Rabbits won’t stop jumping in front of my damn horse

With the release of the PlayStation 5, I took the opportunity to replay some of the previous generation’s games to see how they use the new console. One of those games is Rockstar’s Western Epic Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s great fun, but I wonder what’s wrong with all of the suicidal rabbits.

Red Dead Redemption 2Originally released in 2018, it is the perfect blend of Rockstar’s trademark storytelling and world-forming little things. As you ride the game’s dusty paths and plains, the environment flows around you, a living organism in itself. Herds of buffalo disperse on arrival, deer speed through the forest in search of protection, and foxes hunt rodents before they return to their burrows.

To enjoy moments like those described, I’ve spent a lot of time traveling from place to place without the help of the game’s quick travel feature. And while there is always a new biome or random event around the curve, one thing stays the same no matter where Red Dead Redemption 2 takes me: rabbits really want me to run over them. It’s like they can’t help themselves. As soon as I approach, whether I’m on a road or galloping across open country, they sprint at my horse’s thundering hooves, obviously to be trampled on.

It started out pretty amusing. Whether I was trying to complete a mission for a villain I’d just met or just going to town for supplies, I had to dodge half a dozen rabbits to get where I wanted to. In a moment I am climbing a hill and admiring the sunset. Next time I’ll turn off course so as not to grant Peter Cottontail’s death wish. Sometimes it was difficult to be sure whether or not I had dodged the rabbit, so I kept an eye on the radar and waited for the little paw print that indicates a dead animal. I usually just left the carcasses behind, hoping they could provide some good meal to a wandering wolf.

I never felt bad until then Red Dead Redemption 2 The protagonist Arthur Morgan began to confide in his fellow criminals the grave sins he had committed.

At various points in the game it is possible to chat with other members of Arthur’s gang. Although they haven’t unlocked any unique quests or rewarded me with cool items – at least not yet – these little moments serve as chance so that Arthur and his compatriots get into his feelings. What in the case of my Arthur wanted to admit that He had killed small animals unnecessarily.

“Oh my god he’s talking about the rabbits,” I thought to myself when Arthur shared this terrible little detail with a lovely girl named Tilly.

Since then, my travels have gotten harder. I do everything in my power to avoid rabbits that continue to tumble headlong into the legs of my massive horse like something Water ship down. When I meet them, I immediately hop off my horse, skin them, and hang their tiny bodies on my saddle to later sell to a butcher. So far it’s done the trick; No more heart-to-heart with the young women who live in base camp because of animal mutilation. I think if Arthur accidentally kills a rabbit but then does something with it, that counts as a targeted hunt, and Red Dead Redemption 2 will not add it to his list of sins.

I can’t explain why rabbits are in Red Dead Redemption 2 I want so passionately to be smashed to pieces under my horse. Maybe it’s buggy code, or maybe the folks at Rockstar deliberately programmed this quirk into the game because they thought it was funny. What I do know, however, is that I am not the only person this has happened to. In researching my experiences, I found several Contributions on the Red Dead Redemption 2 Subreddit with similar stories about suicide bunnies, some of them only recently Last month.

I enjoy my time very much Red Dead Redemption 2, mainly because you can play the game at your own pace. While I don’t think Arthur Morgan would be canonically concerned about running over a few rabbits, any force compelling them to carry out these absurd pursuits of self-destruction has taken my own playthrough to a new level. Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have some (actually several) rabbit carcasses that I can donate to my camp’s feed wagon.