Just five months from the game’s launch, we’re only just starting to get a more detailed look at Rockstar Games’ hotly anticipated sequel title, Red Dead Redemption 2. Today, the developer dropped a fairly meaty story trailer that took a deeper dive into explaining some of the narrative beats that tie this prequel tale to the previous game, as well as introduce the characters that will presumably all play a central role in the plot.
While it wasn’t the gameplay blowout that we were all hoping for, there are plenty of scenes from the trailer that certainly seem to allude to various main and side quest activities that players are likely to be spending their time doing.
Let’s break down two key takeaways from this latest trailer and discuss some of the features we think are most evidently going to appear in the final release:
The Tone is Dark and Sombre
We already know a fair bit about the history of Marston’s crew – the sons of Dutch – from Red Dead Redemption, but it appears as though the events that led to their downfall will form a central conflict in the narrative of this upcoming prequel. Tonally, the trailer invoked a sense that the followers of Dutch are at a crossroads, a transitory phase. Perhaps what we’re seeing is their close bond being tested, with Dutch’s leadership pushing them to commit ever more dangerous and morally questionable crimes.
Tying into this theme of change, the overall tone piece of the trailer seems to be teeing up the notion of transition from 19th to 20th century, with all the sociological and technological changes that follow in this era. The old west is done and the time of outlaws is numbered. There’s a real sense of futility that suggests the story might be driving toward a dramatic and somewhat hopeless end.
Perhaps the consistent references to fire, too, are hints that the finale of this tale is indeed destined to end in tragedy, or at least signifies the destruction of the status quo. Dutch states “You have to love yourself a good fire,” and then we’re later shown a scene in which a town is burning in the distance. There’s even another mention of fire as a member of the theater production we’re shown spews flames from their mouth. There’s surely a wider meaning to this that’s more than coincidence?
Yet fire might simply represent the changing technologies of the era and their impact on the landscape – at one point we also see a doctor administering a shot to a patient, after all, which was a puzzling inclusion. There’s no doubt that in the years surrounding the turn of the 20th century, a major shift toward advanced technologies began to alter society’s everyday lives, and was one of the key factors that brought an end to the frontier lifestyle that had ruled the region for one hundred years prior.
Hints at Gameplay to Come 
Although we actually think that one or two of the scenes shown in the trailer might have been actual in-game footage (the crawling through the burning house scene, for one), there certainly wasn’t any substantial glimpses of tangible gameplay here. Yet there were plenty of clues that lead us to believe several activities and mini-games are likely to crop up.
For starters, there’s no doubt that train robberies are going to play a major role in Red Dead Redemption 2. They’ve featured in every story trailer for the game so far, and here we see a lengthy cutscene in which Dutch holds a train car at ransom presumably before opening fire. There are shorter clips that also feature trains, as well as the robbery of a horse-drawn coach, and a bank heist, too.
Given the extent to which heists have formed GTA Online’s most notable gameplay events in recent years, it seems highly likely that Rockstar is going to have them form the crux of robbery missions in Red Dead Redemption 2. And could it be that if Red Dead does receive an Online mode in a similar fashion that the same loop of having smaller heists tie into a larger final one will also feature here too?
Elsewhere, other trailer scenes showed off horse taming, which leads us to believe that, along with the hunting that was alluded to in a previous trailer, capturing wild horses is another survival mechanic players might undertake. We love the idea of a Breath of the Wild-style setup in which players have a stable and multiple different horses with different stats to ride and level-up.
The more urban scenes showcased a fistfight, in which two opponents were circled by a cheering crowd, which might mean that brawling mini-games are to feature as a side activity. That would hardly be a unique feature in an open-world game – think The Witcher 3, for example – but a Red Dead Fight Club does sound pretty cool to us! Interestingly, the brawl was grouped together with two other melee combat scenes. Is this Rockstar Games trying to convey that striking and takedowns are going to form a new layer to combat in the game?
As for the interior shot of the theater, that might well have just been a snippet from a longer cutscene, or perhaps we’re going to be interacting with entertainment pastimes as a gameplay activity? We can’t help but see a Hitman-esque assassination scenario forming a main or side quest!
Finally, it’s become increasingly evident that the game’s plot features several characters central to its progression. Notably, this time it’s confirmed that John Marston – the protagonist from the first game – will certainly make an appearance. We also see a mysterious new female character that we’re given a pretty decent look at. Could all this allude to multiple playable protagonists in the game? Possibly, even, a female character – which would be a first for a Rockstar Game.
What did you think of the latest Red Dead Redemption 2 story trailer, and did you draw any other takeaways with respect to gameplay that we’ve missed here? Let us know in the comments below.
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