Horace

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Horace is a Platformer where players take the role of a robot (who looks like a life-size LEGO figurine) trying to make sense of the world while doing right by the people around him. This game was released on PC in 2019 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2020.

Horace features a delightful presentation that uses pixel art visuals that manage to convey a lot of emotion with very little fidelity thanks to some nice subtle animations that really bring out the personalities in its characters, as well as an abundance of little references to various videogames, movies, and other pop culture references. This is paired with a nice chiptune soundtrack filled with digitized versions of classical tunes, and a digitized voice for Horace himself, who narrates the game.

However, the real surprise with the presentation is just how moving this game’s story is, with Horace himself clearly well-meaning but lacking the ability to fully process everything that’s going on around him, and the various characters in his life filled with personality that he may not entirely understand, but the player likely will. This is given deeper meaning when it becomes clear that Horace himself is unwittingly at the center of world events that are far darker and more portentous than his innocent personality can grasp. However, along the way you’ll find plenty of wonderful, funny situations and some really great writing.

This wonderful story is paired with some really good Platformer gameplay that grows and evolves as the game moves forward, with one of the biggest things this game does mechanically being a gravity-shifting mechanic that can make getting around areas a bit of a fun puzzle sometimes. Plus, players have an overarching mission to clean up as much junk as possible, giving this game a bit of a collecting mechanic as well.

I suppose my one complaint about Horace is that in many ways it is like a Metroidvania, with backtracking involving new abilities that enable you to go places you couldn’t… but the game feels a bit too linear to be a true Metroidvania, and the way the game only halfway commits to this style of game design just means you get some of the tedium of a Metroidvania without any real sense of the genre’s exploration.

Still, I have to say that this is a fairly minor complaint. Overall, Horace is a brilliant, fun Platformer with a great story, a fantastic sense of humor, and a lot of heart. And while I wish its world design could decide between emphasizing exploration or linear play, it’s still a wonderful game well worth playing.

tl;dr – Horace is a Platformer where players take the role of a robot trying to make sense of the world, help others, and clean up junk. This is a wonderful Platformer with a surprisingly moving and funny story and great characters. It can’t fully seem to decide if it wants to be a Metroidvania or a more straightforward Platformer, but either way this game is a phenomenal Platformer well worth playing.

Grade: A-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2020 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Platformer, Best Story

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