Announcement – Unbridled: That Horse Game will Release in Early Access on February 19th 2025
Unbridled: That Horse Game is an independently developed work-in-project horse game – one of several that I’m keeping an eye on. After an extended period of Closed Beta testing with Patreon backers, developer Mindev Games has now announced their Early Access release date on Steam for February 19th 2025.
Unbridled is the debut project of a small team, and their list of planned features is long. Much like Astride or Tales of Rein Ravine, the project has lots of passionate fans, and by extension its fair share of high expectations – I am very curious to see how the Early Access release will live up to them.
Mindev founder Jasmin is confident that the game will leave a positive impression: “Since the release of Closed Beta Update 0.3.0, we’ve received mainly positive feedback,” she tells me via Discord. “Any issues identified so far are minor and easy to fix or adjust.”
According to the game’s website Unbridled’s free Riding Demo, released in late 2021, was downloaded over 125’000 times within a year. The team’s Horse Designer tool released on Steam in 2023 as a preview and showcase and has received Very Positive reviews. A Kickstarter campaign in early 2024 was unsuccessful on the other hand, reaching only a bit over 7’000€ of a 35’000€ goal.
About why now is the right time to release into Early Access, Jasmin says that they have “now laid a solid foundation for all systems and visual aspects, making it easier to add new features. At this stage, it’s crucial to involve more people beyond our closed beta testers, to gather a wide range of feedback.”
Jasmin started the project on her own as far back as 2020, but Mindev Games has since grown into a team of four. With them, the project “quickly evolved beyond its original scope”, says the website. “Of course, we set our own boundaries and won’t overwork ourselves to implement every single suggestion,” Jasmin clarifies to TMQ. “We have clear goals, but the community's contributions will add that final polish to the experience.”
The game’s Steam page description doesn’t give a particularly detailed overview of features yet. Considering how many players in our niche have big ideas of what they want their ideal horse game to be, that always carries a certain risk of expectation mismatch and disappointment for those not already following the development super closely. At around 41’000 Wishlists, the game is bound to get a decent amount of visibility on Steam upon launch, likely reaching more people than “only” hardcore horse game fans.
A recent news post about the Closed Beta details starter quests, tack hangers, customization items and petting your horse and more as newly added features.
“We aim to create a polished game loop for the Early Access version,” Jasmin says, “including multiple ways to train your horse, earn money, and more.” Following the initial release, the next priorities will include more horse breeds, horse breeding, farming, competition and multiplayer maps, she adds.
They’re big plans for a small team, but I’m very eager to follow this early version’s reception and see what our community makes of it. If you also want to keep an eye on the project, make sure to add it to your Wishlist on Steam if you haven’t already or follow it on social media. And if you can’t wait until February, you can always join the Closed Beta via Patreon!