Summary
Single-player narrative games have been experiencing another golden age for a good few years now, and Rockstar has played no small role in that. While its online modes have occasionally become the focus of its more recent games, Rockstar is a developer that’s concerned with its single-player campaigns first and foremost, and nowhere is that more evident than theRed Dead Redemptionseries. While bothRed Dead Redemptiongames have had expansive online modes, they’re most fondly remembered for their single-player campaigns, offering tens of hours of thrilling Wild West action and a surprising amount of character and thematic depth.
Set around the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th,theRed Dead Redemptionseriessees a gang of outlaws attempting to cling to their way of life in a rapidly changing world, and that backdrop ends up being the perfect vehicle for some of the best storytelling in all of gaming history. After two immensely popular games, it’s only natural that fans want anotherRed Deadentry, but there’s a big roadblock in the way of a sequel, and that’s time.
While its canonicity is still a little unclear,Red Dead Revolveris technically the first chronological game in theRed Deadseries by quite a large margin. Set during an unspecified time in the 1880s,Red Dead Revolvertakes place during the height of the Wild West era, which is a period that roughly spans just 30 years according to many historians and covers the time between around 1865 and 1895. As such,Red Dead Revolveris a pretty run-of-the-mill Western, at least in terms of story, telling a tale of revenge that’s stereotypical for the genre.
Next up isRed Dead Redemption 2. A prequel to the firstRed Dead Redemption,RDR2sees players take on the role of Arthur Morgan, one of the senior members ofthe Van Der Linde Gang. Beginning in 1899,Red Dead Redemption 2centers around the core theme that the Wild West era is rapidly coming to an end, and the Van Der Linde Gang isn’t ready for the change, with this life being the only one its members have ever known. Around every corner inRed Dead 2, there’s a reminder that the world is changing, and a quick follow-up reminder that Arthur Morgan no longer belongs in it.
Set in 1911,Red Dead Redemptionechoes much of the same themes as its eventual sequel, albeit from a different perspective. While Arthur Morgan and much of the Van Der Linde Gang couldn’t find their place in this new age of technology and capitalism,Red Dead Redemptionshows John Marston trying his very best to adapt for the sake of his family.
Simply put, theRed Dead Redemptionfranchise can’t continue into the future all that easily. By the time of the firstRed Dead Redemption, the Wild West era is well and truly done, and the looming threat of World War 1 is about to usher in a whole new technological era for the West. If Rockstar wanted to makeanotherRed Deadsequel, then it would need to get creative and try to forge a Wild West-like setting out of some kind of modern era.
But by far the easiest option for theRed Dead Redemptionseries to continue is to just make another prequel. WithRed Dead 2beginning in 1899, there’s still a good 30 years prior that Rockstar could explore if it wanted to keep a traditional Wild West setting, though that would mean sacrificing this core theme of a fast-changing world. What might be most interesting is if the nextRed Deadgame took a page out ofCall of Juarez' playbook, taking players all the way back to the end of the American Civil War so that it could explore the advent of the Wild West era.
