Red Dead Redemption 3 Should Be Another Prequel

Although Red Dead Redemption 3 is likely a ways away – if it’s even planned at all – it should continue the series’ trajectory of moving backward in time with another prequel. The first RDR takes place primarily in 1911, while its more recent follow-up went back to 1899, featuring a younger John Marston as a secondary character rather than the protagonist. Arthur Morgan joined Marston as an iconic western character witnessing the downfall of their way of life, and this theme essential to the series’ core could potentially be lost by a Red Dead Redemption 3 that became a traditional sequel.

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From its very outset, symbolized with an automobile being delivered to Blackwater, Red Dead Redemption depicts the unceremonious end of the American Wild West. Marston lives in the rapidly industrializing 20th century, where national detective agencies are hunting down and bringing an end to vestiges of American outlaw culture. Blackwater is a vision of the future, while Armadillo to the west struggles to bring civilization to a desolate and dangerous region.

A majority of RDR2 takes place a whole 12 years prior and carries much of the same message: the life of an outlaw is no longer viable, and the west is on the cusp of being tamed. The turn of the century symbolically waits over the horizon as Morgan becomes disillusioned by the schemes of Dutch van der Linde. In its immersive open world, urban centers like Saint Denis are the future, where greedy men engage in politics and rich men impose their influence on the government. RDR2 is a step back from its predecessor, showing a way of life in decline, but not yet at its end like in the first game. If a third game was to be made, the best way to proceed would be to continue with an earlier time period in another prequel.

Red Dead Redemption 3’s Best Narrative Opportunity Is In The Past With Dutch

With the first Red Dead Redemption taking place at the end of the Wild West, RDR3 should show not its beginning, but its height. Though Manifest Destiny brought American settlers to the frontier long before the Civil War, the apex of the Wild West came after the conflict’s conclusion and would be an ideal staging ground for a third RDR. Just as RDR2 took place slightly further east than its predecessor, RDR3 could do the same, using the continued turmoil of Reconstruction as a backdrop. With the Van der Linde Gang as a through-line thus far for the series, RDR3 could show Dutch’s glory days, which RDR2 failed to do. Another major jump back in time could even place the game in the midst of Dutch’s rivalry with The O’Driscoll Boys.

The Red Dead Redemption series thus far is a recounting of the Old West in reverse, starting from its death throes and slowly moving toward a time when living as an outlaw was viable. Because the series deals with a caricature of recorded history, there is a limited epoch in which a third game could be set, especially if it’s going to relate to the Van der Linde Gang. It’s entirely possible that the next Red Dead game will not be subtitled with Redemption, much like the series’ progenitor – Red Dead Revolver – but Rockstar forming a trilogy with an unromantic view of the Wild West’s pinnacle could further solidify Red Dead Redemption‘s anti-western tradition. RDR2 already took place before its predecessor because RDR killed the Van der Linde Gang along with the Wild West, so Red Dead Redemption 3‘s best option is to follow suit.

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