20 Recent Video Games That Were Sent Out To Die

Surreal horror adventure game Horses is an unfortunate example of the trouble that can befall developers who produce transgressive art outside the norm.

Last November, mere weeks before the game's release, developer Santa Ragione announced that Steam had decided not to distribute the game, with Epic Games Store soon enough following suit.

Valve refused to sell Horses amid the vague claim that it appeared to feature sexual content with minors, despite the game featuring no such material.

Even with Santa Ragione's protests, Steam and Epic both upheld the ban, leaving Horses only available on more niche storefronts like GOG.com and itch.io.

Given that Steam has an absolutely colossal share of the PC gaming market, it'd be a massive blow to any game to be banned from the platform, ensuring that Horses launched with limited financial opportunities.

Though the PR surrounding the game's troubled launch was enough for Horses to sell 18,000 copies and recoup the costs of development, Santa Ragione added that it wasn't nearly enough to fund a new project, and so most of the game's developers were forced to take on other jobs elsewhere.

With Steam taking such a reactionary stance to the game's surreal imagery - namely naked adults wearing horse masks - it sadly never stood a chance of being a true success.