#horsemaster

Foal!Ruin:* accidentaly throw off bucked, get scared by it and slipped while running off*

Young!War:*pointing at Ruin*I want that one.

- He’s always been a secret admirer of humanity from afar, often fashioning himself into their image.

-He’s shocked to see you - a stray human - sitting in a field near his house and surrounded by a dozen horses.

-They’re skittish, cantering towards you before prancing away at the last second, snorting and squealing as if involved in a game.

- All the while, you simply sit there, fiddling with some strange, electrical device and seemingly ignoring the horses altogether.

- Intrigued by your appearance and even more so by your behaviour, the Horsemaster keeps a close eye, sitting on his porch with his hat pulled down to shield his eyes from the blazing sun.

- It takes a while before one of the older stallions finally ventures close to you and puts his head down, grazing casually near your feet.

- The Horsemaster watches, enraptured as you reach out and manage to brush your fingers along the stallion’s white cheek. The horse doesn’t even flinch.

- At some, unmentioned consensus, all the horses relax and put their own heads down, grazing in a circle around you.

- Satisfied, the Horsemaster gets up and meanders over to you.

- You don’t even notice his approach until the horses look up, though they don’t flee.

- “Good judges of character, these animals,” he says in a heavy, southern drawl that reminds you so much of old cowboy films you used to watch as a child.

- Despite seeing how the horses are docile around you, he remains just a little suspicious.

- Then, you start to help him.

- Every fed days, you show up outside his home with hay nets for the horses. You also ensure all the watering holes are accessible and deal with any predators that might have strayed into his territory.

- Laying waste to a prowling grappleclaw is how he discovers you’re a friend of the Horsemen.

- He’s been happy in his quiet, peaceful life on the plains, but even he’ll admit it can get lonely at times. The horses are only good company to an extent.

- You both grow closer as the weeks turn into months.

- You start bringing him things from Earth - your old Walkman with spare batteries, a couple of books you think he’ll enjoy. (You soon find out he has a love for westerns and romance.)

- You discover, underneath his rough and rugged exterior; that he has a soft heart, and the disposition of a real, old-fashioned gentleman.

- He introduces you to his horse, and together you ride out to see more of his realm, often laying in the long grass at night and watching strange, glowing bugs zip about overhead whilst beyond them, the stars shine on an inky, black sky.

This game was very different from the one I played last week as its shows more use of gamification as your in-game ‘horse’ has stats and the goal of the game is to make the best horse to become the ‘horse master’. The game itself reminded me of the ‘Fallout’ game series where the player character has S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats that change what your character is capable of in-game such as dialogue options and how much V.A.T.S power points you have. This game felt more like a loop than the last as you are constantly making choice of what to do to your horse over a period of in-game days. I also thought the writing style was quite unique and humorous, and definitely not in the ‘PG’ rated side of things, for example quotes such as “it wants to excrete its first bowel movement, but can't fully expand and contract its anus without help” and “You heft it and it is warm and round in a perfect way. It has a fleshy give. A breast almost—no, but rubbery like a water balloon.” make for good examples of what I mean by that. I thought the interface design was kind of different and interesting, the author had decided to put the links mid-paragraph instead of what I had seen in ‘Eden’ where they are all at the bottom. The links were used in a different way, the mid-paragraph ones where used for making unimportant choices about for horse, or for explaining NPCs appearances.

“You made it.

You are a Horse Master.

You never have to (and never can) work again.

The world is sick and ugly, but at least you made it through okay. You did exactly what was expected of you. Good for you! The life your father always wanted.

Now you might even ask what kind of life you would have wanted, but it is too late to ever want again.

End”

A very interesting ending to the game itself, this is what I got at the end, but through looking at the playthrough in the ‘Videogames for Humans’ book done by Naomi Clark, I found that they got the same ending as me, I would be curious to find out what happens if you fail. Near the end of the game, I started to run out of resources and the dialogue options changed, to things like “Scavenge for edible waste products” cause you’ve lost your house and are forced to live on the streets. This shows that this game also has resource management mechanics, which is again different from the last game I played, and something I have not seen any of my other classmates have in there playthroughs.

I found the game as a whole to be quite interesting in its interpretation of game mechanics using a text adventure setting and is something I would want to create myself possibly in a different way with different mechanics.

At first… 

-Momentarily confused as to why their steeds aren’t responding to their summons, forgetting that they’ve disappeared.

-Instinctively revisiting all the places they’ve been with their horses.

-Sometimes, mistaking that they can actually see their companions out the corner of their eyes.

-When all their efforts have failed, they go to the Horsemaster. Surely he must know a way of reuniting the beasts to their masters. 

But in the meantime… 

War

Not again. He carries on as normal as though it hasn’t happened. But unconsciously places a hand on his chest to soothe away this strange tightness, oblivious to the fact that he’s experiencing heartache.  

Strife

He finds himself picking fights with other beings, making insensitive comments about their own animal companions if they have any. The temptation to smash things or destroy is also quite common.

Fury

She obsessively accepts all missions the Council throws at her. Anything to keep her mind off her companion. Instinctively draws on her magic to ‘feel’ for her steed. 

Death