Red Dead Redemption 2 will blend cowboy mystique with more mundane gameplay elements such as bathing and horse care. Such levels of realism may be jarring for some players, especially fans of developer Rockstar’s previous games. However, as a recent podcast trivia question proved, Rockstar is incredibly dedicated to that realism factor, perhaps uncomfortably so.

Red Dead Redemption 2’s Super-Realistic Horse Physics

For those who don’t know, the NPR broadcasting network hosts a wonderful quiz show called Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. The show takes tending news and pop culture topics and spins them into questions which panelists must then answer. During a recent episode featuring actor Jon Hamm, one particular question came up. The question was about horses, specifically what happens to male horses should they enter a body of cold water. I assume I needn’t elaborate further and that you can guess I am referring to “horse shrinkage” of all things.

The subject of horse shrinkage was part of the episode’s Limericks segment, and its inclusion wasn’t an accident. After the contest correctly guessed the answer, host Peter Sagal revealed an interesting tidbit about Red Dead Redemption 2. It turns out if a player guides their horse through a body of water, that horse’s “endowment” will shrink.

Yep, that’s right, Rockstar put horse shrinkage into Red Dead Redemption 2. I honestly never thought I’d be writing a sentence like that, but here we are. Let it never be said that Rockstar doesn’t strive for accurate portrayals of horse genitalia.

My guess is that not many players will want to personally fact-check what I wrote above, but you never know. If that is indeed something you want to do, Red Dead Redemption 2 will launch on October 26. There’s probably some horse shrinkage-related pun I could end this article with, but that seems like too big a hassle.