The Infernal Whimsy of “The Pony Factory” — Game Recommendation

I must confess that I have a particular soft spot for good mashups of absurdist humor and weird horror. 

There’s something about a scene being both compellingly farcical and surreally dread-inducing that I can’t get enough of.

When it comes to such a niche, David Szymanski should enter the conversation sooner rather than later. From the remarkable shooter DUSK to the absolute dread of Iron Lung, David has made a name for himself as a man with a good eye for weird horror.

You might also know him for games like Squirrel Stapler. A title where you staple squirrels to the corpse of your wife, while you await the arrival of God. See? That’s the kind of morbid absurdism that I’m looking for.

So! The Pony Factory is a game in which you venture into a factory that makes ponies using magic and such. Where does the magic come from? From Hell, you see. I’m sure it’s going all great.

The game is a short 30 to 45-minute experience that has you shooting around some weird ponies and traversing the ruined remains of the facility trying to get something. Simple enough, right?

And it is. The weird premise props up what is essentially a tiny FPS campaign with quite a bit of shooting. The action’s occasionally broken up by quiet moments that allow you to keep moving, take a breather, and maybe find a thing or two to read.

Most of the story is told in simple notes left around the place, and while the premise isn’t anything novel, the weird mixture of whimsical ponies and allusions to hell and sin makes for a pretty amusing read.

The game’s simplicity shouldn’t be mistaken for shallowness, however. Inside The Pony Factory there is a quite fun shooting experience, facilitated by switching between using a flashlight and being able to shoot and some nice mechanics to how the gun itself works.

People attuned to the FPS genre might recognize the flashlight mechanic from the original release of Doom 3. While I do like Doom 3’s flashlight a lot, I think The Pony Factory gets away with it far better.

It’s all about the wonderful visuals, really. Szymanski’s decision to have most of the game in monochrome facilitates a greater focus on contrast and playfulness with the emerging dynamics.

In summary, The Pony Factory is short, fun, cheap, and quite interesting. I can’t ask for much more than that.

I’ve been a bit paranoid recently, though. I swear a squirrel was following me.

You can buy The Pony Factory on Steam here.

You can see more of our games coverage here.

Author: Walker M

Aspiring game developer and hobbyist writer. Perpetually doing too much. Chronically burnt out.

Argentinian. Passionate. Unbearable?

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