Howrse is a horse stealing browser game! Browser games often have elaborate names that have little to do with the actual content. This makes people pay attention and boosts PR. However, the browser game Howrse takes a different approach and apart from a suspected spelling weakness on the part of the designers (or the fact that the domain horse.com was no longer available), you get exactly what the name promises. Essentially, Howrse is a business simulation, it’s about horse breeding, training riding horses and of course caring for them. You can play the simulation game online for free using any browser that has Flash and Javascript activated. The optional item shop also offers items for real money that make life easier or improve our training.
Getting started with Howrse – if you have the choice, you are spoiled for choice
After registering, which is very straightforward, you will first have to make the difficult decision of choosing a horse category and a breed. The selection ranges from Arabians to Haflingers and Shetland ponies to Paint Horses and of course all breeds have different strengths and weaknesses. Some are fast but clumsy, others can jump like kangaroos but are rather unsuitable for running. Proper planning is required here, as you won’t be able to afford a new horse for a while after starting the horse game and your focus will largely determine which competitions you can take part in. Finally, we give our horse a name and choose its appearance from many different coat colors and patterns. An interesting detail that horse connoisseurs immediately notice is that the developers chose the professional names instead of simply calling the colors “white” or “brown”. Does there actually seem to be someone behind the online games who knows about horse breeding?
Once we have decided on a race, we end up in the main screen of Howrse for the first time and are greeted by Ow, the tutorial monkey. We have to read through tons of blocks of text and do a few smaller tasks in between, for example watering our foal, petting it or putting it to bed. What’s immediately noticeable here is the game’s relative lack of animation. No matter what action we do with our foal, the preview image remains unchanged and even when our horse should be sleeping, it remains in its paddock and looks at us bored. A little later in the tutorial, Ow points out the “animation button”. However, anyone who thinks that real animations are hidden here, which are perhaps only deactivated for the time being to protect computers with weaker hardware or mobile devices, is wrong, because these are just small effects that are actually just annoying.
Rides, training and competitions in the Howrse browser game
The rest of the game is similar to the tutorial. Every day we log into the simulation game, care for our horses, do training sessions with them, which in turn improve the stat points and finally take part in weekly or monthly tournaments that are divided into different competitions. It is important that we find a healthy mix between proper and regular training, play and care sessions, because the horse reacts relatively quickly if we forget something or the schedule becomes too tight. In addition, the simulation game has its own daily routine and we can decide when our horse wakes up. But we should give him at least eight hours of sleep, otherwise health problems will arise and the nag will become unsuitable for horse breeding. By the way, this is also the crux of the browser game, because in contrast to many other online games, we can interact directly with our fellow players, trade horses directly or have our mares bred. The “genetics system” comes into play, but is only briefly touched on in the tutorial. This works according to the “bonus and penalty” principle, known from many pen & paper role-playing games. A high genetic compatibility brings many bonuses (positive changes in value), but under certain circumstances just as many penalties (negative changes in value). Only by breeding horses over several generations is it possible to create a horse that has high “potential”. However, this is of course no guarantee of successful training. Howrse lives from the effect of wanting to create ever better horses so that they can bring a lot of money into the virtual coffers in the competitions and to do this you have to play online regularly, exchange ideas with other players and invest.
The different breeds in the horse game
As already mentioned, the Howrse browser game about horse breeding has a whole range of different breeds, all of which are available at the beginning, although it takes a while later until you can afford a new horse. The real horses include Andalusian, Argentine Criollo, Curly Horse, English Thoroughbred, Holsteiner, Knabstrupper, Lippizaner, Mustang, Oldenburger, Paint Horse, Quarter Horse and Tinker. There are also different pony breeds, for example Haflinger, Newfoundland, Shetland pony and Welsh Cob. At various events, very special horses are often offered in the browser game, usually for real money. At the moment, by purchasing certain cards or via the internal auction house, you can purchase donkeys, for example, which compete against each other in their own category and which are particularly difficult to breed , as they can only be jumped on or covered a maximum of three times.
Advantages through real money – the item shop at Howrse
Online games need to be financed. Some do this through monthly fees, others through advertising, Howrse has the item shop where you can buy a few additional benefits for real money. Despite major criticism from the community, the browser game does a good job here. There are a few items, such as the event items that are offered again and again, which bring special horses or the mentioned donkeys, but with enough patience you can also buy these for the internal virtual currency in the auction house. Only the temporary helpers bring real benefits, but those who are not prepared to spend real money can still reach the top of the rankings. Sometime.
The multiplayer part – How can I play with others online?
Since Howrse is a simulation game, the online game has an indirectly competitive multiplayer part. This means that you can play Howrse together for free, but you cannot compete directly against each other. The competitions against real players are also only “simulated”. In addition, the horse game has an auction house where you can buy or sell horses, ranking lists for the best horses (or donkeys) according to breed and potential, as well as a chat system via forums and private messages with which you can, for example, search for good breeding stallions or… can look for mares. As with other online games, you can also organize yourself into groups, create your own clan and try to breed the best horse together, or you can purchase a horse boarding facility and take care of the management yourself.
Conclusion – What is the appeal of the Howrse horse game?
At its core, Howrse is clearly a simulation game that you should have plenty of time for. Getting started is relatively tough and it takes a few days until you fully understand the system, but then the horse game scores points above all thanks to the complex genetic system. Unfortunately, not much effort has been put into the “everything around it”, the graphics of the browser game are outdated and animations are searched in vain. However, this disadvantage is also one of the advantages of online games that run in the browser, as you don’t need any high-end hardware and you can theoretically even log in with your cell phone or tablet and play online. play for free