Imagine it, another perfect day. A sun filled day of adventure. Nothing but the rolling hills and your friends. You are a horse and nothing bad could ever happen to a horse. There is nothing strange going on and no secrets to uncover. After all, you’re just a horse.
YOU ARE A HORSE
This is the set up for TÖLT. A game from ENIGMA STUDIO. The game features a surreal, PS1 art style and at least in the beginning it is just about a horse. You begin in a house with a sign informing you that: YOU ARE A HORSE. Very helpful. You can also visit the mirror to customize your horse. (I gave mine a top hat.) You are able to run around the world and do horse things with your horse friends.
BUT IS THAT ALL?
Our first clue that something else may be going on here is our best friend Horace. Who claims “you have been going through a lot lately.” This is where the game introduces you to the dialogue system. Yes, the horse game has dialogue trees. You can respond to Horace in various ways. Although I am not trying to spoil everything so I won’t go into the various ways this dialogue system is used throughout the demo. That’s right, this is just a demo.
A DEMO ABOUT HORSE THINGS!
As you meet Holly and Horace and the other horses, the game continues with this unmentioned time away that the player horse, Spark, has gone through. Nobody elaborates on it but something bad seems to have happened. While everyone is very taken with being happy to have you back and wanting to run around and eat grass. The surreal world feels off. After meeting Holly you are allowed to explore more at your own pace. The goofy world is full of subtle hints that something else is going on.
STRANGE THINGS ARE AHOOF
The game doesn’t force you to do anything. You can explore as you please and the day will progress. As the day goes on, things will move and change. Someone or something might be in a new place or you might miss an opportunity to do something. You quickly learn that something strange is up with the humans in the nearby town. Perhaps it is something you can look into. Or maybe you’re fine staying in the meadow.
IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE GRASS?
While TÖLT is a demo, it has quite a lot to explore and discover. There are a lot of strange and unsettling surprises to find. I am sure I didn’t find everything. If you enjoy discovering things on your own and at your own pace. I recommend downloading it. Look around, see what you can find, it’s a great day to be a horse. Surely nothing bad could happen, right? You definitely won’t find existential horrors and multiple unique endings. Definitely.
Play The TÖLT Demo on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3812490/TLT/
Check out our last ponirific article from Kaden about Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure:
Meet the Horses of the Steel Ball Run (JOJO’s Bizarre Adventure)
