Astride
- June 2, 2023
- Raidho Games
Get on Steam"Astride is a Simulation game currently in Early Access, offering both single-player and multiplayer modes. The game is in a pre-alpha state, with frequent updates and community collaboration planned to refine the horse-riding experience. Despite some bugs, this is an exciting opportunity for players to provide feedback and contribute to the game's development."
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The horse customization options are extensive, allowing for a wide variety of markings and colors.
- The graphics and animations of the horses are visually appealing and show promise for future updates.
- The developers are active in communication and provide regular updates, indicating a commitment to improving the game.
- The game currently lacks content, feeling more like a demo with limited activities such as just riding and jumping in a small arena.
- Controls are unintuitive and there is no tutorial, making it difficult for new players to understand how to play.
- The game is buggy and experiences performance issues, leading to a frustrating gameplay experience.
- stability42 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The stability of the game is widely criticized, with numerous reports of glitches, buggy animations, and unresponsive controls that hinder gameplay. Players have experienced issues with jumping mechanics, where horses can get stuck or fail to jump properly, leading to frustration. Overall, many reviewers suggest that the game feels more like a buggy demo than a polished early access title, indicating a need for significant improvements before it can be considered worth its price.
“It's hard to play because it glitches extremely bad for me.”
“As of right now, this game isn't worth $26; it's hardly a game in its current state. There's nothing to do but terribly control the buggy horse around a very bare bones area. The best part about the game is the horse creation, which is still kind of lackluster compared to expectations.”
“The community may hope for a horse game, but hope is all there is. The demo is buggy, lags a lot even on high-end PCs, and the controls are odd, unintuitive, and either too heavy or too floaty depending on what you ask the horse to do.”
- graphics36 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are generally praised for their beauty and realism, particularly in the depiction of horses and landscapes, though they require a high-performance PC to run smoothly. Some users noted issues with lag and graphical popping, especially when settings are at maximum, while others found the graphics to be simplistic or not as impressive as expected. Overall, the game is recommended for its visual appeal, especially for players interested in photography within the game.
“The horse graphics, landscape, and gaits look great!”
“I love the realistic graphics; it's not something that many horse-focused games have.”
“That being said, the graphics are beautiful, and I am looking forward to new features being added (horse care, quests, competitions, breeding, etc).”
“The game plays very poorly and there is a lot of popping in and out with the graphics.”
“It starts with the graphics set to the highest level, causing extreme lag; bringing it down to the lowest level makes it run smoothly, although it shows that most of the high graphics is just shadows.”
“The graphics are a more simplistic 3D art style.”
- gameplay36 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has been widely criticized for being lacking and underdeveloped, with many users describing it as a glorified demo rather than a fully realized experience. Players report numerous bugs, poor mechanics, and a lack of engaging content, leading to disappointment despite some potential for future updates. Overall, the current state of gameplay is deemed insufficient, with many recommending against purchasing until significant improvements are made.
“As a horse game lover, I much prefer a realistic goal to hyper-realistic horse designs that come with little to no gameplay.”
“If they're truly adamant on creating this game over the next several years, getting more people onto their team, fleshing out core mechanics, they could potentially pull off the horsey game equivalent of 'No Man's Sky'.”
“I'm looking forward to future updates and will be back to try the actual gameplay once it's released.”
“I just have no idea where the years of development have gone because what's currently here is just a horse model with a handful of okay animations and poor jumping mechanics.”
“A huge disappointment, the game is clunky, runs poorly, crashes often, has no gameplay, has no tutorial, has no controls, and is at most, a glorified demo.”
“There is no game, no gameplay at all - literally nothing to do.”
- story12 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The current reviews indicate that the game lacks a defined story or quests, with players expressing disappointment over the absence of narrative elements and character development. While there is a desire for future storytelling, many hope the focus will shift away from overly realistic mechanics to create a more engaging experience. Overall, the game's narrative aspect is currently non-existent, leaving players eager for future updates.
“I am however excited to see where this one goes and I really hope they don't try to make it too realistic in horse care and focus more on story when they made a solid base, that would be tedious.”
“There is no story, or character (as of yet?).”
“There's no sound, no storyline, not even a rider.”
“There's no quests or things to do besides wander around and use the jumps.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Users express concern that overly realistic horse care mechanics could lead to tedious grinding, detracting from the game's story and overall enjoyment. They hope the developers prioritize narrative over excessive realism in gameplay.
“I really hope they don't try to make it too realistic in horse care and focus more on the story, as that would be tedious.”
“The grinding in this game feels endless and takes away from the enjoyment of the main storyline.”
“I find the repetitive tasks to be a major drawback; it feels like I'm just grinding for the sake of grinding.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviewers express disappointment in the game's replayability, suggesting that it lacks engaging content and is less enjoyable than even simpler mobile games. Overall, it appears to fall short in providing a compelling reason for players to return.
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy has drawn criticism for being misleading, with users feeling that the release of a demo labeled as early access is disrespectful to fans. Concerns about the integrity of the team are heightened by ongoing misleading advertising on social media and Steam.
“The monetization strategy feels exploitative, as it seems designed to squeeze every last penny from players rather than enhance the gaming experience.”
“It's frustrating to see so many features locked behind paywalls, making it hard to enjoy the game without spending extra money.”
“The constant push for microtransactions detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game, making it feel more like a cash grab than a genuine product.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant performance issues at high graphics settings, resulting in extreme lag; however, lowering the settings improves performance considerably, revealing that much of the high-quality graphics are primarily shadows.
“The game starts with the graphics set to the highest level, causing extreme lag. However, bringing it down to the lowest level makes it run smoothly, revealing that most of the high graphics are just shadows.”
“The optimization allows for a significant improvement in performance when adjusting the graphics settings, making the game more enjoyable.”
“I appreciate how the game provides options to optimize performance, allowing players to find the right balance between visuals and smooth gameplay.”
- music2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game features no music, which detracts from the overall experience, and players have criticized the controls as being poor, with particularly negative feedback on camera control.
“There is zero music; the controls are honestly horrible, and the camera control is funky at best.”
