Hobby Horse

Hobby Horse released in full on Steam on June 2, 2026, from developer Games Incubator and publishers Games Incubator and PlayWay S.A., an arcade racing game built around the real-world subculture of hobby horsing: riders galloping on stick horses through obstacle courses of hurdles and jumps. It's a premise that provokes an immediate reaction, and reviewers were candid about it. "First thought when I saw this game was wtf am I looking at, then I laughed, then I put it in my wishlist," one wrote. Underneath the joke, though, the game earns a Positive rating from its 21-review English pool (20 up, 1 down, 95%), largely because it turns out to be a genuinely competent arcade racer rather than a one-note gag.

The most detailed review in the pool, an 8/10 write-up running well over a thousand words, laid out the structure clearly: "the game embraces the unusual nature of its subject instead of trying to present itself as a realistic equestrian simulator," building a loop around "running, jumping, improving skills, and creating increasingly elaborate obstacle courses." That reviewer praised how the systems reinforce each other, "running and jumping provide the immediate action, skill development creates progression, customization establishes personal identity, trophies represent accomplishments," while cautioning that the underlying mechanics stay intentionally simple throughout. Another reviewer, who posted a full video review, put it more directly: "underneath the silly concept is a pretty solid racer with drifting, jumping, boosts, and courses that actually take some skill to get good at," scoring it 8/10 and specifically praising the "surprisingly good racing gameplay."

Customization draws consistent, enthusiastic praise across the pool. Players can reshape their hobby horse's colors and accessories, dress their rider, and decorate a personal room that doubles as a trophy case for earned achievements. One reviewer summed up the appeal bluntly: "live your horse girl fantasy without the cleanup! You get the horse, the competitions, and the trophies without ever having to clean a stable." The Track Creator draws similarly strong marks, letting players build their own obstacle courses and share them via Steam Workshop, which the detailed 8/10 review called "the most important feature for long-term value," giving the game "considerably more replayability than relying exclusively on developer-made content." One shorter reviewer put it more simply: "the course editor is where I lost all self-control. Making ridiculous obstacle tracks and trying to beat them became my entire evening."

The clearest, most repeated request across the review pool by a wide margin is multiplayer, and its absence is treated as a real design gap rather than a minor wish. At least four separate reviewers raised it unprompted: one called it "the only thing missing," another wrote "it really needs co-op" since "racing hobby horses already feels like something I should be able to do with friends," a third asked for "some form of multiplayer, either a splitscreen, time trial with some friends, or an online competition," and a fourth simply asked "if we get multiplayer to race with friends that would be awesome." For a game whose core hook is an inherently social, slightly absurd physical activity, reviewers consistently felt the single-player-only structure undersells the concept.

Not every review was glowing. The pool's lone negative review, alongside the more measured of the two long positive write-ups, both raised real friction points. The negative reviewer, still broadly positive about the experience, reported that customization choices sometimes failed to save correctly, requiring a full redo, that a black jacket color rendered as red, and specifically asked for an additional body type option beyond the current one, noting it "is making me a little dysphoric." The other detailed reviewer, more measured about the game's staying power, warned that "the gameplay does not really evolve past the basic formula of going fast and moving onto the next map," that "the overall progression loop feels a bit flat after a while," and that many cosmetic unlocks are barely visible during actual races. Their bottom line was pragmatic: "you should probably buy this on a sale rather than paying full price."

On presentation, reviewers consistently described the game as colourful, accessible, and genuinely funny without leaning entirely on its premise to carry the experience. Courses span a mix of indoor sporting arenas, outdoor areas, and a connecting hub city, giving the campaign some visual variety even though the underlying obstacle-course structure stays consistent. Progression is gated behind trophies and skill improvements that the detailed 8/10 review called "easy to understand," which several shorter reviews echoed, describing the tracks as tuned to a length where a failed attempt never feels punishing enough to discourage another try. One reviewer highlighted a specific difficulty spike in the game's Gnome Town area that demanded mastering drifting and speed control, suggesting the courses do escalate meaningfully rather than staying flat throughout, even if the underlying mechanical toolkit itself doesn't expand much beyond what's introduced early on.

Taken together, Hobby Horse is a strong example of a joke premise executed with real craft, an arcade racer with genuine skill expression, deep customization, and a track creator with community legs, wrapped around a subject matter that could easily have been played for cheap laughs alone. Its biggest structural gap is the missing multiplayer that so much of its own audience is clearly asking for, and its core loop, while satisfying early on, may not hold everyone's attention once the novelty wears off. For players charmed by its central absurdity and willing to make their own fun with the track editor, it's an easy, low-stakes recommendation; for anyone hoping to race friends directly, it's currently a harder sell.