Cooper Lewis ‘26, Copy Editor
On Oct. 26, 2018, the video game community was introduced to what some consider to be the single greatest open-world and story-driven game of all time. Red Dead Redemption 2 was met with immediate commercial success and went on to be one of Rockstar Games’ bestselling creations. With its success, many fans immediately believed a third installment in the series would eventually be announced, and yet, six years after RDR2’s release, there is still no word of it.
The Red Dead series began in 2010 with the release of Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar North, a subsidiary of Rockstar Games. The game follows former outlaw-turned-family man John Marston as he hunts down past gang members who he once considered family. The game concludes with Marston hunting, and killing, his former mentor and the gang’s leader, Dutch van der Linde. All is not peaceful for Marston and his family however, as government agents Fordham and Ross—who serve as the game’s primary antagonists—the very men who interrupted Marston’s retirement and forced him into hunting van der Linde, betray and ultimately kill him. The game ends after a short epilogue, leaving the player with the message that family is everything, something Marston remembered to the very end.
Unbeknownst to fans of the game, development on a sequel, Red Dead Redemption 2, began directly after the release of the first installment. Eight years later, in 2018, RDR2 was released to fans worldwide. With a nearly 50-hour-long story and an open world that one can get lost in for days, RDR2 was an immediate hit with fans. Set in 1899 and as a prequel to the first game, we are once again introduced to van der Linde, who for now runs the Van der Linde gang, a group of misfits and social outcasts who are not just outlaws, but simply people trying to survive. Instead of playing as Marston this time around, the player controls Arthur Morgan, van der Linde’s right-hand man and loyal companion. The game begins with the gang on the run from the U.S. government and eventually concludes with the gang’s fallout. Loyalties and honor are put to the test as the gang collapses from the inside, each member choosing their own side.
Despite Rockstar Games not directly announcing the development of a possible RDR3, fans continue to speculate online about what the game may possibly include. Online video games news source Screen Rant said, “Considering the overall success of the franchise, and the fact RDR2 was reportedly in development for more than eight years, with concept work beginning even before the release of Red Dead Redemption in 2010, it’s not unreasonable at all to expect that a third game could already be on the table behind the scenes.” It is very likely Rockstar Games already has a rough draft of the script or concept work completed, and fans would have no idea, similar to how it played out after the release of the first game. Rockstar itself has not confirmed a RDR3 but its parent company, Take-Two Interactive, has expressed plans to keep the franchise going. Rockstar Games’ next title, Grand Theft Auto VI releases at the end of 2025, and seeing as that is the company’s main focus, fans of the Red Dead series can only wait and hope for some news.
Lyon Life 