The first official locations guide for Red Dead Redemption 2 has been released, offering an up-close look at the single largest map Rockstar Games has ever created. Featuring sweeping landscapes from the American Heartlands, dangerous lifestyles in the dusty coal country, and a melting pot of city living, the locations featured in Red Dead Redemption 2 cover a massive geographical scope that spans the highs and lows of the United States in the late 1800s.
A prequel to its 2010 predecessor, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an open world Western-themed video game that follows an outlaw named Arthur Morgan, one of the standout members of the infamous Dutch van der Linde gang. As the age of the Old West slowly dies off at the turn of the century, Arthur and his gang of outlaws find themselves on the run from authorities and bounty hunters. To survive, players do what they must with what their environment offers, all the while deciding whether Arthur’s loyalty to the gang coincides with his evolving principles. Now, just over a month before its release, Rockstar Games has revealed the first locations guide to paint a clearer picture of what players ought to anticipate once they officially saddle up.
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Within the game’s vast frontier, the locations guide from Rockstar includes brand new cities, towns, and landscapes, while also drawing small parallels to the first game. Granted the locations featured in this guide only reveal some of the games’ “towns dotted across the vast and varied landscape,” the ones that are featured highlight each location’s scope, distinct geographical differences, and even unique personalities. Aside from visual individuality, each location will tell its own story that ultimately affects the way Arthur interacts with each setting.
The locations in Red Dead Redemption 2 include: the “rough-and-tumble town” of Valentine, where “livestock auctions attract traders, ranchers, cowboys, gamblers, outlaws and prostitutes from far and wide;” the dusty mining town of Annesburg, where “conditions are terrible for little pay, and many men have lost their lives;” the thriving city known as Saint Denis, where “businessmen, socialites, sailors, laborers, beggars and thieves all live side by side;” the snowy peaks of Mount Hagen, “which provides the main pass through the western mountain range;” the town of Rhodes, where “two warring plantation families” underscore the seemingly “prim and proper” aesthetic; the logging town called Strawberry, where a new, eccentric mayor from the East Coast “is obsessed with transforming it into a cultural beacon for wealthy tourists, much to the bemusement of the locals;” and the remote bayou Lagras, where locals make “a little money here and there from fishing and acting as guides for travelers wishing to navigate the region.”
The locations guide also mentions one of the three major territories from the first Red Dead Redemption, West Elizabeth (which is were Strawberry is located), though it’s unclear what other (if any) locations from the first game will show up. That said, there is plenty ground to cover in Red Dead Redemption 2 to make up for their possible exclusion.
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Red Dead Redemption 2 will be released October 26 on Playstation 4 and Xbox One consoles.
