games, and I’m happy to report that Horses of Hoofprint Bay finally offers something resembling a challenge. And while I wouldn’t recommend anyone try to apply horse game logic in a real-life setting,  I must bow to this one for keeping it simple, real and fun!

Can you find all the mistakes? Or, we all owe our trainers an apology.
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

BOARDING 101

Once enough time has passed, it’s also possible to accept boarder horses. Each day, players can check the Office for new boarding requests, which fall into three main categories:

• Part-Board horses can only be fed and watered in the field;
• Full Board horses must be fed, watered and groomed every day;
• Training horses must be fed, watered, groomed and exercised regularly.

Once accepted, the boarder will move into the stables for a set number of days. While Part-Board and Full Board horses cannot be taken out of the field, those in training can. Going for a ride in the forest, lunging or doing a showjumping round in the arena will increase the horse’s Strength and Endurance, earning the player a nice bonus upon releasing the horse back to its owner.

While in the player’s care, boarder horses can interact freely with the other residents.
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

I would also like to add another nice little detail. As our first horse is always female, all boarders are automatically determined to be mares or geldings, allowing them to share a single lot. Although I have yet to unlock horse breeding in my current playthrough, the options to close and open the fields appear to be related to having intact horses on the premises, avoiding potential ‘accidents’.

MAKE THIS STABLE A HOME

All the systems I’ve just described make up an incredibly competent horse management title. Its strength lies in its core gameplay loops, which are deviously addictive in their simplicity. Repetition is at the heart of the equestrian business, with all the joys and sorrows it entails, but the game manages to strike that fine balance with pure, unadultered Horse Girl Joy to boot.

However, the artistic department is what truly pushes Horses of Hoofprint Bay from a simple reimagining of a beloved childhood game to a classic in its own right. To that end, Anna Glinsmann paints a delightfully cozy cradle, taking inspiration from the landscape that shaped her youth. Horse games often carry with them some manner of environmentalist message, and this one is no exception. Even as the stables grow, the land around it merely adapts, shifting and growing to accomodate change—but it’s not consumed by it.

Every Horse Girl dreamed, at least once, to buy a house overlooking their own stables.
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

Horses of Hoofprint Bay doesn’t look down on you, but neither does it sugarcoat the pill by dropping you into a state-of-the-art riding centre and international competitions right out of the bat. What it does, is teaching you to appreciate what you have right now: the rickety old shed serving as a makeshift stable, the rusted metal gate of the riding arena, the dozens of tiny details scattered around the property that signal that this place, this little plot of land, is now your home. And home is always a nice place to be.

PERFORMANCES

I would also like to spend a few words on the game’s overall performances. For starters, technical problems have been pretty much nonexistent. Although Alice warned me of a few possible bugs, those never happened in my playthrough. Everything ran as smoothly as could be, which is nothing but a testament to the rigorous testing process that no doubt went into the Demo build that was shipped out. 

I’ve tried the game on an Acer Nitro 5, registering only one minor stuttering. Reviewing my footage, I’ve noticed an occasional decrease in the cursor speed, although I’m currently unsure whether it’s due to the game itself or a byproduct of Steam’s recording feature.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Horses of Hoofprint Bay is a game that knows what it wants to be, and delivers on its promises without losing sight of itself along the way. It gives you all the tools you need to succeed, but doesn’t hold your hand every step of the way. It lets you try, experiment and make mistakes, but doesn’t punish you for them. Instead, it sends you to bed every night already planning what to do the day after. It’s horse care systems are designed to be a quick and easy fix, but wield important long-term consequences regardless—like the time I immediately ended the day so my mare wouldn’t be overworked by a ‘simple’ trail ride. 

A couple of animations, clear game feedback and an adorable art style was all it took to trigger my ‘Must Protect Horsie’ reflexes.
Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

As stated by The Mane Quest in multiple occasions, it’s time for horse games to enter the new millennium. Cases like The Ranch of Rivershine or Fernhoof Grove are already tangible proof of what community-backed success looks like, while Equinox: Homecoming took the trappings of equestrian MMOs and applied them to a new genre and older, more mature audiences. Indeed, the blueprint for the future is right here. Where passion and commitment come together, community will follow. I haven’t personally lived a childhood marked by Mein Pferdehof. But now, I’m eager to let Horses of Hoofprint Bay make me relive another one.

Horses of Hoofprint Bay © Thogli Studios

The demo for Horses of Hoofprint Bay is now available on Steam. You can get further updates on the game by subscribing to the official newsletter and following Thogli Studios on Bluesky, Instagram and YouTube. The Bridle Paths was provided an early review copy.