Giddy up with Horse Tales – Emerald Valley Ranch, an open world equestrian adventure

Channel your inner horse girl with Horse Tales

As a self-proclaimed former horse girl, getting to ride horses in games is something that I always look forward to. Titles like Breath of the Wild, Red Dead Redemption, and The Witcher definitely scratch that itch, but sometimes, all I want to do is ride around without other mechanics getting in the way. While my childhood favorite, Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue, is outdated at this point, there’s a new game releasing soon that brings equestrian to the forefront of its mechanics: Aesir Interactive’s Horse Tales – Emerald Valley Ranch.

The gameplay trailer highlights a bunch of different features that players might expect from a horse-centric game, other than riding around the open world of course, like training and breeding horses, washing and grooming them, managing stables, gathering items, completing quests and races, and more. From the looks of things, it’s all the management stuff you’d expect from an open-world horse game without the stress of combat, so if you like a more chill game, this could be just the thing for you.

The art style looks reminiscent of Breath of the Wild as well, and I’m not surprised to still be seeing that game’s influence five years later. I doubt it’ll have the same level of polish as BOTW, but it looks like it’ll be a fun romp regardless, if you’re into this kind of thing.

Honestly, Horse Tales – Emerald Valley Ranch is the kind of game I’d download on my Switch and play when I needed something simple and relaxing. I haven’t played a horse-centric game in quite a while, so it would be nice to get back to my roots on that front.

Horse Tales – Emerald Valley Ranch will be releasing on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC on November 15 in North America, and November 3 for other territories. Players who pre-order the game will also get access to a Unicorn tack set to dress up their horses with. The limited edition comes with extras like stickers, a patch, and postcards all themed around the game.