With the size and scope of a title like Red Dead Online, it isn't strange for there to be the occasional bug every once in a while across the entire open world. However, not every glitch is made the same, and while some might send the player across the Red Dead map, others can make seemingly simple cosmetic changes to players.
One of these cosmetic glitches has recently started to make the rounds online, as Red Dead Online players notice strange changes to their horse that gives them a spooky look. The result has many fans sharing footage from their gameplay and claiming that they've turned into the legendary rider from the Ghost Rider comic series.
In one video posted by Reddit user P3p1S, the player's horse has a strange effect that adds fire to the bottom of its hooves as it starts galloping through the wild west. This doesn't appear to be the same bug from the earlier days of Red Dead Redemption 2 where horses would catch on fire when walking over a very specific location in Rhodes. Considering that the fire didn't seem to inflict any damage, this is more of a cosmetic effect on these Red Dead Online horses than it is actual fire that will risk harming the player.
The theory among fans online is that this was either a modder on PC, or this was a case of a cosmetic effect that's already in the game being mistakenly placed on the player's horse. This effect, or at least one similar to it, was originally implemented in Red Dead Online's Halloween event. So, the cosmetic is something that is already in the files of the game and a flag may have accidentally triggered in order to apply the effect even though the event has already ended.
In a game as large as Red Dead Online, this type of mishap isn't entirely uncommon, even if most players likely won't run into these glitches within their own playthroughs. At the very least, this is one of the cooler glitches that players can run into. It won't let Red Dead Online players blow up carriages with a pistol, but the effect was interesting enough to be a highlight of the Halloween event. So, anyone lucky enough to have this glitch activate might want to see where they can take it and what kind of clips they can get out of becoming the Ghost Rider while galloping through the world.
Red Dead Online is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.