When it comes to open world horse-riding simulations, The Legend of Khiimori isn’t Aesir Interactive’s first rodeo. While developing the Windstorm series, games about learning to take a stallion from a gentle canter to a spectacular gallop, the team found they often looked to Mongolia’s famed horse-riders for inspiration. 

These expert equestrians once struck fear all across Central Asia, and deserve to be more than a mere reference point. Creative Director Gérard Lehiany explains how, in collaboration with Mongolian historical institutes, The Legend of Khiimori gives them the starring role they deserve.

Back in 13th century Mongolia, people and horses were inseparable. It was practically a symbiotic arrangement—you’d struggle to traverse Mongolia's vast steppes without one, or survive its mountain passes without huddling close to the dependable warmth of your steed.

“For every game we've made about horses, we're like, ‘Wouldn't it be cool if you could actually jump on the side and grab things on the floor like the Mongolians used to do?’ But we could never dive into it. It wasn’t the game we were making,” Lehiany says. “This is a country that has a unique approach to how they ride horses and the relationship they have with them. We should visit this culture!”

In practically all instances, video game Mongolians have been synonymous with Genghis Khan and his Mongol Army. Instead of focusing on a martial period that risks overfamiliarity with one of history’s more fearsome figures, The Legend of Khiimori is set shortly after his death. “We didn't want to make a war game,” explains Lehiany. 

Instead of a warrior you play as Nara, a Yam courier whose duties involve delivering messages and cargo across the Mongolian steppes. It’s not an uneventful occupation—in fact it turns out to be as consequential as any battle faced by one of Genghis Khan’s commanders.

“That web of courier missions was actually the thing that made the country survive,” Lehiany says. “It's because all of those tribes interconnected right after the war, even during the war, that you could actually maintain a coherent country.”

That’s not to say this is just Death Stranding with horses. As part of the courier network, your noble responsibility makes you the conduit for information and technological innovations. The latest discoveries, whether that’s new forms of calligraphy or the knowledge to orient yourself and plan routes by looking towards the stars, all come through you.

Something it does share with Kojima Productions' engrossingly oddball delivery sim though (or the equally literal-minded walking sims that follow in its uncertain footsteps like Baby Steps) is a fixation on making traversal interesting with a highly intentional approach to route planning. This means Lehiany must confront the age-old dilemma of open world games: How do you make the act of getting from A to B fun?

It’s not solved by the mere act of putting the player on a horse, although the exhilarating speed and physicality you gain on horseback doesn’t do any harm. Instead it’s the sheer variety of terrain and wildlife, and the way your horse interacts with it. The Legend of Khiimori treats horses with the same complexity, detail and adoration racers like Gran Turismo reserves for their vehicles. 

“There are things that all play in combination. You have to study the things that you're carrying, and then look at the map with a different eye,” explains Lehiany. For instance, a high-endurance horse will open up steep inclines, while a horse gifted with strength can wade through river depths that would exhaust  faster and sleeker mounts, but those speedier mounts can jump ravines their heavier stablemates couldn’t dare to span. It’s all about that chaotic alchemy from the combination of the terrain, your horse’s ability, and the contents of your backpack.

And that’s not to mention what Lehiany calls “silent systems,” which imbue each horse with its own lively personality. With plenty of horse-riders on the team, they know what quirks to look out for. An untrusting horse will maintain eye contact to keep an eye on you, even contorting itself to do so when you adjust its saddle. Some frolic away the instant you dismount, others will wait in patient contentment.

In life and in The Legend of Khiimori, traits like these come down to genetics. Like their previous horse games, a horse breeding system is how players customise their steed to their personal preference. In some regards, it’s highly scientific. You’ll assess their traits and phenotypes, down to their genetic code. But in others regards, it holds some of the mystical beliefs of ancient Mongolia. When put out to stud, you may place a statue or set fire to a specific kind of herb to determine the offspring’s gender, or boost specific attributes.

It’s more than setting up mood lighting for two horses about to start their very own family. “It tells the story of their belief and their mysticism,” says Lehiany, who’s gone to great lengths to include Mongolian philosophy and folklore elsewhere, including the legends which arose around the reputedly formidable powers granted to whoever possesses Genghis Khan’s saddle.

It may not be a war game, but The Legend of Khiimori stops short of being nothing but a horse game, too. Historically, Mongolia was equally famed for its archers, but the weapon has a different meaning in a culture where animals slaughtered for meat are granted a respectful consecration ritual. A conscious redesign of the game's quests and crafting system was required to emphasise sustenance, not greed.

“Mongolia was extremely respectful of wildlife,” says Lehiany. “We've been respectful of that, and also in the balancing. Is there a moment where you just kill rabbits for nothing? No. We try to balance the game so you don't get into those behaviors.”

Their combat mechanics follow the same spirit. If a bear catches your scent, a lethal dispatch would surely empty your quiver. Instead, you’re encouraged to craft a gunpowder pouch to fire into the ground to scare it away, or make a cloud of smoke that disguises your scent beneath a sulphurous stench. You can escape, with the bear permanently logged on your map as a helpful reminder.

The Mongolian steppes and Gobi Desert, recreated in splendid fashion here, are known for their biting gales. Lehiany describes wind as the game’s “connective gel” for the way it underpins every system—and even the game’s very name, as Khiimori is Mongolian for a shamanistic entity called the Wind Horse. “The wind in Mongolia is extremely present. It speaks about a lot of things,” says Lehiany. 

Its effect on the game’s archery mechanics goes without saying—like many developers, the team was forced to gently rein in its hopes for truly realistic wind effects when powerful gusts forced players to aim in the opposite direction of where they hoped their arrow would land. “This is not that interesting, and also it makes it more difficult to use bows and arrows than in other games,” explains Lehiany. “And Mongolians are known to be really, really good at that, so we have to make sure that it's not super difficult to be good with a bow.”

In other respects, the wind system works as intended, with further refinements and mechanics planned after an imminent Early Access launch. A smoke cloud will get carried by the wind, a misjudged smoke arrow will cause it to float uselessly into the distance. Wildlife detects your presence from your airborne scent. An exposed passage into its path will demand greater endurance, just like wading through a river.

“You don't have a wind meter, but you can just look at your character. She has feathers and those kinds of things [on her outfit]. We're still trying to make it perfect, so the player doesn't even realize this is the information they’re reading. It's just natural. Same thing for the sound of the wind. The sound of the wind can definitely give you shivers.” 

Wrap up warm and wishlist The Legend of Khiimori now on the Epic Games Store ahead of its Early Access launch.