To say that your horse is important in Red Dead Redemption 2 is somewhat of an understatement. Your horse is your vehicle that takes you across the expanse of the game world, it’s your walking armory carrying all of your guns, it’s a 4 legged wardrobe containing a stash of winter clothes and the all important emergency hat in case you lose the one you were wearing. Your four legged friend will be forced to carry all sorts of gruesome cargo from animal pelts, fugitives or entire carcasses from your hunting trips. Your horse will also be vital in your many attempts to escape the law after being a naughty outlaw.
On top of this utilitarian stuff your horse is also your friend. Rockstar makes you take an interest in your horse. There are bonding levels to reach which unlock horse related skills. You are encouraged to brush and wash your horse to keep it healthy and without feeding it your horse won’t last long. On top of this the longer you ride a particular horse the better its stats get. All of this effort makes you form a bond with your horse that you don’t normally see in video games. Just today I took the wrong horse by mistake from camp and was gutted to not only find all of my guns missing but it’s stats were awful too leaving me pining for my own horse that I managed to leave at camp, halfway back across the map. I was so annoyed in fact, that I rode my inferior horse to the nearest train station, ditched it, took a train back to near camp, stole a horse for the ride so I could be reunited with my own horse again. Such is the special bond you make.
All of the above is what makes it so terrifying to think that your horse could be taken away at any moment. They suffer damage in gunfights and you’ll be seeing plenty of those, they can be attacked by predators in the wild and you can crash them into stuff. Also if your horse dies in Red Dead 2 it’s dead forever…
So as you can imagine I’ve spent time taking care of my horse, it’s not the best horse in the game, it’s not an Arabian or anything sporty. In fact I’ll be honest and say I don’t know what kind of horse it is. But it’s my horse and I want to keep it that way. This I why I am so annoyed at myself for the sheer number of times I’ve crashed it and let me tell you, if you haven’t seen any horse crashes in Red Dead 2 they are brutal bone crunching affairs. I’ve compiled a few of my best, or you could say worst, horse incidents in the video below.
In a nutshell people, keep your horse in good shape. Take care of it and it will take care of you.
We would love to see your best / worst horse moments so feel free to share them to our Twitter and Facebook pages.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now on Xbox One and PS4.
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