Rockstar Games’Red Dead Redemption 2has no doubt earned its high place in the annals of videogames. As the followup prequel to the first epic Western title,Red Dead Redemption 2managed to one-up nearly every aspect of its predecessor. On top of a sprawling, visually stunning and massively detailed world,RDR2’s narrative about outlaw Arthur Morgan’s time with Dutch van der Linde’s gang and their collective struggles to come to terms with changing times and themselves, has been etched into the hearts and minds of numerous fans.
While Rockstar is well-known for impactful storytelling, outside the core tale, fans have spent thousands of hours combing the world uncovering incredible secrets andpreviously unknown parts ofRed Dead Redemption 2for over 5 years. In true Rockstar fashion, Easter eggs, cryptic locations, and bizarre encounters abound inRDR2. Although pulling from many of the historical aspects of the era,RDR2also features some truly unnerving characters and encounters. One of these, Edmund Lowry Jr., is perhaps high on the list of scariest, andRDR3should strive to have a similarly frightening mission.
While fans have been speculating about the nextRed Dead Redemptionsince 2018, withGrand Theft Auto 6next in line for releasein Rockstar’s tentpole properties, the wait for any firm details on the third entry will likely persist for the time being.
AmongRed Dead Redemption 2’s more macabre and unsettling inclusions, such as the vampire stalking the shadowy alleys of Saint Denis or the relentless zombie-like Night Folk, the American Dreams stranger encounter brought players face to face with a true monster that wasn’t supernatural in nature: Edmund Lowry Jr. Lowry was based on notorious real-life serial killers like Jack the Ripper and H. H. Holmes, who terrorized their respective city’s populations at the time, combining their horrific deeds into Lowry’s character and an equally disturbing storyline. Players who wished to see the quest through needed to track down and confront Lowry in his grotesque den, seeing his bloody “work” up close and finally putting an end to his actions. It was an intense and memorable mission that provided a taste of true horror while fitting seamlessly and believably into the world ofRDR.
Rockstar’s other juggernaut IP,Grand Theft Auto, has long contained off-putting characters who turned out to be serial killers or something similarly terrible, and players have often come to expect to find missions along these lines. It would thus be natural forRDR3to continue this tradition. Of course, a big open question at this stage iswhen exactlyRed Dead Redemption 3might be setrelative to the previous entries, which might in turn inform how Rockstar will approach this.RDR2being a prequel allowed for the interpretation of the above figures known to have lived at around the time that was easily enough inserted into the setting.
IfRed Dead Redemption 3is later in the established timeline, it still could provide a chance to reference other infamous killers, like Ed Gein, who was known to be active in the early 20th century. If it goes the opposite direction, however, and is set earlier thanRDR2, this might then necessitate some more creative liberties in terms of taking inspiration from records of real life people and events in this area. Rockstar has certainly shown it is able to incorporate more outlandish and disquieting elements into its otherwise meticulously extremely realistic worlds, though, and wheneverRDR3may be set, it should ensure to keep the creepy factor intact by giving fans an encounter as disconcerting as Lowry.
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 in order 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.
