Red Dead Redemption 2: 18 Easter Eggs And References You Totally Missed
3. Marston Mimics The First Red Dead Redemption Cover
Rockstar
The cover for Red Dead Redemption 1 might not be the most iconic in Rockstar's library, but they still include a cheeky little nod to it in the prequel's epilogue.
When Pronghorn Ranch is subject to a nighttime raid, John is forced to spring into action and promptly leads a retaliatory raid into enemy territory. They take down most of those who attacked the ranch, but one gets the drop on Marston. A scuffle ensues, before he picks up a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun and approaches the man in question, and fires off a shot at point-blank range (seen towards the seven minute mark in the video below).
It's a blatant throwback to RDR's cover, and proves to be one of the most satisfying moments of the game, as John gears up for one last ride before he can get his happy ending - at least for a few years.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
