Red Dead Redemption 2and its predecessor are among the greatest video games ever made. Not only are they impressive from a graphical and design perspective, but they boast expertly penned narratives, helping them stand out in a sea of overly sanitized and derivative AAA projects. Indeed, even today, theRed Dead Redemptionduology can go toe-to-toe with some of the hottest contemporary titles.
The success of these games has ledaudiences to cry out for aRed Dead Redemption 3—many even assume that such a threequel is well on its way, despite no official word from Rockstar. Maybe this new game could follow Sadie Adler’s bounty hunting career, or pick off whereRed Dead Redemption’s epilogue left off, focusing on the adult life of Jack Marston. Some have even speculated about yet another prequel, havingRed Dead 3take place during the heyday of the Dutch Van der Linde Gang. While these ideas might seem interesting upon first glance, they aren’t actually the best basis for a game, and whileRDR3would undoubtedly sell well, tripling down on the IP could make for diminishing returns.
Red Dead Redemption 3could follow Jack Marstonafter the events of the first game, but what would such a story entail? TheRed Deadworld is approaching the 1920s by this time—hardly the prime time to be a gun-slinging outlaw in the US. And besides, Jack should be allowed to move on, as should Sadie and Charles, the other most popular fan picks for the protagonist ofRDR3. Sadie might have an eventful life in South America as a bounty hunter, and Charles could have his ride into the sunset interrupted by a malicious force, but it’s arguably more interesting to ponder these possibilities than to actually see them play out.
By exhuming these characters for new games, they could start to become less like well-written, nuanced, plausible individuals, and more like props with which to create new “content.“A prequel toRed Dead Redemption 2, or a spin-off that reveals the ultimate fates of one or more characters, would also rob the original story of its mystique and thought-provoking nature. Imagining what the Van der Linde Gang looked like before Dutch went mad is more powerful than having it spelled out objectively, and being left to wonder about the ending to, say, Sadie’s story, is far more powerful than getting unambiguous answers.
It’s not hard to understand the desire some gamers have to leave no stone unturned, as it were, but this runs counter to good storytelling. It’s good, in fact, to leave behind some loose ends, allowing the audience to theorize and speculate, thereby keeping the well of imagination from running dry. Acommon criticism of franchises likeAssassin’s CreedandCall of Dutyis that they’ve overstayed their welcome, feeling more like products than works of art inspired by creativity rather than profit. These critics suggest that these franchises have been milked dry, and this is exactly what could happen withRed Dead Redemption, should Rockstar refuse to simply quit while it’s ahead. In other words, not every video game IP needs to be a decades-spanning franchise, and some have been made considerably worse through such an approach.
Rockstar has regularly been lambasted for focusing too much onGTA Onlinerather than branching out, or evenrevisiting promising IP likeL.A. NoireandBully. The famed developer can definitely have tunnel vision with respect to its leading crime franchise, but those clamoring forRed Dead Redemption 3may not realize that they are, in a sense, perpetuating this narrow-mindedness. Rockstar has doubled down onGTA Onlinebecause players want moreGTA; if players demand moreRed Dead, they might wind up getting it, but at the cost of other, more innovative creative ventures.
Red Dead Redemption 2
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America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him. From the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America at the dawn of the modern age.
