A Huge Map
Since 2010 when Red Dead Redemption was first released, games and open worlds have come quite a long way. Developers have found ways to create huge, sprawling worlds teeming with activities to do and fantastic sights to see. With the American West rarely the setting for games nowadays, Rockstar has plenty of history to play around with and an opportunity to do something pretty extraordinary.
Having been a master of huge open worlds for quite some time now with its previous titles, and most notably GTA V’s Los Santos that somehow managed to run on the PS3 and Xbox 360, Rockstar is definitely the studio to pull it off. Whether or not it’ll surpass the scale of Los Santos, however, is yet to be seen.
Red Dead Online
One of GTA V’s best features when it originally released on the 360 and PS3 was the inclusion of GTA Online. Offering the entire single-player map as a sandbox for 30 players to unleash havoc in, complete events, and live an alternative life was certainly an aspect that kept fans playing for many years to come.
With the additional power of the Xbox One and PS4 came the addition of heists into GTA Online, an element that only further made this mode more enjoyable. Adapt these heists to raiding bandit settlements and seeking out hidden treasure and we’d be all in. Heck, just being able to roam the world on horseback with a huge part of other players would sure be a sight to behold. If it was supported with the free content updates like GTA Online is then we’d be in for a real western adventure.
Multiple Protagonists
One of the ways in which GTA V managed to distinguish itself from its predecessors was its multiple protagonists. Although we all likely had our favorite and least favorite of the trio, they offered differing perspectives and realities within the city of Los Santos. It also helped to keep missions feeling fresh, and the way in which all storylines tied together was a neat cherry on top of the cake.
Having the multiple protagonist storyline return in the teased Red Dead game could also bring the unique abilities back into play. Perhaps one is an expert horse rider, while another is a well-versed duelist. Perhaps that was what the image above was hinting at… or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on our part.
Plenty of Side Missions
If you’re going to have a huge open world like Los Santos, then you better have the content to fill it. There’s nothing quite as disappointing as finding you’ve got a huge world to explore but having no real reason to go ahead and venture into the far corners of the map.
With the multiple bounties, challenges, hideouts, treasure, strangers missions, unique horses, and a variety of towns dotted all over the map of Red Dead Redemption, we’ll certainly be hoping for the same again. Just, you know, on a much larger scale. Oh, and there best be more little gambling mini-games littering the towns too.
Customization
While Red Dead Redemption nailed many different things, one of the areas in which some consider it could have done better was the element of customization for our beloved John Marston. Yes, we got to change him into a fancy suit or a different attire once every so often, but the options were limited and didn’t allow us to express ourselves.
Now granted, fashion options weren’t quite as extensive back in the early 1900s as they are now, but we still think there could be some slick hairstyles John could don, or a few different suit and hat combos we could play around with. Heck, send us out into the wild to find the ingredients to craft our own color dyes. Let us be stylish, okay!
A Bustling World
Los Santos was such a great open world because it felt inhabited and lived in. The people you saw walking down the streets weren’t just there because the game told them to, but they existed. They were on their way to work. They had a purpose.
Heading into a rickety old town in the middle of the wild west, as it bustles with people trading, drinking themselves stupid, and fighting among themselves would truly bring the world of Red Dead to life and help it go one step further than its predecessor.
More Horse Variants / Elusive Horses
In a time before cars and combustion engines, the horse was the primary method of transport. While there was never a shortage of horses in Red Dead Redemption for you to claim as your own and head off into the sunset, the best steeds required you to put in a bit of legwork.
These elusive horses required you to hunt them down in the open world, lasso them, and tame them before you could call them your own. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many of them. It’d be great to see horses get a little more love in the teased title. More variants, different handling, speeds, and stats, and even more elusive horses for us to hunt down. Horses of the Apocalypse, I’m looking at you.
Buried Treasure
Some of the most rewarding moments in Red Dead Redemption’s entirety were solving those puzzling treasure maps. Each map would depict a location in the game world and it would be down to you to decipher it and head there to lay claim to the sparkling reward. Again, while these were a fun little side mission for players to do in their spare time in the west, a big map brings more iconic locations. The perfect visual clues for treasure hunting if you ask us.
Of course, what each treasure may be could be completely different to the expensive gold bullions that we picked up in the world of Red Dead Redemption. Whatever Rockstar decides to make them, we’d be all in.
Train Heists
When you were exploring the Frontier in Redemption, you couldn’t help but stare in awe at the huge trains as they sped by faster than anything else to grace these plains. Yet, while they were predominantly used for fast travel… and running over anyone who looked at John Marston the wrong way, they had so much more potential… the potential for looting, of course.
Since we performed all of the different heists in GTA V’s single-player campaign, we’ve been itching to try our hand at a few more, and let’s be real, what could be more intense than trying to pull off a train heist as it speeds across the Frontier as enemies rain down fire on you? You guessed it, nothing.
Rockstar Humor
Rockstar always likes to sprinkle a little bit of their crude humor into each and every title it releases. While some are certainly more in your face than others, it’s almost a staple of what we’ve come to expect from the developer. Yet, roaming the western frontier in Redemption, we couldn’t help but feel it was all a little bit restrained.
While going whole-hog may be a little bit odd in context of the game’s setting, we wouldn’t be entirely opposed to some funky getups for our new protagonist, or a bizarre new weapon or two. Easter Eggs, crazy characters, and fun little references would all most certainly be welcome.
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