Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch is an adventure game by Microids and Aesir Interactive.
You play as a newcomer to Cape Emerald, a gorgeous peninsula inhabited by a few people- and many herds of wild horses. Your chronically irresponsible aunt has invited you to her vast ranch, but the once-thriving estate is now just a pile of sticks. It's up to you to catch new horses, gather materials, and explore until the ranch is restored to its former glory.
This game includes the following tropes:
- Arcadia: Cape Emerald is a peaceful, barely-inhabited wilderness with no mobile phones (enabling a plot-relevant misunderstanding in one quest) or predatory animals. An NPC provides genetic sequencing, but that's about it.
- And Your Reward Is Interior Decorating: Most quest rewards are blueprints for housing, bridges, farms, etc.
- Author Appeal: Horse Tales is very much a "horse game" centered around the usual horse game tropes; easily tamed wild horses, grooming mechanics, many problems being solved by riding, etc. Players outside of this niche will not enjoy it.
- Automaton Horses: Played with.
- Subversions: Horses have various character traits (like "afraid of the dark" or "lazy jumper") that ensure they cannot all be played the same way. Several traits can be overcome with training. A stamina bar prevents endless galloping. Never grooming/feeding/bathing a horse is possible, but comes with stat penalties. The estate's amenities limit how many horses can be housed there. Wild horses will flee from the PC if not approached correctly. Each horse has a preferred food and grooming regimen distinct to them.
- Played straight: Horses don't need sleep. They never balk at jumps or get distracted by the opposite sex. Stabled horses don't require any care (although they retain whatever hygiene debuffs they had before being stabled). "Foals" are Born as an Adult, immediately ready to ride. Horses' base statistics cannot be improved, however long they're ridden.
- Cool, Clear Water: The game doesn't distinguish between types of water, meaning that the aesthetically murky waters of the Clay Marshes are just as good as the ocean for getting your horse clean.
- Cool Horse: The Emerald Valley Devil, famous for her ability to avoid capture. A late-game quest involves finding and taming her, something the other islanders have been trying to do for years.
- Fame Gate: Larger buildings cannot be built until the player has gained enough fame. Presumably other characters are helping offscreen.
- Gender-Blender Name: Horse names are randomly generated, meaning that it's fully possible for a mare to be named "Wally" or "Daddy".
- Geo Effects: Traits like "Mud Lover" or "Sand Lover" means a horse goes faster on that terrain. Water always slows a horse down, although some horses like having it near them.
- The Gift: The PC needs to be told what galloping is and why washing their horse is important, yet a storyline quest involves them beating the best racer in the valley.
- Iris Out: Fatal jumps are represented visually by the action pausing and an iris out on the PC. Then gameplay restarts, placing the PC a short distance away.
- Law of Chromatic Superiority: Averted. The more isolated a herd is, the more likely it is to have white (or creamy
) horses, but there's still no guarantee that a white horse will have better stats than the pinto next to it. Furthermore, the Emerald Valley Devil is just a light brown mare with a reddish mane. - The Lost Woods: The Elderwood's canopy completely blocks out the sky, triggering any nyctophobia your horse has. Its ground is covered with difficult jumps, uninhabited ruins, and unmarked paths, which may be why the most convenient entrance is locked (and peppered with hazard signs).
- Mysterious Past: The island itself. It holds shipwrecked galleons, elaborate defenses, and even a long-ruined castle (with sconces still lit!), yet the PC never asks about them. Even weirder, the current-day island is nothing but peaceful.
- Offerings to the Gods: Presumably the reason sugarcubes can be found beneath runestones.
- Random Event: Daily events involve things like rare horses spawning in a region, a talent scout showing up (and boosting your fame from any races you win), and/or extra materials being available in a region. The islanders inform you through mail of any events, even if you've never met them before or can't reach the region in question.
- Scenery Porn: Cape Emerald is filled with pristine forests, classic Spanish architecture, and long beaches perfect for galloping on. There's a panoramic shot at the end of the tutorial to emphasize how gorgeous everything is.
- Worthy Opponent: When the PC starts racing, Lilli writes them a letter saying she's glad to finally have decent competition.
