60 Fun Facts About Red Dead Redemption

In what year is the original Red Dead Redemption set?

The date matters: it is the tail end of the frontier, with motor cars and federal agents closing in. The sequel jumps back twelve years to 1899.

Which studio led development of Red Dead Redemption?

The studio began life as Angel Studios and was renamed after Rockstar bought it. Its 180-person core team pulled in Leeds, New England, North and Toronto for a total workforce of over 1,000.

What is the slow-motion targeting mechanic in the series called?

It debuted in Red Dead Revolver and lets you paint several targets before firing. In Redemption it levels up as the story progresses.

How many former gang members is John Marston forced to hunt down in Red Dead Redemption?

Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella and finally the gang's leader. The government holds his wife and son as leverage until the job is done.

What is the fictional Mexican state John crosses into during Red Dead Redemption?

The crossing is scored by José González's 'Far Away', a moment critics singled out as one of the game's best. The state is caught in a civil war between Colonel Allende and rebel Abraham Reyes.

Which rancher nurses John back to health after he is shot at the start of Red Dead Redemption?

He repays her with ranch chores, herding cattle and breaking horses, while planning the assault on the outlaws' stronghold. She is voiced by Kimberly Irion.

Which stronghold do John and his allies storm to break Bill Williamson's gang in New Austin?

They win the fight but find Williamson has already fled to Mexico. The assault uses a Gatling gun hidden in Nigel West Dickens's wagon.

Which legendary gunslinger teaches John to shoot better when he arrives in Mexico?

Ricketts, voiced by Ross Hagen, is an ageing celebrity shootist living in Chuparosa. He also features as a playable legend in the multiplayer.

Which Bureau of Investigation agent forces John to work for the government in the first game?

He keeps his side of the bargain and then leads the raid that kills John anyway. In the epilogue Jack Marston tracks the retired agent down and shoots him in a duel.

How does Dutch van der Linde die at the end of Red Dead Redemption?

Cornered, he warns John that the government will never leave him alone, then falls to his death by his own choice. The prophecy comes true within the hour.

In what year is the first game's epilogue set, when Jack rides out to avenge his family?

Jack was voiced by Josh Blaylock as a teenager. His turn to the outlaw life is the game's bleak point about the cycle of violence.

Who composed the original score for Red Dead Redemption?

Jackson found there was no real 'Western sound' in 1911, so he leaned on 1960s film scores such as Morricone's Dollars trilogy. He returned alone for the sequel.

Which José González song plays as John rides into Mexico for the first time?

It won Best Song in a Game at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards. The sequence is often cited as one of gaming's great musical moments.

How many 2010 Spike VGA awards, including Game of the Year, did Red Dead Redemption win?

Ten nominations became four wins: Game of the Year, Best Song, Best Original Score and Best DLC for the zombie expansion.

How many copies did the original Red Dead Redemption sell in its first three weeks?

A Rockstar source told Joystiq it needed four million to break even and the publisher expected to lose money. It has since shipped over 25 million.

Analysts put the original game's combined development and marketing budget in what range?

That made it one of the most expensive games ever at the time. Development lasted more than five years and drew complaints about twelve-hour days and six-day weeks.

What is Rockstar's proprietary game engine, first used on Table Tennis in 2006?

The Rockstar Advanced Game Engine also runs the Grand Theft Auto games. Euphoria and Bullet handle extra animation and physics on top of it.

Which studio handled the 2023 Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 port of Red Dead Redemption?

Rockstar had reportedly shelved a full remaster after the poor reception of the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition. A Windows version followed in October 2024.

In Undead Nightmare, what turns out to have started the zombie plague?

Abraham Reyes stole it from some catacombs and became a zombie when he put it on. Returning it ends the plague, until Seth Briars steals it again after John's death.

Which goddess reveals herself to John at the end of Undead Nightmare and gives him a horse of the Apocalypse?

She had guided him disguised as an ordinary woman. The four horses are War, Famine, Pestilence and Death, each hidden somewhere in the world to be tamed.

Why does John rise from the grave with his soul intact at the end of Undead Nightmare?

That makes him a revenant rather than a mindless zombie, which is how the non-canonical story lets you keep playing as him after the plot ends.

Which weapon added in Undead Nightmare fires zombie body parts as ammunition?

Other additions include holy water and undead bait. Mythical creatures to hunt include Sasquatch, El Chupacabra and a unicorn.

In what year is Red Dead Redemption 2 set?

The story opens with the gang fleeing into the snowy mountains after a heist gone wrong. The epilogue jumps forward to 1907.

Which actor plays Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2?

He won Best Performance at The Game Awards 2018 and later narrated the audiobook of Red Dead's History. Recording sessions for the game began back in 2013.

The Van der Linde gang's troubles in Red Dead Redemption 2 begin with a botched heist of what?

They are forced to abandon their money stash and flee the town where it happened. That stash is what John finally recovers in the 1907 epilogue.

How many fictional US states make up the world of Red Dead Redemption 2?

New Hanover, Ambarino and Lemoyne are new; New Austin and West Elizabeth return from the first game, redrawn for the earlier date, with Armadillo emptied by cholera.

Which real city is Saint Denis, the former French colony in Lemoyne, modelled on?

Lemoyne's bayous and plantations stand in for the Deep South. The gang's bank job there goes disastrously wrong and costs them Hosea.

On which island do Dutch, Arthur and the others wash up after their ship to Cuba sinks?

They end up fighting for enslaved locals against sugar planter Colonel Fussar. Tahiti was where Dutch had promised the gang they would escape to.

What disease is Arthur diagnosed with in Red Dead Redemption 2?

He catches it after beating a sick debtor early in the story. The diagnosis reshapes the final chapters into a meditation on what he can still put right.

Which gang member is revealed as the Pinkertons' informant in Red Dead Redemption 2?

Agent Milton names him just before Abigail shoots Milton. Dutch nonetheless sides with the traitor over Arthur in the final standoff.

If the player finishes Red Dead Redemption 2 with high honor, how does Arthur's story end?

Low honor gets him shot instead. Either way the player then takes over John Marston for the 1907 epilogue.

Which wealthy oil magnate hires the Pinkertons to hunt the Van der Linde gang after they rob his train?

Dutch later murders him in Annesburg, one of the acts that convinces Arthur his mentor has lost the plot. Bronte is the Saint Denis mafia boss who ends up fed to an alligator.

How does Dutch dispose of Angelo Bronte after the mafia boss double-crosses the gang?

The scene visibly disturbs Arthur and John and marks a turning point in how they see Dutch. Bronte had earlier bought the kidnapped Jack from the Braithwaites.

Which two feuding Southern families does the gang try to play against each other in Lemoyne?

Both families see through it: one family's ambush kills Sean MacGuire in Rhodes, and the other kidnaps Jack.

Which former housewife, widowed by the O'Driscolls, becomes one of the gang's deadliest gunslingers?

She survives to the epilogue and helps John build his ranch and hunt down the traitor before riding off to a life as a bounty hunter.

How much did Red Dead Redemption 2 earn in its October 2018 opening weekend?

It beat the first game's lifetime sales within eight days and had shipped 23 million copies by the end of 2018. At the time only GTA V's launch had been bigger.

Roughly how many copies has Red Dead Redemption 2 shipped, the third-best-selling game ever?

Sales have kept climbing by six to twelve million a year since launch. Only Minecraft and GTA V sit above it.

How many players can share a session of Red Dead Online?

Rockstar announced in July 2022 that the mode would get no more major updates as resources shifted to Grand Theft Auto VI.

Which producer oversaw Red Dead Redemption 2's vocal tracks with D'Angelo and Willie Nelson?

Lanois is best known for producing U2 and Bob Dylan. Woody Jackson returned from the first game to write the score.

How many Game of the Year awards did Red Dead Redemption 2 collect?

At The Game Awards it won Best Narrative, Best Score, Best Audio Design and Best Performance, but lost the top prize to God of War.

Rockstar's Dan Houser said the Red Dead Redemption 2 team worked weeks of how many hours in 2018?

The remark set off an industry-wide argument about crunch, with other Rockstar staff describing mandatory overtime stretching back years.

Analysts estimated Red Dead Redemption 2's combined development and marketing cost at what range?

Development ran more than eight years, starting right after the first game shipped. It was Rockstar's first title built specifically for PS4 and Xbox One.

What was the first game in the series, released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2004?

Red Dead Revolver began in 2000 as a project at Angel Studios and was cancelled before Rockstar bought the rights and shipped it within nine months.

Who is the bounty-hunter hero of the 2004 first game, out to avenge his murdered parents?

Other playable characters include the trick-shooter Jack Swift and rancher Annie Stoakes. The game is set in the 1880s, earlier than either Redemption.

Which Japanese publisher originally funded the 2004 first game in the series before Rockstar took over?

The project was shelved when Yoshiki Okamoto left the company. Rockstar's experience with it drove the decision to build its own Western from scratch.

Red Dead Redemption 2 was a launch title for which streaming service in November 2019?

The Windows version arrived on November 5, 2019, two weeks before Google's platform launched. Stadia itself shut down in January 2023.

After two delays from a planned 2017 release, Red Dead Redemption 2 launched on which date?

The first delay pushed it to the first half of 2018. It went on to the second-biggest opening weekend in entertainment history.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the Wapiti Indian Reservation is the only settlement in which state?

Rains Fall, the Wapiti leader, is played by Graham Greene, the Oscar-nominated actor from Dances with Wolves.

Which veteran gang member is killed during the Saint Denis bank robbery in Red Dead Redemption 2?

The robbery was meant to fund the gang's escape to Tahiti. Dutch's oldest friend and co-leader is shot in the street, and John is arrested.

Where does the Van der Linde gang plan to escape to after the Saint Denis bank job?

The dream of a South Seas mango farm becomes a running joke.

Dutch and Micah's final heist in Red Dead Redemption 2 targets what?

By then several gang members had already walked away, and Arthur had defied Dutch by helping the Wapiti.

Kieran Duffy is captured by Arthur and pressed into the Van der Linde camp from which rival outfit?

Coerced into betraying a safehouse location, he later saves Arthur's life during the raid, but the gang never fully trusts him.

The epilogue of Red Dead Redemption 2, in which the player controls John Marston, is set in which year?

By then Sadie has become a successful bounty hunter who hires John for jobs. The original game picks up four years later, in 1911.

Which town in the RDR2 version of New Austin is a ghost town because of a cholera outbreak?

The map reworks the original game's territory to fit 1899: Blackwater is still under construction and Tumbleweed is on the slide.

Which actor performs Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2?

Wiethoff plays John Marston, Davis plays Dutch and Dalal plays Charles Smith.

After Arthur frees John early, Dutch names which gang member his top lieutenant instead?

The promotion caps Dutch's growing paranoia; he had already left Arthur behind during an attack once.

Red Dead Redemption 2 was first announced in which month and year?

Analysts immediately projected 12 to 15 million sales in the first quarter alone; it beat those numbers comfortably.

Which actor was chosen after auditions to portray John Marston in the original Red Dead Redemption?

He returned to the role for Red Dead Redemption 2, where John is a younger member of Dutch's gang.

Roughly how long was the script of the original Red Dead Redemption, written over two years?

The writers drew on The Wild Bunch, High Plains Drifter, Unforgiven and The Proposition, and set the game in 1911 to show the old West fading.

Alongside Edgar Ross, which Bureau agent coerces John Marston in the original game?

The pair trade John's family for the capture of his old gang, then betray him with an Army attack on his ranch.