Horse Club Adventures 2: Hazelwood Stories Review

Game: Horse Club Adventures 2: Hazelwood Stories
Genre: Adventure, Simulation
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows), Xbox One and PS4/5)
Developer | Publisher: Wild River Games
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3+
Price: US $39.99 | UK £34.99 | EU € 39,99
Release Date: October 27th, 2022

Review code used, with many thanks to Honest PR.

The popular Schleich HORSE CLUB toys and characters are back in digital form. The second adventure from developer Wild River Games is Horse Club Adventures 2: Hazelwood Stories. This story revolves around a photography contest that you and your riding companions decide to enter.

Will it be a gallop to first place or a flat refusal at the fence?

Welcome to the Lakeside Riding Stables

You have returned for another vacation at the Lakeside Riding Stables. There to greet you are your riding companions, the HORSE CLUB girls, Sofia, Lisa, Hannah and Sarah. Although there are references to ‘you remember’ or ‘last time you were here, you don’t need to have played Horse Club Adventures to enjoy this sequel.

The main story takes place over ten days, with certain tasks to do each day. There is no clock, so you can trot around completing side quests and mini games, between the main activities. On the first day, the girls take you on a horseback tour around Hazelwood village. This is where you find out about the photography contest, and you decide to enter it as a team.

Each day you complete one or two main activities and take various photos. Sometimes you have the option to stay at the location and do more training or help with a task, or you can continue with the main mission.  Then on day nine, you submit your photos ready for judging the next day. Will you and the girls win?

With the winner announced, the main game basically concludes, however you can continue to play. On the eleventh (and everlasting) day, you are asked to deliver messages and items to various residents. This takes you on a circuitous route around the key places, and at each location, the resident reminds you of their outstanding side quests. It’s a clever way to help you complete the quests and close down the main story.

So Much To Explore

The map is large, and you have to scroll around to see the full extent of it. It is possible to put a marker on the map, which the on-screen compass will then point to. I did occasionally lose my companions, so the compass came in very useful! The map also shows the location of any activated mini games, together with the number of medals achieved.

One of my favourite locations is Mr O’Neill’s farm. Here you get to help him, and his husband set up a Western riding arena. As with all activities, you are guided through each step needed to complete it. At the farm, you need to paint poles, pick flowers and decorate barrels, before having a go at the slalom-type races.

There is also a daring cat rescue from the barn roof. Though I’m not sure I was meant to complete the task with my horse! The graphics are bright and vivid, and the autumnal colours work really well with the beautiful scenery.

Mini-Games, Races and Quests

Throughout the game, you get a chance to experience various equestrian disciplines.

The basic races challenge you to ride as quickly as you can through the checkpoints. Some of the races are part of the main story, but you don’t have to beat your companion to win. You can redo the race at a later point if you want to achieve more medals.

Hannah’s sister, Mia, challenges you to balloon-bursting races. Only a very simple one forms part of the main story. This is rather lucky, as I struggled to maintain accuracy and speed in these mini-games and ended up missing balloons.

I thoroughly enjoyed the dressage mini game. It’s all about pressing the appropriate button as it enters the circle, so timing is everything. As you are pressing the buttons, the horse dances and turns around the arena.

Show jumping is also about perfect timing, this time pressing the button as you approach the fence, ideally getting a perfect jump. However, I soon learnt that the 3-second penalty for missing the jump would not get any medals, so it’s better to jump earlier and settle for a zero-cost ‘good’ jump.

As well as the Western riding races at Mr O’Neill’s farm, you can also herd animals at the Animal Shelter, collect the golden horseshoes which are hiding all over the map, gather art supplies for the local artist, and help out at the stables. There are plenty of things to do!

Look After Your Horse

At most of the locations, there are grooming posts, so that you can clean your horse’s hooves and give them a quick brush. These activities are optional, but it does make the gallop ability last slightly longer.

It seems odd to be optional, but you can choose whether to feed and water your horse at the end of the day. It’s worth taking the extra minute to do this though, as you will have full gallops the next day.

One of the most endearing features is to feed apples to your horse. There are various apple trees located on the map and you simply pick up the fruit from the ground and then stand in front of your horse to trigger the action.

Feeding apples and giving an encouraging pat whilst riding helps to increase your friendship bond. I was hoping that this meant my horse was more responsive to movement, but I didn’t specifically notice this, although I haven’t achieved maximum friendship yet. So, there is still hope!

Gameplay

Just focusing on the main story will take about 5 hours to complete. However, this only gives about a quarter of the total number of medals, so there is plenty more time to invest in the game.

The game clearly explains what controls to use, and these are generally intuitive. You do have to be in the right place to do certain actions, but the interaction zone is generous, so I didn’t find myself struggling to get into the right spot.

The player’s character moved well and so did the horse (but I’m no expert in horse movement). However, I did notice some of the other characters skated to a halt and the wild animals slid across the paths, which did look amusing.

When riding with your companions, you have to keep relatively close together. At some points, I had moved too far ahead and had to return to find them.

Horse Club Adventures 2: Hazelwood Stories has both on-screen text and audio narration. It’s easy to understand, although some of the sentence structure is slightly odd in written English. The narration font size is fairly large, so it works well in handheld and docked modes. There is a selection of languages, and you can even listen to the game in one language, whilst reading a different one.

Room to Improve

The developer describes the game as an open world. There are lots of places to visit and you can wander about during the story, but there are invisible walls stopping you from going exactly where you want.  For example, you couldn’t ride through the wheat field, you had to travel around the edge. You couldn’t take a shortcut in the woods, you have to backtrack along the paths. At times, this was frustrating.

Backout from the races or mini games would be really useful. If you miss a balloon, or checkpoint or fail a jump, you know you won’t achieve 3 medals, but the game forces you to carry on.

When any of the characters are talking, their mouth moves, which is a really nice feature. However, their mouth generally stops before the speech ends, and I found it really weird to watch. I think I would prefer no movement, rather than being out of sync.

Customisation

When you start the game, you design and name both yourself and your horse.

There is a wide selection of hairstyles and clothes to choose from, so it took me quite a while to work out my initial look. You unlock more clothing options as you progress through the main story, complete quests and win medals. Luckily, there are plenty of clothes-changing areas dotted around, so you can update your appearance whenever you like. It was disappointing though that there weren’t more masculine options.

There are fewer things to consider when you design your horse, but still a good selection of options. Choose the colour and pattern of the horse’s coat, what style and decoration to have for its mane and tail, and select your saddle, saddlecloth and leg bandages. Again, more options will unlock as you progress.

Conclusion

Although the game is aimed at fans of the HORSE CLUB brand, Horse Club Adventures 2: Hazelwood Stories is a delightful adventure simulation game which will appeal to many younger gamers.  I’ve never had a great passion for horse riding, but I thoroughly enjoyed galloping around and participating in virtual horse events. The main quests are not overly challenging, but the mini games do get harder as you progress through the various levels.

Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot.