Hungry Horace Revisited
Pixel Games UK · 2020 · Arcade, Action, Pixel Graphics, Retro, 2D
Screenshots
About Hungry Horace Revisited
8-bit hero Horace is often considered the unofficial mascot of the ZX Spectrum. In later years he’d go skiing and battle spiders, but the 1982 game Hungry Horace – now remastered on Steam for your gaming pleasure – saw him run around a maze eating flowers, ringing alarms and avoiding angry parkies.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
Players are divided on this Horace port, with some enjoying it as a nostalgic throwback to 1980s gaming simplicity, while others criticize the awkward halfway approach between retro authenticity and modernization. Common complaints include uncomfortable default controls (cursor keys), questionable collision detection, poor sound quality, and the feeling that it doesn't accurately recreate the original Spectrum version. Those who appreciate it praise the charming character and the stress-free escape to a simpler era, though some feel the game would have been better served by either fully emulat
This port was produced by [b]Subvert Ltd.[/b], a company whose ownership of the Horace IP is dubious at best (probably best not to go into full details on this review). It's a pretty dreadful port of the original, which was itself a fairly naff clone of [i]Pac-Man[/i]. If you're going to do a conversion, go the whole hog and either make it as retro as possible, with the character-based movement and 4:3 aspect ratio of the original, or modernise it with new graphics and sound; don't leave in this halfway house, where smooth animation and alpha-blended pickup animations are jammed into the 1982 visuals like a square peg into a round hole. If you're really desperate to play this game, don't part ways with your cash - just download the original 16K tape version from the internet (don't worry, it's legal, Melbourne House have consented to its distribution). P.S: The game listing mentions the inclusion of a level editor, which I have been unable to locate. I would love to be corrected on this, not that it would help my opinions of the game-play.39 found this helpful
A superb throwback to a simpler era of gaming, this is a wonderful updating of a classic game.3 found this helpful
Took me straight back to 1983. Which was quite less stressful than 2025.1 found this helpful
Honestly they should have just stuck to emulating the original Spectrum game. This recreation was noticeably off from the original and felt weird to play.1 found this helpful
Horace on Steam! Controls: Awkward. Collision detection: Questionable. Sound: Awful. Just as you remember it. For the uninitiated, this is an odd Pac-Man clone but not entirely - some of the screens don't even have mazes. My biggest complaint is that the default controls are set to the cursor keys with no option to change them. (Edit: Thanks to a developer response I've found that good old QAOP works as well. This is of course authentic, but I'm finding it difficult to readjust to. Control remapping would still be good.) Achievements, to increase the long term appeal, wouldn't go amiss. Got to admit I have better memories of Horace Goes Skiing; hope that one is on the way as well, and more 8-bit games of this vintage.1 found this helpful
this is sorta like pacman but much more simple and with horace i really love horace he is cute hehe
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