Petz® Horsez® 2 Reviews

Can't get passed Oliver! It says to talk to Oliver, so I talk to him, he says now I can do dressage, but it won't let me do anything else...just keeps saying to go talk to Oliver. Its a vicious circle!!!

Bought this game for nostalgia’s sake and managed to get it to work on Steam Deck. With some tweaking of the controls and getting used to, it’s more than playable. That being said, it’s pretty boring. Progressing a horse’s skill takes a lot of training and the rounds are rather repetitive. Dressage is especially bad for this — it’s too little engagement and each round lasts way too long, and there’s barely any variety. There’s no user guide (wiki understandably isn’t complete), if you missed an explanation, you’re out of luck. I seem to remember training foals is the only way to age them up and have yet to have any progress with that. Over a decade ago when I first played this game, I had the same problem. Trial and error aren’t great options just out of the sheer number of mind-numbingly boring mini-games you have to go through to test what activity influences which stat. The controls and camera are rather clunky even for its time. That being said, the game is super charming. The series always had great characters and pretty deep stories. Part of what made the series so great is talking to the characters in your free time and getting to know them better, though in this particular game this aspect has kind of suffered. The town the story takes place in is beautiful, even though it’s pretty hard to navigate (atrocious camera angles!). All the little details are great, and don’t get me started on the cozy apartments — shame you can only stay in one during one walkthrough. Hard to decide if I could even recommend this game. I don’t think the story and the environments are worth the exercise in frustration that the gameplay is, but if you’re not a completionist, it’s could be a fun game! I’d come back to it every now and then to do those tedious training rounds (and quit when I see how many times I have to repeat them to progress). Like the characters, the story is another strong side of the game. It’s not exactly a great detective mystery, but I remember it being pretty engaging when I first played. All in all, it’s a very nostalgic horse game for me, and I’m glad you can still make it work on newer systems.