For anyone who’s ever ridden a horse, most agree that it can be quite difficult. When you pull left, they often end up completing ignoring your commands and go right, backwards, or just throw you to the ground whilst attempting to stomp on your face. For those who haven’t had this pleasure, I give you ‘CLOP’, the latest Flash game created by Foddy, famous for the similarly playing and equally frustrating ‘QWOP’.

QWOP fell into the genre of the ‘impossible’ game, simple in execution but equally frustrating. Controlling a running man, the Q, W, O and P keys independently moved joints in his legs, mimicking the action of running. Again, this sounds simple, but actually pulling off a 5-metre stretch of successful running is anything but. To be honest it’s no good explaining – you have to play it to understand how difficult the game actually is.

And now we have CLOP, the spiritual successor to QWOP. As a unicorn, you are promised the gift of a ‘virgin’ at the end of a long and hill-ridden path. As far-fetched as the story seems, it’s soon forgotten once the gameplay begins.

In this spiritual successor to QWOP, playing as a horse actually benefits you. The leg count has doubled, at least giving some stability to the controls. H, J, K and L controls each of the unicorn’s legs, which hopefully propels the steed on it’s long and arduous journey. Different combinations of these buttons present different ‘tactics’ (I use that term loosely) to the gameplay, while always managing to look ridiculous.

While the game itself isn’t anything special, it’s the charm that really draws you in. The ridiculous ‘Olde English’ your master uses when you fall, the slow rise in hilarious music as you increase in speed, and the inevitable failure as you dramatically mash all four buttons and watch as your unicorn writhes along the course, as if an electric shock is administered with each input.

So if you’re looking for a small window of distraction today, I suggest you give CLOP a few minutes of your time. I can’t promise that you’ll find an award winning AAA title, but you will find a unicorn stumbling towards a virgin. And I’m sure you’d all agree; that would be an amazing thing to witness.

Plus for those gaming easter egg hunters out there, pro tip – try using just the front legs.