GOG gir hester en plattform etter utgivelsen av Steam Blocks

GOG has confirmed it will carry Santa Ragione’s new narrative horror game Horses after Steam banned the title from its storefront. The move positions GOG as the primary PC platform for the launch next week and puts renewed focus on the circumstances that kept the game off Valve’s service.

Horses, created by the Italian studio behind Saturnalia and Mediterranea Inferno, is a three-hour monochrome horror work built around live-action elements and interactive sequences. Its story spans 14 days on a rural farm where naked human “horses” are treated as livestock. The developers frame the project as a study of power, trauma, and responsibility, presented through stark imagery and controlled pacing.

Steam blocked the game in 2023. According to Santa Ragione, Valve told the studio it would not “distribute content that appears, in judgement, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor.” The disputed moment involves a visitor allowing his young daughter to ride one of the human horses. The developers say the scene was not sexual in intent or depiction and that the early version submitted to Valve no longer reflected the final direction of the project. That scene was later revised, aging the daughter into her twenties during the broader creative process.

Santa Ragione maintains that Valve declined to review the completed build, leading to a permanent ban that applies despite the subsequent changes. The studio notes that no other storefront raised concerns about the content, and the game will release across all major PC platforms except Steam. The team shared details of the dispute earlier this week, pointing to misinterpretation during the approval process and the lack of reassessment once the project neared completion.

GOG addressed the issue publicly, stating it welcomes the game and intends to support both the project and its creators during launch.

“Players should be able to choose the experiences that speak to them,” the company wrote on social media.

In a separate statement, GOG expanded on its reasoning.

“We’re happy to give Horses a home,” the company said. “At GOG, we aim to provide developers with a welcoming space for their projects and to make it simple for players to access the games they care about.” — GOG

The distributor also confirmed that pre-orders for Horses are available starting today. The decision establishes GOG as the highest-visibility alternative for the game’s release window and underscores the company’s stance on curating a platform with broad creative latitude.

The situation around Horses arrives at a moment when storefront policies and enforcement practices continue to face scrutiny. Valve’s approach, which often relies on internal judgment rather than public criteria, has been debated across multiple cases in recent years. Santa Ragione’s experience adds to that discussion, highlighting a gap between early build evaluations and final release content. With GOG taking a clear position, the launch next week will likely determine how the dispute shapes the game’s reception.

Read also, GOG recently cut the price of the Resident Evil Classic Bundle ahead of Halloween, dropping the collection from $60 to $27 as part of its Fall 2025 sale. The offer covered five foundational entries in the series and followed new stability patches that addressed long-standing issues in Resident Evil 0 and the HD Remaster, reinforcing the platform’s ongoing preservation work.