We already know bonding with your horse is very important in Rockstar Games' upcoming open-world western, Red Dead Redemption 2.

While you progress through Arthur Morgan's story, you will have a horse almost always. And how you treat and take care of this horse, will impact your time with it. For example, petting it increases your bond with the horse, which in turn unlocks special perks that only a high bond can unlock.

That said, the tragic part of this system is these aren't the type of indestructible horses we've seen in other games, like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. No, in Red Dead Redemption 2, not only is bonding with your horse important, but taking care of it is, as well as making sure you don't put it into repeating dicey situations, because once your horse dies, it's gone forever.

Not only will this mean you will need to start the bonding process all over again, but the horse you spent time caring for, is now gone, which sounds like it could create for some pretty sad moments. Nonetheless, it's a feature Rockstar Games is sticking by.

Recently while speaking to GamesRadar, Phil Hooker, director of technology at Rockstar Games, talked about the permadeath feature, as well as explained why the developer opted to go with it.

"As you play the game, caring for and feeding your horse, calming it when it’s scared and encouraging it when it’s tired, naming it, looking after it – you can’t help but develop a bond with it," said Hooker. "It’s your closest, trusted companion and you are nearly always together. To cement the strength of the bond we had to make it vulnerable so you respect and cared for it as you play, so it feels personal and real."

Since Rockstar Games is emphasizing the bond between a player and their horse so much in Red Dead Redemption 2, it makes sense they opted to add permadeath to horses. If you could just treat your horse like a taxi you just jacked in GTA V, then you would likely never develop a real connection with it.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is poised to release next week on October 26 via the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

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