It’s been an intriguing 24 hours in the Oblivion Remastered community, after the sighting of a mysterious ghost horse captured fans’ imagination and began making headlines. But now, after some scrutiny and deduction, Oblivion players reckon they’ve figured out what’s going on.
The story began over the weekend when – wiggly line flashback – user TaricIsNotSupport shared an eye-catching discovery on the Oblivion subreddit, curious to know if it was new to the remaster or just something they’d missed before. “So I was crafting stupid spells in Frostcrag Spire [when] I noticed something suuuuuuper strange in the distance,” they wrote. “I did as any of us of the right mind would do and B-lined it over there like a maniac. To my amazement [it] was this spectral horse with no name. I have played thousands of hours of the original Oblivion… yet this is the first I have ever seen this horse.”
Uhhhh, guys, is this new?
byu/TaricIsNotASupport inoblivion
All this came with the assurance they were Oblivioning on PlayStation – and thus, it wasn’t the result of a mod – and a video showing the aforementioned ghost horse swishing nonchalantly (and translucently) by the side of a cliff. With the community’s interest piqued, TaricIsNotSupport returned with a second post, this time showing their character riding the phantom equine atop snow-covered mountains. “He fast travels and even gets stabled!”, they enthusiastically added. “By all accounts it’s now my steed!”
As you might expect, TaricIsNotSupport’s post was greeted with a mixture of skepticism – given the original Oblivion has been pretty well stripped of secrets in the 19 years since its release – and enthusiasm for a new mystery to solve. After all, the possibility developer Virtuos might have squeaked a couple of Easter eggs into its remaster couldn’t entirely be dismissed. Some set to work poring over previously accumulated Oblivion knowledge, while others posited – given Bethesda Game Studios’ notoriously buggy releases – it was possibly a spell-based glitch.
Alas, it now appears the latter is true. After some experimentation, subredditor Famous-Escape-2491 shared the news they’d managed to replicate the spectral horse effect using a combination of spells. “Looks like it is due to the glitches where spell visual effects are lingering past their expiration,” they wrote. “I was able to recreate the visual using 100 percent chameleon, and Command Creature.” They also provided a video as proof.
Spectral Horse Debunk
byu/Famous-Escape-2491 inoblivion
Famous-Escape-2491 also cautioned against a witch-hunt, noting that rather than being a deliberate wind-up, there was every chance the original poster could “genuinely be unaware” how the spectral steed came to be. “Looking at his posts before that one,” they added, “it looks like he plays around with spells – a lot. And considering the weird glitches I’ve seen, I can’t rule out with 100 percent certainty that he may be truthful… I don’t want to add to any negativity towards the guy, especially not knowing the specifics of how his scenario occurred.”
So there you go; Oblivion Remastered’s horse ghost is seemingly toast, debunked by community ingenuity and a scientific thirst for answers. If you’re feeling a little deflated all this excitement was for nought, Bethesda is currently canvassing fans to suggest improvements to its hugely-popular game. So maybe it’ll add a real ghost horse if we ask nicely? And if it’s more answers you want, you can always check out Eurogamer’s Oblivion Remastered guide.
I’ve asked Bethesda for comment on Oblivion Remastered’s ghost horse mystery and will update this story if it replies with anything other than, “LOL”.