Red Dead Redemption 2: 5 Western Tropes Rockstar Must Avoid

In perhaps the most powerful moment of Red Dead Redemption, it’s ending, protagonist John Marston is slain by the Pinkerton Agents who had promised him exoneration from his past misdeeds.

An unexpected and heart-rending conclusion to John Marston’s story is only further pushed into ‘bittersweet’ territory by an epilogue wherein the player takes control of John’s now-adult son, snuffing out the men who took his Father away from him and his Mother.

It would have been all too easy for RDR to become a Western game that matches the optimistically ambiguous, quasi-upbeat endings of it’s John Wayne and Clint Eastwood filmic inspirations. However, Rockstar Games have never been ones to make their stories too predictable, have they?

An impactful, blunt ending that defined one of the greatest games ever made, Red Dead Redemption 2 deciding to go for a more Hollywood-inspired, 'happy' ending would feel almost out of character for gaming’s premiere Western franchise.