HORSE CLUB Ride West is a family-friendly open-world horse adventure developed and published by Wild River Games, the studio behind the Horse Club Adventures series. You explore the Western landscape around the Wild River Ranch, help old and new friends, take on riding disciplines like barrel racing and pole bending, and work toward the crown at a big Western riding tournament.
Our verdict: saddle up for a charming horse adventure that captures the appeal of the HORSE CLUB series with genuine Western exploration and friend-driven storytelling. Just know going in that it’s a different kind of Horse Club game, and not every change is for the better.
Horses Come First
Everything revolves around the horses, and that’s exactly right. Six of them are waiting to be ridden, and each one has its own character, traits and story. Once you unlock the second horse you can switch whenever you like, so you can stick with a favourite or bring all six along. The longer you ride and sprint, the better your horses get, so exploring has a purpose beyond sightseeing.
The one catch, for series fans, is that there’s no horse of your own this time. In earlier games you had a dedicated horse to name and care for. Some players miss that badly, while others feel the six horses’ personalities more than make up for it. You can still customise their looks.
What’s Changed Since Horse Club Adventures 2
👍 Better This Time
- Real gaits, plus reversing (Adventures 2 only let you canter)
- Smoother controls and less janky animation
- A bigger, more varied map to explore
- Horses that genuinely improve through training
- Award points instead of rosettes
- Non-riding side activities
👎 Fans Miss
- The Schleich-style art (the new cel-shaded look is a big change)
- Diary entries, now replaced by a narrator
- Your own named horse
- The whole club riding together
- A busier world, with more NPCs and familiar faces
- The old price: it’s $10 more than previous entries
The narrator is the most divisive change. Instead of diary entries, a narrator frames each day and keeps chiming in with what the horses and the dog are thinking. It’s cute at first, but long-time players say it slows conversations down and can make it feel like you’re playing a character in someone else’s story rather than living your own.
Is It Really “Western”?
Partly. The setting is pure Wild West, the horses are Western breeds like Quarter Horses, Appaloosas and Paints with Western saddles, and the store page promises you’ll learn Western riding. But one player who rides Western in real life pointed out that the tutorial focuses on show jumping, and the main Western discipline at launch is gymkhana-style events, which earlier games already had. If you were hoping for reining or Western trail, it’s not here yet.
🐎 Minor spoiler: there’s a secret horse (click to reveal)
Where It Stumbles
Things to Know Going In
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
| The Good | The Bad | The Ugly |
|---|---|---|
| Six Horses to TrainEach with its own personality, and they genuinely improve as you ride and compete. | No Key RebindingA real problem on keyboard and mouse, especially for archery. | Quest BugsAt least one bug that blocks an achievement and leaves a marker stuck on screen. |
| Real GaitsWalk, trot, canter, gallop and reverse, a big step up for the series. | The NarratorSlow, chatty and divisive, in place of the much-loved diary. | AI-Assisted CutscenesDisclosed on Steam, and they clash with the game’s art style. |
| Smarter CompetitionsTime-based award points instead of rosettes, and side activities for non-racers. | Less of a “Club”You ride with one friend at a time, and the world feels emptier. | A Price Jump$10 more than earlier entries for a fairly short story. |
| Runs on a PotatoVery well optimised, with tiny system requirements and a good Steam Deck report. | Light on Western RidingWestern breeds and saddles, but mostly gymkhana-style events. | — |
| Truly Family FriendlyEasy to pick up, playable in short bursts, with a cosy, funny tone. | Weak Quest ToolsNo quest log, a weak compass and slow NPC guides. | — |
The Verdict
HORSE CLUB Ride West gets the most important thing right: the horses. Six characterful horses to ride and train, proper gaits, a big map to explore and a smarter competition system make it the best riding game in the series. It’s cosy, funny, easy to pick up and runs on just about anything, which makes it a great pick for younger players and horse-loving families.
It also loses some of what made the Horse Club games special. The Schleich look, the diary, your own horse and the feeling of the whole club riding together are gone or reduced, and the slow narration, missing key rebinding, weak quest tools and AI-assisted cutscenes take some shine off. At $24.99 for a fairly short adventure, long-time fans may want to wait for a sale.
The honest read: a charming, horse-first adventure that’s easy to recommend to families and horse lovers, with a few too many trade-offs for series veterans. If none of the downsides above are dealbreakers, saddle up.
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