There were many potential perils in the Old West, and the Red Dead Redemption series has never shied away from that. Whether players are getting charged by wild animals or killed by random highwaymen, there's plenty in an average play session that can mean Arthur Morgan's end.
However, there are plenty of oddities that are unique to Red Dead Redemption as well, and weren't something real-world cowboys and gang members ever had to deal with. One player recently encountered a sudden end while hunting a rabbit due to a hilarious and bizarre physics glitch.
The video was shared and recorded by Yugglez, who was sneaking around as Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, attempting to hunt rabbits with a bow alongside Hosea. After creeping forward a bit, Arthur sizes up his target and takes his shot, landing a clean shot on the rabbit and proudly announcing his kill. While the clip should have ended with Arthur simply collecting his downed prey, instead, Arthur lurches forward and begins flying forward at very high speeds.
Unfortunately for Arthur, he quickly collides with a tree branch and starts spiraling to the ground, letting out the iconic wailing scream any player has likely heard many times over. He then hits the ground and dies instantly from the combined fall and collision damage.
Anyone who has played Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, or even other game developers' open world games like Bethesda's Elder Scrolls is likely familiar with bizarre, random physics glitches. It can be difficult to squash every bug while testing games of this size and scope, and the game engines themselves are sometimes prone to oddities with path finding, collision detection, and more, leading to bizarre sights like Mama Murphy floating in Fallout 4. It's not quite clear what triggered this particular bug, as the arrow hitting the rabbit shouldn't have had any impact on Arthur, and he doesn't seem to be interacting or colliding with anything that would cause an issue otherwise.
While encountering a bug like this could be frustrating under the right circumstances, most viewers seem to find it hilarious. Some joked about the rabbit getting its revenge, or the user accidentally using a hookshot like Link in The Legend of Zelda instead of a standard bow and arrow. Thankfully, the bug didn't strike during a significantly difficult mission, where it could have been quite the hassle to have to restart because the game glitched.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.