Horses have a very special aura—but this magnificent creature was apparently too much of a good thing.
As we all know, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. In this case, however, potential buyers seem to be looking only at the horse – and it’s not even being given away for free.
This almost hypnotic horse was originally planned for the game packaging of Atelier Lulua – The Scion of Arland. The horse was actually only supposed to serve as a nice background for the main character Lulua, who is running in front of the carriage. Anyone looking for the horse on Steam or on the game packaging, you’ll notice that the poor horse has simply been cut out.
As artist Mel Kishida explains on X now reveals six years after release that the horse was too distracting:
In this image, the horse was mostly cropped out because I was told that people’s eyes were drawn more to the horse than to the character.
←仮パッケージ 製品版→ https://t.co/RSPc2YfBBy pic.twitter.com/n10Z1YXAXs
— かおりんりゃん (@kity_tea_) November 1, 2025
In a way, this is almost a compliment to Kishida: the horse simply looks too good. The community and horse enthusiasts naturally cannot accept this injustice to the animal (and perhaps also to the artist).
So user kity_tea_ did a little research and discovered the original prototype of the game packaging, including the horse. You can see the comparison with the published version above. Other fans are engaging in creative protests. For example, shibu posted a new version of the cover on X that gives the horse the spotlight it deserves:
It is highly unlikely that publisher Koei Tecmo will give the horse a chance after six years, at least on Steam and in the Nintendo eShop, and use the original artwork. But fans still want to see some action and get the ball rolling. Even if the players may have gotten a little carried away here. And that’s enough puns for one paragraph.
How do you feel when you look deep into the dark eyes of this stoic horse? Does the animal also have a hypnotic effect on you, completely distracting you from the rest of the image, or are you completely indifferent to the horse? Feel free to let us know in the comments!
