Horace

 PC
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. The Indie Game Website
    Jul 31, 2019
    70
    Horace is the titular character in this morality tale centered around how he’s treated by his rich masters and outsiders, though the gameplay itself mostly consists of brisk and entertaining obstacle courses involving lots of running and jumping. Horace isn’t groundbreaking or anything we haven’t seen before, but it’s quaint fun.

Awards & Rankings

72
#72 Best PC Game of 2019

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 52 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 52
  3. Negative: 10 out of 52
  1. Jynx980
    Mar 7, 2020
    6
    The art, music, and story are really what makes this game good. The actual gameplay however is primarily all platform jumping that throwsThe art, music, and story are really what makes this game good. The actual gameplay however is primarily all platform jumping that throws rotation into the mix and it was ... a lot. If you have ever played Meatboy you will feel right at home. Checkpoints are few and far between and you will be ready to pull out your hair getting close to the end of a room or boss only to get zapped by an electric fence, fire, saw, or any of the other many killers. On most sections if you eat it too many times you can get up to two shields to help you get through it, but most bosses it's one and done then starting it over again. It wasn't terrible at first, but the difficulty ramps up quick and I didn't enjoy it as much and pushed myself to finish it. The moon base trial almost broke me but I eventually got through. In context it's about a 12 hour game and my death count was around 1100. Not fun when your constantly dying.

    If you enjoy brutal, precise jumping platforms then this was made for you. The story and cutscenes are the saving grace, but you can watch those on online if you would rather not bother jumping and save some sanity. Difficulty aside, this game is not for kids despite being under the platform genre. It gets savage towards the end with executions, shootouts, and a bloody beating.    … Full Review »
  2. aristotle61
    Jan 17, 2020
    10
    I'm not a big fan of all of these perfect 10 scores on Metacritic. It really is ridiculous. A 10 score should be reserved for a really greatI'm not a big fan of all of these perfect 10 scores on Metacritic. It really is ridiculous. A 10 score should be reserved for a really great game. However, this is the very imperfect review system that we have to work with, and I don't want to penalize a great game just because I want to be realistic, when it's clear that the overwhelming majority of reviewers are not.

    Horace is something special. It has done something very different within the platforming genre. It's telling that I like this game so much when platforming games are one of my least favorite types of games. As a whole, I also do not like Indie games very much. There's just too much garbage being pumped out, and it has become trendy to call terrible Indie games "amazing", and refer to their crude graphics as "gorgeous pixel art.". That having been said, Horace is definitely an exception, so I will break my rule about 10 scores to give it the credit it deserves.

    For an indie game that has low tech graphics, Horace does it really well. The graphics are colorful, varied, and overall, are probably more deserving of the description "gorgeous pixel art" than any other "pixel art" game that I can think of. My only grievance with the graphics is that when you are in close up scenes the graphics are so crude they almost hurt your eyes. This applies to all games with crude graphics, not just Horace. Unlike most other games with this type of graphics, when you're not close up, which, thankfully, is most of the time, the graphics are charming, and also unlike most games of this type, the graphics vary so that you really can't wait to see what the next set of screens will look like.

    The way Horace intertwines story and cut scenes in between the platforming levels, and even within the levels, is refreshing to say the least, and is very well done. It's virtually assured that what Horace has done in this genre will be copied in future platforming games, and may well help platforming games increase in popularity.

    The controls are not part of what makes Horace special. Fortunately, they are good enough that they don't really hurt the game. In more traditional platforming games that are so dependent on outstanding controls, it would be much more of a factor. This game isn't nonstop movement like most platformers. It's more slow paced and creative which I really like. When I first started playing the game in the instructional levels I was not too impressed with the controls. Fortunately, this is an Indie game that let's you remap the control configuration. If I had not been able to do so that might have killed the game for me before I even got started. So definitely wait until past the very beginning before forming an opinion.

    In addition to the "gorgeous pixel art", the music is great, and fits the game perfectly. It's not only good music but is constantly changing and altering the mood, which is a huge plus. Music is another aspect of Indie games that I think is very overrated. People just love to rave about music that doesn't seem to be that impressive at all. In this game it really is great.

    Finally, this game has so many fun references, and tips of the hat to other games. I think I will play again just to see if I can recognize all of them because there are a lot of them, and they sometimes pass very quickly. Maybe I'm wrong, but this game does not seem to be getting the recognition and accolades that it deserves. I hope this has been a successful venture for the publisher and or developer because it would be bad for gaming if a gem ( another overused word!) of a game like this wasn't successful. Hopefully it will generate more buzz now that it is free on Epic Games. Sadly, I would never have known about it, let alone bought the game, if I had not looked at it as a free game choice on Epic Games.    … Full Review »
  3. kikekikee
    Jun 10, 2020
    4
    Horace is neither a good nor a bad game. It has some really good things and some really bad things. And for each good thing, there is a badHorace is neither a good nor a bad game. It has some really good things and some really bad things. And for each good thing, there is a bad one.

    - The control: Horace is basically a plataformer game. The control has a good response overall. But many times hitboxes are not clear, and you will die because you touched something you are not supposed to be touching. Fortunately, you respawn fast and screens are not really long.

    - The gameplay: level design is clever and well done. But in order to make some surfaces dangerous, they cover them with fire, flaring stuff and many other things that can easily saturate your view. If you have some kind of epilepsy, don't even get close to this game.

    - The mini games: this seems the part where developers put the greatest effort. There is an insane amount of mini games. There are even arcade rooms for playing these games. The problem is that these games are just a parody of famous games: Pacman, Pong or Space Invaders, among many others. They are curious, but not specially fun. I had the feeling that they are here so developers can say "hey, look everything we are able to develop". For CV is great, for players, not so much. And when some of these mini games are part of the main story, it becomes really annoying.

    - The story: has some good ideas, with many plot twists. But these plot twists are not well introduced, so I never got really into the story. Also, some cutscenes are long enough to be tedious. Some of them are even ridiculous. And the game takes too long. I won't say anything else to prevent from spoilers.

    - The target player: if you asked me in the first hour, I would have say this game is for kids. Like Yoshi or Kirby. It is basic plataforming and some item collection. But then it turns into a Dark Souls of plataforming. Not only that: during the story you will see really harsh scenes. There is a strange disonance here, that can lead to confusion.

    - The graphics: pixel art seems more beautiful at the beggining. But as you keep on playing, this was probably the worst part of the game for me.

    Pixel art is beautiful when elements are designed for being a bunch of colored squares. Many elements in this game seem a HD image where you lower the resolution. Some other, like Horace, didn't give me this impression. But, on the other hand, pixel art is beautiful when all pixels have the same size. Here we will see some close-up images with huge squares, while images in background keep a smaller size, somethimes blurred. This only happen in cutscenes, not in gameplay. But cutscenes are like half of the game, if not more.

    Also, animations are really basic. Ok, in other pixel art games too, but other pixel art games don't take about 10 hours of cutscenes showing you the same animation once, and again, and again, and again. It ended up being annoying. To make a quick comparison, Celeste o Octopath Traveler cutscenes are kind of a comic under characters, so the characters themselves don't change. I think this is a good solution if you don't want/know how to give a variety of expressions to your character.

    So, would I recommend Horace? Sadly, not. I was about to give it a 5, like saying "yes, play it, it has some lacks, but it is a nice game". But the truth is that those lacks were too frustrating for me. I saw myself finishing the game just for pure pride.    … Full Review »
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