Care for, train, show, and breed beautiful horses in a colorful and enchanting world. The Ranch of Rivershine is the single-player horse game that “E-questrians” have been waiting for! Become the best cross-country rider in the town, lining your barn with first-place ribbons. Breed exotic, colorful foals of all sizes with unique personality quirks. Fully immerse yourself in your own training processes: from round pin to arena, and out into the world. Whether you want to play relaxed at your own pace or are looking for challenge in fast-paced competitions, you’ll find the gameplay style you’re looking for at Rivershine. Though still in development, the Ranch of Rivershine has so much to offer: hundreds of hours of gameplay, simple and easy controls, charming artwork, regular updates, and an exciting feature roadmap.
As with most horse games, you’ll need to take care of your horses: feed, brush, and muck their stalls daily. Fortunately, these tasks can be completed fairly quickly, so it isn’t much of a grind. There’s also a pasture alternative where horses graze for their meals. No mucking needed!
They can get feisty about where you brush them
Training is where the Ranch of Rivershine really stands out. There’s no facility where you drop them off to grow a specific skill – It must all be done by you! And it’s also very relaxing. You’ll spend time with each of your horses, riding or lunging, to get their skills up. There are four skills that gauge a horse’s overall performance: Speed, Endurance, Jump, and Flexibility. Train your horses in training zones, the round pin, or by riding all natural.
Much like real life, the round pin is the first step for foals and wild horses. You can lunge your horses with different techniques to level their various skills. Wild horses need to build trust in the round pin before you can ride them.
First person POV lunging, it’s like I’m there too!
The most efficient training method is to head out into the world and find training zones. There are training zones in each trail–I’ll explain the trails in greater detail later. Each trail has an assigned skill training zone that will quickly level the respective skills.
The flexibility training zone in the Rocky Mountains
You can level skills until your horse’s energy is depleted. Then you can either feed them a treat, let them rest at the hitching post, or put them away until the next day. There’s also lots of different supplements you can add to your horse’s feed to increase training efficiency. As you train and breed better performing horses, you can compete and win in more advanced shows.
There are frequent updates on the jumping animations and mechanics
Bring home the victory and glory of those first place ribbons! All shows in the Ranch of Rivershine are cross country events. You ride through vast landscapes, jumping obstacles, in timed trials. In total, there are 20 different races, ranging from beginner to expert. Achieving first place isn’t always easy, even with a well-trained horse. In fact, many players have voiced frustrations at the difficulty of the shows. You’ll need practice to fill your barn with those first place ribbons. Alternatively, for players who aren’t interested in competitions, there is an option to progress through the game’s quests with farming achievements.
The tale end of the expert rocky mountain competition
What horse game would be complete without breeding? As with most horse games, breeding is the best part! There is an extensive catalog of beautiful color and pattern options: Tobianos, Roans, Chocolate Palominos. There are hundreds of color and overlay combinations. Some genes are only available on wild horses so you’ll have to go out, catch them, and add them to your breeding program.
Just a few of the pattern and color combinations in Rivershine
Though fairly accurate, the genetics system is not completely true to real life. It’s a simplified, based-on-reality system. Not all color names are real (Apricot Dun, I’m looking at you). The developer, Éloïse, has stated she doesn’t “want to be restricted by making it 100% realistic and will keep flexibility with how genetics work.” E-questrians can be very passionate about the accuracy of genetics, but I prefer this method for Rivershine. It’s a charming vibrant little world where Éloïse is completely free to express creativity in her colors and patterns. In addition to colors, there are size and personality factors to breeding. There are 20 personality traits with differing special effects on the horses. Each horse has three traits that may be passed onto its foals. My favorite is “Mysterious: Never Poops.” The sizes range between 14 and 16.2 hands and each foal will have an average size of its parents. Want a 14H Dappled Overo Buttermilk Dun who’s strong, mysterious, and competitive? You better get breeding!
Breeding beautiful horses isn’t where the customization stops! You can outfit your horses with halters, pads, wraps, and blankets in 10 different colors. They even wear their blankets around the barn and pasture.
I love to give my horses themes and matching colors
Beyond the ranch gates lies a fully fleshed out world to ride through and discover. In town, there are non-player-characters (NPCs) to give you quests and sell items. You can buy your tack, feed and shavings, and even more horses!
Shin Dae, owner of the Old Saddlery || A hitching post to keep the horses from wandering
There are currently 4 trails leading from town and your ranch. Each has its own charming little world to explore: Lupine Meadows, Rocky Mountain, Pine Forest, and Crystal Lake. The trails each have training zones, hidden loot chests, and the potential for wild horses. The wild horses in each trail have special regional genes: sabino, buckskin, dapples, and unique paint variations. There are also NPCs in some of the trails offering ranch upgrades and special farming supplies. There is one more trail scheduled to be added, as per the roadmap: The Azure Coast. This one will have rabicano wild horses – A favorite gene of mine!
From graphics and animation to programming, the Ranch of Rivershine has been fully developed by a one-woman army: Éloïse.
Éloïse has her own production company called, “Cozy Bee Games,” where she’s fully developed four separate, adorable games. From bunnies to capybaras, spas to restaurants, her games are the perfect blend of charming, relaxing, and just so cute! I recommend joining her active discord community to get the latest game updates and information, straight from the horse’s mouth. She often asks for community insight when designing features, and is very transparent about her progress. Éloïse has been pushing consistent updates for Rivershine, averaging one major roadmap update per every 60 days. In addition to feature updates, she is quick with bug fixes and animation improvements.
I can’t wait for those alternating colors || The crafting UI looks simple and easy to navigate
In the next update, ranchers can expect two new exciting features: Mane and tale customization, and crafting! Éloïse. is hard at work implementing different hairstyles and dying options for your horses. You will be able to traverse the lands hunting colored flowers, craft them into dyes, and apply them to your horse’s mane and tail. Want a hot pink mane on a black horse? Or maybe some alternating colors? The possibilities will be endless(ish)! As Éloïse continues to expand and refine the game, we can look forward to many more exciting features.
So saddle up, fellow e-questrians! Whether you’re breeding the perfect color, training for a barn full of first-place ribbons, or simply enjoying a ride through Lupine Meadows, the Ranch of Rivershine is waiting for you to make it your own. Happy trails!
The Pony Express 