Gaming

‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ Glitches Are How I Know We Aren’t In The Matrix

We're gonna need another horse.

by Amanda Yeo  13 November 2018
Red Dead Redemption 2 horse glitch

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The fact that I’ve never seen a T-posing man go spinning into the sky is how I know the world isn’t just one big computer simulation. On one hand, that’s one less thing to have an existential crisis about. On the other, it also means I can’t glitch through the skin of the world whenever I want to avoid taking responsibility for my actions.

Red Dead Redemption 2, a horse collecting game, is filled with detailed physics, graphics and interactions, from petting horses to watching a Klansman immolate. However, nothing in this world is perfect, not even the sweet pastoral fantasy of adding every horse in fictional America to your equine Pokedex.

As lovingly rendered as it is, Red Dead Redemption 2 is ultimately a piece of software. And where there is software, there are glitches.

Since the game’s launch, fans have been sharing glitches they’ve encountered online. One recurring error has been the appearance of an endless void in the middle of an otherwise picturesque landscape. Players have been jumping into it, because not jumping into an endless void when it presents itself just wouldn’t be true to who we are as a species.

But far more varied are the horse glitches. Just like our own world, the horses of Red Dead Redemption 2 are disturbing, inexplicable phenomena that should be approached with caution, if interaction cannot be avoided absolutely. They are beasts unbound by the laws of nature that govern the rest of us, creatures that gleefully gallop toward the destruction of mankind, and they are not to be trifled with.

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Horses folded in on themselves in the middle of camp. I watched players fall into the dark through mysterious voids. All those moments will be patched in time, glitches in a game. Time to ride.