Horace review for Nintendo Switch: A futuristic tale stuck in the past
Gameplay
The game itself controls fairly well. It is absolutely a platformer with the “primary” goal of Horace trying to pick up one million pieces of trash. Though, this is mostly the subplot that many characters use as a carrot on a stick to get Horace to do things for them.
It’s your standard run and jump gameplay but with a twist. Very early in the game, Horace receives anti-gravity boots that allow him to run around platforms completely altering his direction of gravity. For example, if you are standing on the side of a platform and fall, you will fall rapidly to the side until you finally find a wall which, as I found, is a very quick way to get around the overworld.
On the other hand, if you’re upside down in the overworld and you fall, you will…fall up and have a terrifying moment where they show the planet from orbit as your robot flies away, screaming silently as he rushes to great the eternal void.
One nice graphical feature they give you so that you don’t get confused is Horace’s tie. It took me a minute to notice it as a mechanic but the tie is the only part of Horace that doesn’t get affected by his gravitational field and will always point in the true direction of gravity. This also creates an adorable animation when you’re standing upside down where the tie dangles in his face, causing him to occasionally swipe at it so he can see.
My biggest qualm though is that when you’re not platforming but you are playing, you’re doing “homage” stages that are literally just old games barely teetering the line between homage and plagiarism.
There is a moment in the beginning where you play “Tabletop Tennis for 2” against an old man and it’s just Pong. You will play Space Harrier, Afterburner, Guitar Hero and more in moments that seemingly just hop out of the blue and don’t control as well as the rest of the game. Most of the time these moments just made me hyper-focused because I wanted to return to the normal game as quickly as possible.
Final Thoughts
Horace is good, especially at its low price point. The story, though occasionally very slow, is charming and you really start to feel for Horace as he develops as a character. The story is very sloppy with its rapid-fire pop culture references and quickly tired of waiting for the game to point out how many things from the ’80s and ’90s it knows about.
The constant need to give us familiar things also extends to the music which is almost entirely classical music in the free domain that’s slightly off-key — including one part which killed the music enthusiast in me where it was the slow build of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” over and over again without the exciting climatic bit. The soundtrack almost reminds me of watching PBS specials as a child, which is not the nostalgia trip I wanted to go on.
But like I said, it’s still an impressive game that is definitely unique and quite enjoyable once you get around its flaws.
Horace. 6.5. Horace is an enjoyable game filled with interesting platforming mechanics. Unfortunately, its fun platforming and brilliant pixel art are buried beneath a pile of constant pop culture references, an obsessive need for close-ups and a plethora of free domain music.. Paul Helman.
A copy of this game was provided to App Trigger for the purpose of this review. All scores are ranked out of 10, with .5 increments. Click here to learn more about our Review Policy.