Red Dead Redemption: 10 Darkest Stranger Missions

Outlaws, bandits, back-stabbers, disease, con-artists, oddly-proportioned hats, there's a lot to deal with in the Red Dead franchise.

Rockstar's Western open world series began in 2004 with Red Dead Revolver, but it wasn't until 2010's Red Dead Redemption when things really took off.

Redemption followed the trials and tribulations of John Marston, a former outlaw bringing down his old gang chums in order to save his family, who are being used as leverage by Bureau of Investigation agents, Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham. Marston's journey takes him across states and across borders, writing wrongs that are truly put into perspective in 2018's sequel.

As is habit for most of Rockstar's other games, there are a variety of side-missions to supplement the main quest, all fronted by strangers who are typically best described as "a little odd". A lot of the strangers tend to be harmless folks trying to get by in the harsher times of the West, but there are more than enough strangers who try to exploit or hurt John (and/or his son Jack) and even one or two who don't even seem of this world.

These then are the stranger side-missions that leave the playing feeling uneasy, unfulfilled, and sometimes even downright angry.

Let's start off light with a little bit of political corruption.

The settlement of Blackwater in West Elizabeth plays a huge role in RDR's narrative. Not only is it where the core narrative of Redemption 1 & 2 is born in the Blackwater Massacre, it becomes the central hub for John's interactions with Agent Ross in his endeavours to get his family back. The settlement is the most modern and developed in the game, seen as the focal point for American progress as well as a favourite for the upper class in the region.

It is also the location of the state's government, which the player gets involved in upon meeting Mr. Philmore, who represents morally flexible Governor, Nate Johns. Johns has been receiving a consistent stream of criticisms from political commentator Aldous Worthington and so Philmore tasks the player with silencing the critic.

Thankfully, that doesn't mean an increase in your body count, instead Philmore has a collection of images showing Worthington enjoying the facilities of the local brothel.

Not quite the "support the local businesses" mantra that he would've had in mind, Worthington quickly changes his tune on Johns, declaring him a "fine, fine man and an even better Governor".