8 games with awesome horses, in honor of the year of the horse!

As anyone reading this site likely knows, today marks the first day of the Chinese New Year. That means news out of Asia is likely to be a bit slow for the next week or two as many gamers, reporters, and developers are home with their families enjoying the holidays, but it also means that now we’re in the year of the horse. And what better way to celebrate the year of the horse than by playing some sweet games that feature horses?

(I picked eight because it’s the most auspicious number, 恭喜发财 everybody!)

Red Dead Redemption

In Red Dead, horses aren’t just featured, they’re pretty much your only means of transportation! But that’s fine because your horse in this game will come when you call, and you can buy increasingly speedy (and beautiful) horses as you rack up cash doing Old West-y things in what might be the best game ever from Rockstar (and yeah, I’ve played all the Grand Theft Auto games). Annoyingly, Red Dead Redemption never got a PC port, so you’ll need access to a PS3 or an Xbox 360, but it’s definitely worth it.

Plus, fun bonus: if you grab the Undead Nightmare expansion DLC, you’ll also get to play with the four horses of the apocalypse. And speaking of those guys…

Darksiders

Darksiders is a really fun mash-up of a lot of the past decade’s best action games, but one of the coolest aspects of the game is that you (War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse) get to ride Ruin. Ruin, who, you see above, is pretty much the world’s most kickass horse—when you need him he emerges from the ground in a burst of flames and then stays more or less perpetually on fire. In such an over-the-top game, I guess it makes sense that even the horses would be over the top!

Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow is another extremely memorable game that heavily features horses, or more specifically one horse: Agro. Agro isn’t just a means of transportation, he’s a key factor in some of the game’s battles. Beyond that I don’t want to say too much because this is truly a wonderful game that I don’t want to spoil for those who haven’t played it. But take my word for it: if you want to have a fun and thought-provoking year-of-the-horse adventure on horseback, Shadow of the Colossus would be a great place to start.