Heartbreaking Red Dead Online Screenshot Shows Lawman Grieving Over Dead Horse

Red Dead Redemption 2’s horses are some of the most complex pieces of design found in video games. They one of the game’s many highly detailed animals, with mannerisms and quirks that reflect their real-life counterparts. Horses are also a core gameplay mechanic, as they serve as the player’s primary mode of transport around the massive game world. A huge amount of effort was put into making Red Dead Redemption 2’s horses look realistic in their movements.

Unfortunately, horses still act realistically even when one of Red Dead Redemption 2’s many gunfights break out, and so stray bullets can often catch an enemy's wandering horse. Rockstar's RAGE engine attributes realistic weight and momentum to the game’s horses, so when they do go down while running it can often be spectacularly hard, with both the horse and rider getting sprawled out on the ground.

This is exactly what happened to a Reddit user named soggymaggots after they accidently shot a lawman’s horse only to watch them both land in a curious pose on the ground. The lawman appears to be grieving over the dead horse while lying on the ground and holding its head in his hands. The dramatic nature of the pose calls to mind the tragic heartbreaking endings that cinematic games like Red Dead Redemption are known to have, but really the pair were likely one of 20 generic enemies killed during any given mission in Red Dead Online.

Players will sympathize with the tragic scene, however, since the player’s bond with their own horse is a stat that is tracked in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online. Feeding the horse, cleaning it, and petting it will all increase the horse's bond level with the player, and so players will often become very attached to their horses. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a vast game, and it is designed to instill a sense of artificial isolation in the player as they explore the less populated areas of the map. This can leave the player's horse as their only companion for many in-game days at a time.

Gaming has produced many iconic pop culture horses such as Epona from The Legend of Zelda series. But while Red Dead Redemption 2’s horses are perhaps equally memorable, they are also far more unique to each player. This is because players will often choose and name their own horse from the wide variety available in the game and stick with that horse for the entire story.

Each member of the Van der Linde gang from Red Dead Redemption 2 has their own horse with its own name and mannerisms that are reflective of its rider. It is revealed in some subtle dialogue that the player character, Arthur Morgan, also had his own loyal horse that was killed in the events immediately preceding the game's story. This was likely done to allow the player the freedom to choose the style of horse they thought best suited Arthur.