Red Dead Redemption 2 features one of the most realistic open worlds ever created. Rockstar Games’ Western took players through an almost 50-hour campaign, plus more than 100 hours of side quests, mini-games, and outlaw activities. These include robbing passenger trains as they cross RDR2‘s virtual landscapes, which is enjoyable at first but quickly loses steam the more hours players spend with the cowboy adventure.
One of RDR2‘s campaign missions features a daring train robbery, but players also have the option to rob any train they spot while exploring. There are two major train routes in RDR2: the Southern & Eastern Railway and the Central Union Railroad. The trains that ride these tracks are identical and are made up of passenger and cargo cars. While robbing trains might be fun initially, it eventually becomes stale because of the lack of train variety. Red Dead Redemption 3 should add different trains with random rewards and a train bounty system to keep the activity interesting.
Rockstar could create different train models that each look distinct, come with unique loot, and spawn randomly throughout the campaign. For example, luxury trains could offer no cargo, but all passengers aboard could be carrying valuable jewelry or a lot of money. Freight trains could be heavily guarded and hold one big safe players need to search to make the robbery worth it. Different types of locomotives would make robbing trains in Red Dead 3 more enticing and less redundant than in RDR2.
How Red Dead Redemption 3 Could Improve Train Robbery Gameplay
![How Red Dead Redemption 3 Can Make Train Gameplay More Fun](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Red-Dead-Redemption-2-Train-Tracks-Under-Construction.jpg)
Rockstar already implemented a similar system with RDR2‘s coach robberies, which are optional missions that let protagonist Arthur Morgan intercept carriages transporting valuable goods. Coach robberies begin with Arthur receiving a tip from an informant about a carriage moving large sums of money or precious items. Players need to wait for the coach to arrive at a checkpoint, then sneakily swindle the payload or hold up the caravan at gunpoint. The same bounty system could be used for train robberies in RDR3.
An informant could tip off players about an important cargo shipment or a wealthy passenger aboard a certain train. Rockstar could make these kinds of side quests more interesting by adding challenges, like robbing a train’s safe without alerting its security. It would be a small change to Red Dead Redemption 2‘s otherwise stellar open world, but it would go a long way in keeping an interesting part of the Western franchise fresh for Red Dead Redemption 3.