Horsey Game CRISPR & DNA Lab — Workflow Shown in Recordings

Horsey Game CRISPR lab TL;DR

• The recorded loop is extraction into a vial (HeTheLyon 0:36), vial into vat, then running the simulator (0:47).
• Vat clearing (6:08), plutonium feeding (7:11) and RAM upgrades (19:56) are community observations, not independently measured guarantees.
• Official 1.2 notes confirm genome clipboard copying from the Crispr lab computer.
• Later official notes fix empty-vat plutonium and single-homozygous-genome crashes; check the relevant build before relying on an older video.

Relevant official patch notes

Steam data fetched 2026-11-08 · Official Steam news API

These notes do not establish that every community workaround below still works.

🔬 Sourcing. The CRISPR loop on this page is filmed on screen in HeTheLyon's "Only Humans" run and corroborated by Cheru's CRISPR-solved race breakdown. Every step is anchored to a timestamp.

If you've watched any breakdown of Horsey Game and wondered what the lab actually does, this is the verified loop.

The DNA Lab loop in 4 steps

Step 1 — Extract a creature's DNA into a vial

HeTheLyon @ 0:36 verbatim:

"We can take this motherfucker's DNA. Pull it out. Put it into a vial."

The CRISPR Lab interface lets you select a living creature and extract its full genome to a vial item. The vial then sits in inventory until you decide what to do with it.

MoreCaseOh @ 14:56 confirms: "Put it on one of them and then DNA extract?" — the verb is documented.

Step 2 — Drop the vial in the vat

HeTheLyon @ 0:47:

"Put that in the vat. And then run the horsey sim. It will make an optimal human."

The vat accepts vials. Multiple vials in the vat affect the convergence — see Step 3.

Step 3 — Run the horsey sim

The vat plus the simulator runs an optimization pass. The creator reports improved times during this run; the output distribution and individual causes of improvement are unconfirmed:

• HeTheLyon's recorded times go from about 60 seconds to 27 seconds early in the run — about 2.2× faster (our calculation: 60 ÷ 27 ≈ 2.22).
• See Race-Time Optimization for selected reported race times, including the 5.0-second observation.

Step 4 — Empty the vat between iterations

HeTheLyon @ 6:08 — a key trick:

"Hopefully, the optimized human should be a lot faster, since there isn't shitty genes clogging it up."

The creator attributes improvement to clearing the vat. That explanation is not a measured rule about DNA “pollution” or convergence speed.

Cross-species splicing — what's verified

The DNA Lab works on more than horses:

• Humans, fully: HeTheLyon's "Only Humans" run does the entire optimization on humans, @ 0:04: "We're only allowed to use humans in this video, so our first stop is the bar." This supports the human example, not a claim about every humanoid.
• The creator says a rocket cannot be cloned: MoreCaseOh @ 15:15: "A rocket isn't biological." This does not establish eligibility for every mechanical item or genome preset.
• Gluing a rocket onto a creature is discussed: MoreCaseOh @ 19:35: "Do I have to glue this one with the rocket now?" The clip suggests a physical attachment; how it interacts with the genome is not shown.
• The creator guesses wheels are genetic: HeTheLyon @ 17:04: "I guess wheels are hard-coded into their genetics." This is the creator's guess; see the wheels and car presets in the DNA Database.

Genetic interventions in the community recording

Beyond the basic loop, HeTheLyon's run uses three interventions during a run with improving times; their independent effects were not measured:

Plutonium feeding (and power-plant grass)

HeTheLyon @ 7:11:

"I think we need to feed them a little bit of plutonium to speed them up."

Result, @ 7:15:

"You got hooves for feet now."

The filmed creature develops hoof feet after plutonium feeding. Side-effect or feature is unclear, but the optimization curve includes plutonium-fed creatures and their times are faster.

Community bone-revival and diversity-recovery suggestions are collected in late-game troubleshooting. Their exact lab sequence and ability to restore the conservation population remain unverified; no such fix is established by the official notes.

Pogo-leg morphology

HeTheLyon @ 11:47:

"Don't know why he has a pogo for his fucking front leg. But hey. I think it's working. He actually won."

In this recording, a creature with a pogo-stick front leg won one race. This does not establish that pogo legs are universally faster.

RAM upgrade for the horse simulator

HeTheLyon @ 19:56:

"With the RAM, we can upgrade our horse simulator. It'll make even faster horses."

The creator describes a RAM upgrade. HeTheLyon says RAM upgrades the horse simulator and expects faster horses; where the RAM comes from is unconfirmed here. The recorded times do fall from 6.9s (@ 18:37, before the RAM remark @ 19:56) to 5.0s (@ 20:27), but one run cannot isolate the upgrade's effect.

Plutonium, hot sauce — speed-modifier consumables

Consumables discussed in the recording; speed effects are not independently quantified:

Hot sauce is linked to an uncertain sub-5-second claim in this recording, but the camera doesn't show the result clearly. Treat it as an open community question.

Horsey Game CRISPR lab claims this guide can't confirm

We do not yet have video evidence for:

• The specific UI elements / button labels on the CRISPR Lab vs. the DNA Lab — they may be the same room or two separate locations
• The unlock cost / unlock condition for the DNA Lab (community claims often vary; we have no on-screen number)
• The full list of items eligible to drop into the vat (besides DNA vials)
• The probability distribution of the simulator's output (deterministic? stochastic? we'd need a controlled experiment)

If you've reproduced any of these on your save, please submit via /contact.

More Horsey Game CRISPR lab guides

• Race-Time Optimization — verified race-time progression from 60s → 5.0s using this loop
• DNA Database — the fan genome editor; it does not guarantee in-game simulator outputs
• How DNA Actually Works — the GCAT base-pair model behind every vial
• Opening Speedrun — community chain that gets you to the DNA Lab with no verified completion time

Sources

• HeTheLyon — "I Beat Horsey Game With Only Humans". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSYZvzz--NQ (most thorough CRISPR loop demonstration).
• MoreCaseOh — "We Created The Fastest Horse Of All Time…". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4f8FkUT8rc (cross-species + glue mechanics).
• Cheru — "I 100% Solved Horse Racing — CRISPR and a Broken Moral Compass". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoiOVMPzUWM (CRISPR for event completion).

Editorial update: 2026-11-08. Community observations retain their cited source timestamps; their game builds are not confirmed. Official notes, where linked, are a separate dated source.