Horse Magnifier: The Full Horse PC (Final)

This is a non-jokey review from someone who didn’t play the demo either. If you’re looking for a completely serious review of this questionably serious game, this is it. Horse Magnifier is an innovative, relaxing puzzle game in which, as the title suggests, different kinds of magnifying glasses are used to distort images of horses to match the goal. Horse Magnifier: The Full Horse describes itself as an experience, but it is an actual, functional game, containing 54 levels (the last level, the 54th, actually has 4 sub-levels) that get more difficult the further you progress.

The jokes don’t overstay their welcome, and the developer’s comments on some of the levels, as well as the hint system, are very friendly. The soundtrack and sound effects are fitting and pleasant. The new kinds of mirrors introduced every few levels ensure that Horse Magnifier: The Full Horse doesn’t get boring partway through a session. There are many different mirrors and filters (shrinking, expanding, portal, color-change, etc.), and the later levels use two or more different types as the difficulty increases.

Presets can be used, or custom pictures can be imported from the device. The level editor is mostly intuitive and simple to use after spending some time playing Horse Magnifier: The Full Horse. The images of the horses in the puzzles also change every level after the first couple of levels, so it’s not the same image of a horse being distorted in different ways. The hint system, which makes players wait 60 seconds and encourages them to keep trying instead of giving an exact pointer to what’s wrong, is a great choice for a game like this. It nudges players in the right direction without simply giving away the solution.

The sounds also stack, so spamming the button results in a lot of very loud, overlapping neighs. There are gag levels every so often where the tools have to be used for something different instead of copying the expected image, such as doing an X-ray, feeding the horse, or swatting a fly-sized horse. The settings include accessibility options such as a colorblind toggle. The different types of mirrors are usually distinguished by the color of their frames at Horse Magnifier: The Full Horse, but enabling the toggle labels them with letters instead.