
Steam news
Full Steam announcements and update articles for this title.
BETA BRANCH BUILD
A few quick fixes for the Beta branch modpack test. There's already some super ponies from some cartoon or other on the Workshop you can try out. * Folder names have been made a bit more coherent. The folders now also tell you how many ponies are in that folder.
* Bug where random ponies would generate with leftover modded bits fixed.
* Bug that meant loaded ponies wouldn't occupy slot 40 fixed.
It's been hugely helpful that some users have uploaded modded ponies I can test with. Many thanks to you!
nb: There are some new features also included in the Beta branch, but some of them are not yet implemented fully, so don't be shocked if something doesn't appear to work!
The beta is work in progress and for testing, but you can try out making and sharing unique ponies. To test out Cheerilee:
1 - Subscribe to Miss Cheerilee, if you can't find her she's here: https://steamcommunity.com/id/catfoodmcfly/myworkshopfiles/?appid=2076260
2 - In Steam, right-click SH2, from the menu choose "Game Versions & Betas" and change to the Beta version. The game will reinstall.
3 - in the Pony Editor go to SET and then IMPORT PONIES FROM STEAM WORKSHOP FOLDER
4 - Find Miss Cheerliee's Folder, click on it and as if by magic everyone's favourite Schoolmarm should appear. Note that you can now add ponies to sets without them all being deleted anymore, she will just drop into the first empty slot she finds.
5 - You can now play with Miss Cheerilee. That's the theory anyway, this has been rather tricky to implement but she SHOULD work!
TO ADD A WORKING MODDED PONY TO THE WORKSHOP (Looking at you, Applebloom Gaming!)
Save your modded horse as a QR code from the Pony Editor and it appears as before in your documents/slaughterhorse2/ponies folder, but now should include a new file called yourpony'sname.modpack
Upload the QR code AND the .modpack from the SteamWorkshopUploader tool in the SH2 files. Do not include anything else, all the mods are safely stored in the modpack (it's just a zip file, so you can peek inside if you like). You can include multiple ponies (again, in theory)
Good luck!
The Changelog for the Beta... FEATURES
* If you win, depending on if you spared anyone one of the other two SynthV songs will play, to join Mai's death tune for when you are hanged.
* A third pet is now enabled. Lord Schmooze is a creature of madness. Send him to spy on a pony and he will always learn their sanity as well as anything else - and damage it in doing so. Against that, he has no idea what friendship is and can never discover it.
* If you end up with a special somepony, they now have a unique background on the roster, just in case you forget.
* There are two new items that can be obtained and combined for another sneaky bonus. I'm not telling you how, though! \
* Importing Workshop ponies into a set will no long delete all the ponies already there. They will take up the first free slot they find instead, so now you can add single Workshop ponies to your sets.
* Speaking of which, if you create a modded pony you can now share it with everyone on the Steam Workshop! Just make sure when you upload to the workshop you upload the QR image AND the .modpack for your pony which you will find in your documents/SlaughterHorse2/Ponies folder. The .modpack contains all mod graphics and information for your unique horse.
GAMEPLAY
* Sanity bonus for a direct murder has been increased from 10% to 15%.
* Torture stats for non-super effective tools have been nerfed a bit. Super effective ones will still drastically drop both resistance and life force.
GRAPHICS
* The Night Mare has a new lighting effect on her screen, if you weren't reading this now you probably wouldn't have even noticed - but it's there!
BUGFIXES
* Bug where pony mods would appear black fixed.
* Bug fixed where the Tonsorialist event would make the pony bald even if you didn't meddle.
* Fixes for Killing a Best Friend and the amount of ponies killed achievements put in, hopefully they should work now.
* Bug fixed where attempting to kidnap a visitor when you already had a victim in the basement would softlock the game.
* The basement radio will now play when switched on even if you have music volume set to zero.
ACHIEVEMENTS
* Several new ones added (but not yet live!)
Hello! If you have the volume 2 of the soundtrack, it should soon update with a 'disc 2'. This is the 'Death to the Ponies!' EP of four more songs which will appear as endgame music in the next update. These songs have vocals, made using SynthV Pro 2, with Kasane Teto, GUMI and Mai.
Merry Horsemas.
=Catfood=
Hello. There is now a beta branch for SH2, so I can try stuff out for the intrepid without risking stuff on the default game branch.
To try a beta version, right click SH2 in your library list, then "properties", "Betas" and choose a beta. Currently there is only the first one - 20,11,2025
(This has only just been added, so if now beta option is showing you might have to quit and restart Steam)
This build 20.11.2025 is an attempt to see if the main game can be made more stable, including losing general crashes and avoiding the loss of all sound bug. It also uses an advanced renderer which may help with game speed.
The trade off for this build is that *no Steam plugin versions will currently function*. This means no Steam achievements or statistics. I'm trying to see if it's possible to get around this, but if not it may be I have to give up Steam functions IF it means the game works more reliably.
I've had a couple of suggestions on how to fix this though, so I'll keep trying. So if you've had a lot of issues with crashes, please give this build a try - and let me know if it's still just as bad or indeed things have improved via the bug report on the in-game options screen or directly at [email protected] =Catfood=
Hello! I wasn't planning to update quite so soon, but there's a couple of fixes with this one that especially impact new players, so here it is. GAMEPLAY: The Visitor will now block you as she should if she visits. However, it plays out like a free cake shop invitation - you will have the option to deal with her as you see fit.
BUGFIX: Fixed an issue where trying to design a shop logo for the first time gave you a missing file error.
BUGFIX: Fixed an issue where the game window would open incorrectly, preventing you from getting past the opening update screen.
ATTEMPTED BUGFIX: All sound effects have been converted from ogg to wav files. I'm hoping this might prevent the complete loss of sound bug, so let me know how that goes either way.
TTFN
=Catfood=
Greetings, horse people. Slaughter Horse 2 now has community items available. I've used the maximum limit of 15 cards which will make crafting badges kind of a trek I know, but it so happened to be the size of the mane cast so it seemed churlish to leave anyone out! Emojis, badges and backgrounds too. Enjoy. =Catfood=
Hello, Horse Hackers! I've just uploaded a very small update that mostly fixes a couple of workshop issues. CUSTOM SETS: When starting the game, you can now swap positions of ponies in the sets with the right mouse button. This is useful if you have a big pony set, but want to play a 20 pony game with specific members of the cast.
CUSTOM SETS: There was a small issue with the QR codes that meant some ponies wouldn't load. This should be fixed, so now all 40 of Peezer's magnificent Ponyville Pack will load!
BUGFIX: If you select a house and then go into FPP view, the house will be deselected. This also prevents an error connected for getting too close to the Lookout or attacking things you decided not to.
BUGFIX: Made the initalising window center itself.
Greetings. Here is another small update fixing a few things and improving on others. GRAPHICS: Stallions now have a different body type to mares. They are a little chunkier, stallion pegasi have bigger wings. This will be automatically applied to any custom ponies you already have.
GAMEPLAY: On the town screen at night, you can now see where the Lookout is patrolling which makes more sense and reduces being annoyingly blocked. Don't get too close!
GAMEPLAY: On the town screen, if you click a pony to keep their roster card up it no longer covers the movement instructions.
GAMEPLAY: The Basbousa cake now works correctly, and if a basbousa pony is alone in their house you will see a particle effect. Time to strike!
GAMEPLAY: Fixed race roles should now work, so the Magician is always a unicorn, the Noble will never be an Earth pony and the Mule is always an Earth pony. This applies to custom ponies too, so if your AJ suddenly has wings or your Bonbon a big old horn, now you know why!
GRAPHICS: The wind changes daily and affects smoke and snow. As the thaw gets closer, the snowfall gets thinner.
GRAPHICS: The crematorium particles have been restored, so if the Undertaker is busy in the morning you'll see the smoke. Mmm! Smells like Ma's chicken.
TEXT: Error in one of the Disciple's murder texts fixed.
Ahoy. Here is another small update. WORKSHOP: In your documents/slaughterhorse2/workshop folder, a new folder called 'import' will appear. Drop into this any QR pony images you wish to import (to a maximum of 40), then on the custom pony screen ingame, click 'set' then navigate to an empty set. The 'trash all ponies' icon will be replaced with an 'import' icon. Clicking this will load all QR ponies from your import folder to the set.
BUGFIX: Fixed an issue where winning would softlock you on the roster screen.
BUGFIX: Clicking on notes after the hitlist no longer garbles the text.
BUGFIX: Fixed bug where Reporter snooping on your house would sushit you even if you were in.
GAMEPLAY: Tips now restored so new players have some idea what the heck is going on.
GRAPHICS: Various graphical changes/additions. Tidied up some of the manes.
*KNOWN ISSUES*
Currently, the Magician can spawn as a race other than Unicorn and the Noble as an Earth pony.
The Magician does not yet attack you, as I have yet to fathom out how this is going to work!
Cakes need work.
Torture works, but is unfinished.
Sound bug: The sound/music will sometimes cut out completely until you restart. This is related to the engine rather than the game and I'm trying to find ways to prevent it.
Hello! Here is the promised Friday update. Still plenty of work to do, but reports seem to indicate the game is much more stable (!) now. So here's what's new.
FEATURE: There is now a Steam Workshop for SH2, where you can upload and subscribe to other player's ponies. ** THIS IS STILL UNDER TESTING! ** Packs you subscribe to should appear in your Documents>slaughterHorse2>Workshop folder to import via the QR loader on the Custom Pony screen. To upload your own QR code ponies, in the "Steam>steamapps>common>Slaughter Horse 2>SteamWorkshopUploader" folder is the app to submit packs to the workshop. Let me know how you get on!
As of now, it's single QR code ponies only - not whole sets, although you can put more than one QR pony in a workshop pack. I'll take a look at that later.
BUGFIX: Bug where you could murder a pony who was already dead.
BUGFIX: Options button no longer shows up on update bulletin.
BUGFIX: Pet names should now be remembered correctly, as is your chosen pony set and town name.
BUGFIX: If you send your pet to raid the crematorium and they find it empty, you can now exit without being trapped in there.
BUGFIX: A visit from the Preacher now blocks you correctly.
GAMEPLAY: You should now not find yourself being constantly hanged when there is generally low suspicion in the town unless you are in fact more suspicious or insane than anyone else.
FEATURE: If you click on a fanart poster in the kitchen, you now get a better look at it.
GRAPHICS: Full Investigation particles restored.
GRAPHICS: When your pet raids the crematorium, you now see a third-person view of them.
GRAPHICS: A little glow-up for the Night Mare.
MUSIC: Night Mare's loop changed to something more sinster and less elevator music.
*KNOWN ISSUES*
Currently, the Magician can spawn as a race other than Unicorn and the Noble too.
The Magician does not yet attack you, as I have yet to fathom out how this is going to work!
Cakes need work.
Torture works, but is unfinished.
Hello! I was going to hold off until Friday for the next update, but I think this build fixes some issues so fundamental it can't really wait.
There are still many bugs on the list, thank you to all who submitted them via the in-game bug report (it does actually work!) and I will be addressing bugs in the game rather than bugs that BREAK the game more - I hope, There's even some new fun stuff. Here be a list.
(PS: There will still be another update this Friday)
=Catfood=
VISUAL: The AGK particle pack plugin looked nice, but was causing endless issues for users, added a lot of weight to the game, ate memory and caused slowdown so it has been now been removed entirely. I'll be replacing them over time with the in-app particle system which doesn't cause such issues.
VISUAL: Snow on town screen reworked. Much less demanding.
FEATURE: You can now make Bat ponies, via the ALT button on the custom pony maker. This is purely cosmetic - their race will still be considered Earth/Unicorn/Pegi in game.
ALTERATION: You don't have to be quite so close to the drink machine to activate it.
MAPFIX: Fixed the wedge point between the burger stand and oat stall, floating trees next to crematorium now grounded.
BUGFIX: The Hayseed tail on the custom pony maker is now restored.
BUGFIX: Attempted to fix a bug where the sound would stop completely. Works on my tests, but let me know if it still crops up for you.
BUGFIX: The title music should now definitely stop when you start the game!
BUGFIX: Fixed an issue where the shader plugin would endlessly create unused images, gobbling the memory and causing slowdown after a while playing.
BUGFIX: If the thaw arrives, the game will now end correctly. And it ain't good for you!
GRAPHICS: A few small additions and alterations.
Vishnu Studio, which used to work fine now upsets virus checkers something fierce. The checkers interrupting the unpacking appeared to cause some issues and made files go missing. I have now updated the game with a different packing method that seems to be less twitchy. As ever, let me know if things work or don't!
=Catfood=
Players with certain graphics cards have been having errors caused by the 3D particle plugin. For now, I've hacked in a function to switch it off. The game won't be quite as pretty but hopefully will run! To use it, hold ESC as the game is loading. If for some reason that doesn't work and it crashes again, it should detect a failure to load and bring up the option on the next run. Switch off the particles in the dialogue that appears and let me know if it worked for you! Other quick bugfixes: >Ponies should no longer be generated with horrible empty white eyes.
>Fixed a crash in the church caused by a duplicated object.
>Fixed an issue where text appeared in the background during the Preacher vs Spy scene.
=Catfood=
Greetings! The next build of Slaughter Horse 2, Early Access 0.13 is now live. First off...
I'm really sorry if you're getting anti-virus messages! Windows Defender apparently now HATES AppGameKit and will complain! All I can tell you is there is NO virus or anything else horrid in this game!
With that out of the way, there's still work to do but I hope you enjoy the new features you can find in this build.
:KNOWN ISSUES:
I've been on this for AGES and it is now at the point it needs to be seen rather than sat on. Therefore some things are disabled for now, such as gamepad support and the Wiki. The Magician does not currently attack you.
If you play for a while, you may experience slowdown. This is due to how the town is generated which is currently very inefficient and keeps stealing memory. This will be the first fix for the next update.
Updates will be much more frequent going forward - aiming for weekly until we can leave early access!
:NEW STUFF:
Gameplay: The Veteran, if on alert, will KILL YOU INSTANTLY. This discourages completely random attacks!
Feature: New town screen. It is now constructed, rather than mostly randomly generated.
Feature: Town screen ponies. They now all look like their avatars and wander around like Paper Mario sprites.
Feature: Pony creator. You can now make you own ponies and export and import them as QR code images you can share. You can also do this for entire sets.
Feature: The roster features the new avatars and has several sorting functions. You can also pin your own post-it notes to the pony's images. You can add text and draw on these.
Feature: Shaders have been applied to several models to improve how they look, i.e. the flesh side of a cutie mark is now nice and shiny (ew).
Feature: The poison herbs have been replaced by items you would actually find in a regular cake, the evil part comes in when you add some flesh. Flesh from a best friend is golden and will buff up the cake's effects.
Feature: Cake making is now done in a 3D physics world.
Feature: There are now twelve cakes to make. Your recipe book won't have the new recipes at first, so you'll have to experiment! Each cake still requires two ingredients and then some flesh. Once you discover a cake it will unlock in your recipe book and this carries across to new games.
Feature: Logo creator. You can now design your own pixel art logo to feature on your shop door.
Feature: The Reporter's bulletin board has had a facelift.
Feature: As many people found the tarot cards a little baffling, you will now get a hint about their effects at least.
Feature: There is now a special option if you kill both the Preacher and the Veteran directly.
Feature: When you send your pet to the morgue, you will be able to choose which corpse to harvest via your pet's POV.
Feature: The council now meet and react to what's been going on. However, they will not always agree on how to proceed.
Feature: Once you have collected enough souls, the Night Mare will grant you favours.
Feature: The kitchen features player's artwork.
Gameplay: If you are interviewed, you must now choose to lie or be truthful about your actions.
Gameplay: Drawing certain cards no longer immediately makes you lose sanity or gain sus as this was too RNG and unfair. Instead, if you draw those cards if you DO do anything to hurt those stats, it will be buffed up on that day - so take extra care.
And probably shedloads more stuff I've forgotten by now!
Love, Catfood
Hello! The second volume of SH2 music is now available to buy on Steam. It's a wallet-busting $2.99 but for the first week there's a 15% discount!
It will also be within the game when the next update comes also too of course. Just like the first volume it contains MP3 and very large but top quality WAV versions of the music. Keep horsing around, friends!
-=Catfood=-
About
This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for Slaughter Horse 2, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main Slaughter Horse 2 statistics page.
Articles link back to Steam for full changelogs. SteamScope refreshes news entries as new posts are published to the game's Steam hub.