Red Dead Redemption 2: 8 things it needs
© Rockstar Games
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8 things Red Dead Redemption 2 needs
With Rockstar teasing an announcement on Twitter, here are 8 things to spruce up the wild west.
Written by Pete Dreyer
5 min readPublished on
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2© Rockstar Games
Did you know that Red Dead Redemption is more than six years old? And yet, if you brush the dust off your old Xbox 360 or PS3 copy, you’ll still find an active community online, blasting away at each other in shootouts before cantering off to the local saloon for a drink and a few hands of poker, especially now that the game is backwards compatible on Xbox One too.
Backwards compatibility is all good and well, but what we want is a true sequel, be it called Red Dead Redemption 2, Red Dead 3, or Red Dead Said Fred. Thankfully, we might just be getting one at last; this weekend, Rockstar changed its social media avatar logos to a distinctly red colour scheme, prompting speculation that an announcement is near. Given that Rockstar likes to announce its games online, at its own events spaced far away from big games shows like E3, as it did with GTA V around this time in 2012, we’ve got fingers on both hands crossed and then some. But what would a Red Dead sequel look like? Here’s our wishlist...

Prequel potential

Red Dead Redemption 2: 8 things it needs
Red Dead Redemption 2: 8 things it needs© Rockstar Games
As a quick refresher for you, by the end of Red Dead Redemption John Marston is dead, and we're playing as his son Jack. That all sounds pretty fine and dandy for a sequel but there's actually a couple of issues there. Firstly, Redemption is set in 1911, very much the end of the Wild West we all know and love, when America started to adopt machine guns and automobiles. And secondly, well, no one's really ready to let go of John Marston just yet. Which got us thinking: what if Red Dead 2 was a prequel? We could revisit Marston's morally dubious past as part of Dutch's Gang, and Rockstar could roll out one of its greatest characters for another adventure.

Multiple protagonists

Red Dead Redemption 2: 8 things it needs
Red Dead Redemption 2: 8 things it needs© Rockstar Games
To take that idea one step further, what if we threw GTA V's character switching into the bargain too? A story that explored John Marston's past dealings with Bill Williamson and Dutch van der Linde would be fantastic, but one that let us play as all three of them? Now you're talking! GTA V's protagonists provided us with multiple perspectives of Los Santos, and it makes perfect sense to do something similar in the mysterious, morally ambiguous world of the West.

New setting

Red Dead Redemption brought the West to life
Red Dead Redemption brought the West to life© Rockstar Games
The combined counties of New Austin, West Elizabeth and Nuevo Paraiso were the perfect setting for the original game, with dynamic weather really adding to the experience of trotting around the game on horseback – so much so that we rarely used the fast travel options. We can certainly expect something bigger and better from Red Dead 2, and a change of scenery would be nice. If a prequel happens, a similar game world somewhere along the Mexican border would be no bad thing, but otherwise, why not journey further south? Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid made it as far as Bolivia, so the possibilities are endless.

A living world

A good old-fashioned Stagecoach stick-up
A good old-fashioned Stagecoach stick-up© Rockstar Games
The world in Red Dead was beautifully crafted, but if we had one criticism, it's that it sometimes felt a bit lifeless. Don't get us wrong, there was plenty to do between the mini-games, shootouts, exploration and Rockstar's ambient challenges, but the truly immersive moments were a little few and far between. We want to canter into town and find ourselves in the middle of a shootout, or sit in a saloon and watch the townspeople slowly drink themselves towards a mass brawl. Red Dead 2 should be a living, breathing sandbox for us to play in.

Co-op

Round up those steers cowboy
Round up those steers cowboy© Rockstar Games
When we say 'for us to play in', we were of course referring to at least two of us, together, in co-op mode. Redemption's free Outlaws to the End DLC added some enjoyable co-op missions for up to four players, and we'd fully expect Rockstar to take this one step further for Red Dead 2. That could mean a series of separate co-op missions, but we're really hoping for an open world where your friends can jump in and out to help you tackle story missions at leisure. After all, there's nothing more satisfying in the West than riding with your posse.

Non-linear story

Shootouts galore in Red Dead Redemption
Shootouts galore in Red Dead Redemption© Rockstar Games
Games like Mass Effect, The Witcher 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition have demonstrated how effective it can be to make us think about our in-game actions, and as good as Red Dead Redemption's story was, it never really forced us to make any decisions. Life in the West isn't easy at the best of times and Red Dead 2's story should reflect that. Keep your fingers crossed for some tough decisions on the dusty roads of the frontier.

Online customisation (things to use cash on)

Deer hunting in Red Dead Redemption
Deer hunting in Red Dead Redemption© Rockstar Games
Online veterans of Red Dead Redemption found themselves with pockets full of cash and not much to spend it on. GTA V players rarely seem to suffer from that problem, and although people's priorities in Los Santos are rather different to life on the American frontier, we're sure Rockstar can find more for us to spend our virtual dollars on. For a start, we'd love to see an RPG-level of character customisation, and plenty of clothing and equipment to give our characters a more personal touch. Ahefty helping of authentic weaponry and equipment wouldn't go amiss either.

Improved mechanics

There's no hiding it: Red Dead Redemption was a bit of a glitch-fest. And whilst that was absolutely hilarious at times – just check out the video above – it made things pretty frustrating when you actually wanted to get something done. Rockstar has proved that it can do the mechanics with GTA V, so we're hoping that Red Dead 2 will get much the same treatment. At least that way, we won't have to worry about being catapulted into the stratosphere by a wall, or being attacked by the legendary cougar-man.
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