Horace, the Platforming Robot Who Will Capture Your Heart
By: Gianluca De Dominici
Tags: Gaming, Nintendo, Features, Nintendo Switch, Videogames

Horace, the Platforming Robot Who Will Capture Your Heart

This fantastic indie game for the Nintendo Switch is sure to touch you

I love indie games. One of the reasons that I bought a Nintendo Switch is my predisposition to play with these types of games wherever I am. So, when I saw Horace in the eShop, discounted for the Christmas period, I took the opportunity to check it out.

I didn’t know Horace. But immediately the game’s screenshots intrigued me.

At first glance, Horace seems a simple game, with rudimentary graphics and old-fashioned mechanics. The early game is full of dialogue, and you may think that is all it has to offer. But you would be wrong, as it delivers its best later when the story becomes most interesting.

Screenshot from Horace. Source: Gianluca De Dominici.

In the interest of avoiding spoilers, here is a basic summary of the game: Horace is a little robot, one of the many in this universe. His owner, a wealthy man, helps him to increase his capabilities. He teaches him to clean up the world from trash and also to play video games. Horace is happy. And slowly, as is seen in many films about robots, he begins to experience human emotions and sentiments and perhaps becomes himself a bit more human.

But all is destined to end. A major event changes his life and puts him on a quest to find and reunite with his family.

Here is the real beginning of the game. Horace is alone against the world. Will magnetic shoes, his love for games, and a hypnotic smile be enough to save his life?

Screenshot from Horace. Source: Gianluca De Dominici.

Horace exploits and renews the classic platform game mechanics: you have to overcome obstacles with jumps, objects, and choices taken at the right time. Moreover, if you want, you can exploit Horace’s abilities to break the classic mechanics of the genre to reverse the situation at any moment.

All of this with an inspired aesthetic and a well-told story that accompanies you throughout the game with cut-scenes and gameplay.

But what I really love about this game is:

Great quotes from movies and old-fashioned video games Horace’s sarcastic and irreverent tone Well-realized characters The moral behind the story The collection of different and enjoyable mini-games

The creators really worked hard to offer vastly different experiences in a single work. You pass rapidly from a platform section to a cabin cruiser situation, where the lives are limited and you risk restarting the game if you die accidentally.

Again and again, the further you go, the more the game amazes you and puts you as a spoke in the wheels.

Screenshot from Horace. Source: Gianluca De Dominici.

The further you go, the more the game grows and it pushes you to use all the gadgets and techniques that you have learned up to that point. Every situation is different and you have to choose the right approach.

Horace was a great discovery. It’s one of those games that inspires very few expectations, but rewards you with so much more. I never thought I’d get attached to a game so quickly.

Still now, almost at the game’s end, I am amazed by the ideas the creators introduce throughout the length of Horace. With a simple setting, with a minimal graphical style, they succeeded in kidnapping me and gluing me to the screen for many hours. I simply can’t wait to finish it!

So, I advise you to give it a chance. I’m sure it will amaze you.