10 Best Easter Eggs Hidden In Red Dead Redemption 2

Gunslingers in the wild west have been the subject of many memorable video games such as Gun, Custer's Revenge, Lethal Enforcers II and probably another one or two are in there somewhere. What is generally considered the most celebrated is 2010's Red Dead Redemption, or Grand Theft Equine as it's commonly referred. Like one or two other Rockstar titles, Red Dead Redemption was met with near universal acclaim and is still fondly remembered almost a decade later. The upcoming sequel is one of the most anticipated titles of 2018, and with that release just around the corner it seems like a good time to look back on the tale of John Marshton.

Assassin’s Creed: Victory was rudely outed December 2014 as the next Assassin’s Creed game, and there’s one thing everyone is thinking right now; please don’t be like Assassin’s Creed: Unity. Unity was a broken wreck at launch. Riddled with bugs, glitches, a Co-Op feature that barely works, and a continuously dipping framerate, Unity is the poster-boy for how not to launch a game. True, the experience has gotten better with patches, but that’s no excuse for launching Unity in the state it was in. Victory cannot achieve victory if it is in anyway like Unity. Hopefully, with Ubisoft Quebec leading development, we won’t have to experience an Assassin’s Creed wreck two years in a row.

After a few days John is good enough to start helping around on the ranch like any gunslinger who recently received a near fatal wound would. Before too long John is working with the US Marshalls and some other interesting characters. In the same vein as Grand Theft Auto, John ends up doing odd jobs for these varied characters to help form an alliance for another go at Fort Mercer. This second attempt goes better, except in victory it turns out Williamson is a cowardly bastard who fled to Mexico. This seems bad, but this also means that Mexico is unlocked and border crossing was much easier a little over a century ago.

Red Dead Redemption is simply one of the best games available for the seventh generation consoles. It did receive a zombie-themed expansion pack called Undead Nightmare, which was a fun novelty but didn't resonate the same way the base game did. The Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Bigfoot reference was rather humorous, though. It clearly uses the Grand Theft Auto games as a template but ends up finding its own identity through the setting, characters and storytelling. Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the most highly anticipated games of 2018, and with the quality of its predecessor, it has big boots to fill.

Red Dead Redemption was a blast, with numerous side quests, activities and just a big Open World Game Crafting Guide sandbox world to play in. Great game mechanics and design made it fun, a great story is what made it memorable. The pacing of the story doesn't ever hit any major lulls and the character of Marshton is sympathetic enough you end up rooting for him, since after all he's a good guy who just wants to be back with his family. And in trying to get back with his family he ends up being jerked around by the government. After jumping through endless hoops from the government they betray him. The ending of Red Dead Redemption is one of the sadder endings in a video game. The true ending occurs in 1914, and while there is a shot at setting things right, it ultimately feels hollow and unsatisfying. This sounds like a knock against the game, but in reality it is a testament to how powerful the narrative of Red Dead Redemption actually was.

Don’t be deceived by the number at the end of the title, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a direct prequel to its predecessor. The story takes place years before our last adventure as we follow Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang. If you recognize the latter name, it was the group of outlaws that John Marston rode with back in the day. As you can expect, you’ll see our loveable Marston often, who is perfectly implemented into the story. It’s not too much fan service or focus, but just enough so he’s a solid supporting role, especially in the later half of the campaign. He has his own arc, but it’s all about Arthur and his issues. The first couple of chapters in the story, Arthur is an unlikable individual. It takes him a little while to find his footing as he’s an overly serious character who never breaks a smile and plays the rough cowboy to a T. His relationship with the group, including the gang’s leader, Dutch van der Linde, is what stands out among everything else. It’s the little things around the camp; the songs, the gestures and the interactions that expand our protagonist’s likability, and you begin to better understand him. Even the most insignificant faces seem to bring out the more positive aspects out of Arthur more than the main story ever does, and it’s sad that it’s something players can completely overlook, especially considering entering the camp setting forces the player to move at a snail’s pace.

The Red Dead franchise succeeds because it's playing into the most American fantasies of what the Wild West was, while keeping it grounded. It was a time were America was still getting its footing as a new nation. Things were being discovered by a people who had largely still never seen most of what the land had to offer, thus appropriately titled, the Wild West. It seemed like a hellish dreamscape where those from the east coast talked of savages and wild beast, men who idealized the same sort of lawlessness discussed among certain circles. Yet, it was none of these things, for a people having just arrived to a nation, it was much tamer than one might imagine. Instead, it was a place not overly populated and begging for people to settle its lands (I hope we see Natives in this game). The west was a place of opportunity and discovery, somewhere one could make their mark in a relatively easy way (for the time).