Red Dead Redemption 2has a big and diverse world, but its towns, while beautiful, sometimes miss the mark when it comes to balancing good design with fun gameplay. As we look ahead toRed Dead Redemption 3, there are important lessons from the highs and lows of the previous game’s towns. The next game needs to be able to balance the Western theme with the idea that the Old West is ending.
Towns like Valentine get it right by being more immersive. Valentine isn’t just a pretty backdrop; it feels like a real part of the game. Its muddy streets and lively saloon give players a real taste of classic Western life, starkly contrasting the more polished feel of other areas.This mix of life and atmosphere is crucial, and forRed Dead Redemption 3, it’s important to create towns that are visually appealing and serve as engaging places for storytelling and player interaction.
Valentine Is Everything A Western Town Should Be In RDR3
Valentine Is Number 1
Valentine is a great example of what a Wild West town should be like in theRed Dead Redemptionuniverse, and its design could serve as a model for future towns inRDR3. The muddy streets, which show signs of recent rain or livestock passing through, createa more realistic and lived-in atmospherecompared to cleaner, more polished environments elsewhere.
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The central saloon is not just for show; it’s a lively place where stories happen, characters interact, and players can enjoy classic Western activities.Valentine also has practical features, like a general store, gunsmith, and doctor, making it a convenient and popular spot. Its small size creates a friendly and close-knit feeling, helping players feel more connected to the people and the setting in a way that larger towns often don’t.
Overall,Valentine captures the rugged, vibrant spirit of the Wild West, offering an immersive and enjoyable experience. The layout encourages exploration, with hidden alleys and spots that make it feel like there’s always something new to find. It’s the best way for any Western game to start, butRDR3should have many more places like this.
Other RDR2 Towns Are Great But Flawed
These Towns Are Top Tier
While Valentine is thebest-designed town inRed Dead Redemption 2, other towns have their own qualities but don’t quite stack up in terms of overall feel and functionality. For example, Rhodes has a unique Southern charm with its red dirt, making it visually appealing, butits storyline sometimes gets in the way of the town being a practical place for players. Strawberry is beautiful with its streams and mountains, but it lacks important services like a saloon and a gunsmith, making it more of a nice spot to visit rather than a useful location forRDR3.
This raises an interesting point about the direction ofRed Dead Redemption 3. IfRDR3is another prequel, thenthe game could benefit from having one or two towns still being constructed with not much to do. In that case, it makes sense for towns not to have much going on, but there are too many towns that only serve one purpose or appear for a few missions.
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A prequel could either dive into a time when the frontier was being actively shaped through conflict and lawlessness or shift to a specific region that moves away from the East’s growing influence.This approach would allow towns to reflect the struggle between order and chaos, emphasizing communities forming in a harsh world instead of fading away, presenting a fresh perspective on the series.
Saint Denis & Blackwater Are Too Industrialized
They’re Too Modern
While Saint Denis and Blackwater show some of the modern changes coming to the Wild West, their heavy industrial feel doesn’t really fit with the spirit of theRed Dead Redemptionseries. With its large city layout, electric lights, and busy markets,Saint Denis often feels disconnected from the cowboy world, giving a peek into a future that seems out of place. While realistic, the high presence of law enforcement limits player freedom and forces a more structured gameplay approach, which wouldn’t do well if overdone inRed Dead Redemption 3.
Blackwater, although smaller, has a slick, modern look that clashes with the gritty, lawless vibe of the setting. This creates a mismatch between its appealing design and the game’s deeper themes. While these towns offer useful services and easy access to modern items, their more contemporary features detract from the authentic Wild West experience. ForRed Dead Redemption 3,having just one major city would be plenty; the game should focus more on creating smaller, cozy towns like Valentine that feel real and are closely connected to the gameplay experience.
RDR3 Needs More Valentine & Less Armadillo
More Of The Good, Less Of The Bad
ForRed Dead Redemption 3to really capture the Wild West vibe and improve on some issues seen inRDR2,it should focus on creating more towns like Valentine while steering clear of the problems found in places like Armadillo. The goal should go beyond just looking visually accurate; the game needs to give players a reason to visit and make it feel real.
In 1899, Armadillo is in the midst of a Scarlet Fever outbreak, and the town suffers widespread cholera duringRDR2’s epilogue in 1907. There are hints that these plagues resulted from theStrange Man cursing Armadillo.
RDR3might benefit from exploring a different time in history. Instead of the late 1800s, which shows the decline of the frontier,the game could set itself in the early to mid-1800s, during the fur trade or the California Gold Rush. This would present a different perspective on the West, centered on exploration and cultural clashes, rather than the industrialization that started to take hold later on.
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Changing the time or the location would let the game dive into the beginnings of frontier life instead of its decline, highlighting the freedom, danger, and possibilities of those early times. It could showcase how outlaws came to be,emphasizing the battle between civilization and wildness in towns, which should be key to the player’s experience rather than just a pretty backdrop or a place for simple tasks. If anything, it could show why lawmakers came to the land and what brought it on. This could mean the decline of the frontier and the rise of outlaws.
Overall, with its towns, it can tell the story and show what’s happening instead of just having locations that are there. Like Armadillo, a few places are just not as fun to visit and feel like a waste. There’s only one Valentine inRed Dead Redemption 2, which makes it less fun, so maybe more active places to visit will help players ofRed Dead Redemption 3.
