10 Things Cut From Red Dead Redemption 2
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VOICE OVER: Mathew Arter
WRITTEN BY: Mathew Arter
"Red Dead Redemption 2" is a massive game, but it still had some content cut before launch. For this list, we're looking at the confirmed and suspected cut content that we would love to have seen, from storylines to gameplay elements. Our list includes Safehouses, Mexico, Tempest Rim, a Second Love Interest, and more!
Script written by Mathew Arter
Welcome to Mojoplays, and today we are looking back at one of the greatest games of all time, and working out what we missed with 10 things cut from Red Dead Redemption 2. For this list, we’re looking at the confirmed and suspected cut content that we would love to have seen. From storylines, to gameplay elements, we’re breaking down Rockstar’s wish list and wondering what could have been. Which of these would you like to have seen more of? Let us know in the comments below.
Arthur Morgan has one of the most unfortunate love stories of modern gaming. Not only is he left heartbroken, alone, and destined to wrestle with who he is and who he loves, but also the woman he’s in love with is JUST THE WORST!! Mary is poop, most people agree, but around the time of release Rockstar let us know about a good chunk of the content related to her that had to be cut. One of these details that slipped, was that there was a planned second love interest that was cut from the game, because Rockstar feared “it wouldn’t work”. With vague details like this, fans have been left to speculate and create their own theories. The most believed of these theories is that Sadie was supposed to be a love interest for Arthur, or even possibly for John, thus creating a love triangle of sorts with his future wife Abigail. We understand why the latter would be difficult to make work.
A significant amount of finished character models remain in the game files of Red Dead Redemption 2 for larger and obese characters. They were originally intended to spawn around the map like most other NPCs, but were ultimately cut from the final experience, and aside from a handful of story related characters, there are no larger NPC’s. I think the dev team were concerned about having to model a larger lasso… I’m a big fat guy so I’m allowed to make that joke.
One of the side features found in GTA and Red Dead Redemption 1 was safehouses. Safehouses gave the players the opportunity to buy up land across the game's respective maps for both safepoints and (in some games) regular income. With the camp being such a heavy part of the RDR2 experience, it’s hard to believe that the game originally intended to have purchasable safehouses across the map, but they did… and then they didn’t. The decision to cut this content most likely came down to time restraints and lack of priority, with the camp being such an integral part of the experience, and also autosave being there to make our lives easier.
One of the immersive draws of Red Dead 2 is all the extra things the player can do around the map. You can easily lose an entire day to fishing, or even just riding your horse around and meeting strange and interesting people. One of the bigger time sinks came in the form of minigames such as blackjack, dominoes, poker, and five finger filet. I can’t count the hours I’ve lost gambling away my blood money around a Poker table in RDR2, but had Rockstar kept in their full roster of originally planned minigames, I might still be gambling to this day. Rustling, liar's dice, three-card Monte, chess, craps, horseshoe and roulette were all originally intended to be included in the game, but were ultimately cut from the final experience.
This discovery that was popularized by Reddit user Huntroploria allows players to glitch beyond the map's boundaries to explore an unused northern snowy region that features some significant geographical features like frozen lakes and ice walls, as well as huntable animals that spawn as normal. After hitting an invisible wall to the west of Barrow Lagoon, the player can set up camp, and wake up glitched into this unused part of the map. The significance of this area has led players to speculate that it was originally being worked on, but was later cut, possibly to be added as a DLC location.
Well before the game was released, there was heavy speculation that Red Dead Redemption 2 would combine its map with the original Red Dead Redemption map, allowing players to explore New Austin and its surrounds. Upon release, players were left smiling as they could see that Blackwater was there, and although it was impossible to get close, we just knew we’d eventually be making our way in that direction. After a sometimes 70-hour long playthrough, players were able to make their way down and explore a massive chunk of the Red Dead Redemption map, but beyond one scripted experience in Armadillo, New Austin was basically barron. We understand the fan service, but we can’t help but feel like content was cut from this location, leaving it as little more than an unused archive of nostalgia. A building that randomly explodes with no explanation, aggressive hostiles, and a mysterious priest with a letter in his pocket… What was Rockstar planning in New Austin?
It’s not difficult to rustle up a little extra dough in RDR2. There are plenty of hustles and side missions to line the player’s pockets. One of the more profitable tasks is the bounty hunting that players can embark on. Find a wanted poster, go to the location and take the target dead or alive (alive if you want some more dough). It’s been confirmed that there were a number of cut bounties from the final game, but to this day we have no idea who we might have been hunting down.
Guarma is an odd little gem in the RDR2 story. In the game's fifth chapter, the player is stripped of their familiarity and thrown into a whole new environment to fight and scratch back to their own world. The hostile guards of Guarma make it incredibly difficult to explore the island fully, leading players to believe this is a clever trick by Rockstar to prevent them from seeing just how unfinished this island is. Was Guarma intended to be more significant in the final product? Was it meant to be more readily accessible? Only Rockstar truly knows.
Another piece of the map that is inexplicably missing is Mexico. Although the game chose to include New Austin from Red Dead Redemption 1, the devs made the decision to cut it there and not allow the player to explore the Southern part of the original game’s map, Mexico. With players glitching their way there, they can find a significant amount of finished architecture and land, which makes it difficult not to believe this part of the map was cut simply due to a time restriction. Why take on this massive effort of including the first game's map, but only do half the job? It seems like an odd choice that would only have been made because it had to be made. But don’t take my word for it. Ask literally every single person who has played this game and also has a Reddit account. You’ll get one of a million answers.
GTA V had the fun feature of being able to adjust many details of the player's heists. Red Dead Redemption 2 not only originally intended for the player to be able to recruit posse members all over the map, but to also modify characters’ outfits and weapons before embarking on a mission with them. Although the feature isn’t at all necessary, it would have been pretty cool to dress everybody up and deck out their weaponry before going and robbing that train. Maybe if we’d been able to give Javier some more grippy shoes, he might not have fallen off the DAMN TRAIN!
Welcome to Mojoplays, and today we are looking back at one of the greatest games of all time, and working out what we missed with 10 things cut from Red Dead Redemption 2. For this list, we’re looking at the confirmed and suspected cut content that we would love to have seen. From storylines, to gameplay elements, we’re breaking down Rockstar’s wish list and wondering what could have been. Which of these would you like to have seen more of? Let us know in the comments below.
Second Love Interest
Arthur Morgan has one of the most unfortunate love stories of modern gaming. Not only is he left heartbroken, alone, and destined to wrestle with who he is and who he loves, but also the woman he’s in love with is JUST THE WORST!! Mary is poop, most people agree, but around the time of release Rockstar let us know about a good chunk of the content related to her that had to be cut. One of these details that slipped, was that there was a planned second love interest that was cut from the game, because Rockstar feared “it wouldn’t work”. With vague details like this, fans have been left to speculate and create their own theories. The most believed of these theories is that Sadie was supposed to be a love interest for Arthur, or even possibly for John, thus creating a love triangle of sorts with his future wife Abigail. We understand why the latter would be difficult to make work.
Obese Dead Redemption
A significant amount of finished character models remain in the game files of Red Dead Redemption 2 for larger and obese characters. They were originally intended to spawn around the map like most other NPCs, but were ultimately cut from the final experience, and aside from a handful of story related characters, there are no larger NPC’s. I think the dev team were concerned about having to model a larger lasso… I’m a big fat guy so I’m allowed to make that joke.
Safehouses
One of the side features found in GTA and Red Dead Redemption 1 was safehouses. Safehouses gave the players the opportunity to buy up land across the game's respective maps for both safepoints and (in some games) regular income. With the camp being such a heavy part of the RDR2 experience, it’s hard to believe that the game originally intended to have purchasable safehouses across the map, but they did… and then they didn’t. The decision to cut this content most likely came down to time restraints and lack of priority, with the camp being such an integral part of the experience, and also autosave being there to make our lives easier.
Minigames
One of the immersive draws of Red Dead 2 is all the extra things the player can do around the map. You can easily lose an entire day to fishing, or even just riding your horse around and meeting strange and interesting people. One of the bigger time sinks came in the form of minigames such as blackjack, dominoes, poker, and five finger filet. I can’t count the hours I’ve lost gambling away my blood money around a Poker table in RDR2, but had Rockstar kept in their full roster of originally planned minigames, I might still be gambling to this day. Rustling, liar's dice, three-card Monte, chess, craps, horseshoe and roulette were all originally intended to be included in the game, but were ultimately cut from the final experience.
Tempest Rim
This discovery that was popularized by Reddit user Huntroploria allows players to glitch beyond the map's boundaries to explore an unused northern snowy region that features some significant geographical features like frozen lakes and ice walls, as well as huntable animals that spawn as normal. After hitting an invisible wall to the west of Barrow Lagoon, the player can set up camp, and wake up glitched into this unused part of the map. The significance of this area has led players to speculate that it was originally being worked on, but was later cut, possibly to be added as a DLC location.
New Austin
Well before the game was released, there was heavy speculation that Red Dead Redemption 2 would combine its map with the original Red Dead Redemption map, allowing players to explore New Austin and its surrounds. Upon release, players were left smiling as they could see that Blackwater was there, and although it was impossible to get close, we just knew we’d eventually be making our way in that direction. After a sometimes 70-hour long playthrough, players were able to make their way down and explore a massive chunk of the Red Dead Redemption map, but beyond one scripted experience in Armadillo, New Austin was basically barron. We understand the fan service, but we can’t help but feel like content was cut from this location, leaving it as little more than an unused archive of nostalgia. A building that randomly explodes with no explanation, aggressive hostiles, and a mysterious priest with a letter in his pocket… What was Rockstar planning in New Austin?
Bounty Hunter
It’s not difficult to rustle up a little extra dough in RDR2. There are plenty of hustles and side missions to line the player’s pockets. One of the more profitable tasks is the bounty hunting that players can embark on. Find a wanted poster, go to the location and take the target dead or alive (alive if you want some more dough). It’s been confirmed that there were a number of cut bounties from the final game, but to this day we have no idea who we might have been hunting down.
Guarma
Guarma is an odd little gem in the RDR2 story. In the game's fifth chapter, the player is stripped of their familiarity and thrown into a whole new environment to fight and scratch back to their own world. The hostile guards of Guarma make it incredibly difficult to explore the island fully, leading players to believe this is a clever trick by Rockstar to prevent them from seeing just how unfinished this island is. Was Guarma intended to be more significant in the final product? Was it meant to be more readily accessible? Only Rockstar truly knows.
Mexico
Another piece of the map that is inexplicably missing is Mexico. Although the game chose to include New Austin from Red Dead Redemption 1, the devs made the decision to cut it there and not allow the player to explore the Southern part of the original game’s map, Mexico. With players glitching their way there, they can find a significant amount of finished architecture and land, which makes it difficult not to believe this part of the map was cut simply due to a time restriction. Why take on this massive effort of including the first game's map, but only do half the job? It seems like an odd choice that would only have been made because it had to be made. But don’t take my word for it. Ask literally every single person who has played this game and also has a Reddit account. You’ll get one of a million answers.
Squad Loadouts
GTA V had the fun feature of being able to adjust many details of the player's heists. Red Dead Redemption 2 not only originally intended for the player to be able to recruit posse members all over the map, but to also modify characters’ outfits and weapons before embarking on a mission with them. Although the feature isn’t at all necessary, it would have been pretty cool to dress everybody up and deck out their weaponry before going and robbing that train. Maybe if we’d been able to give Javier some more grippy shoes, he might not have fallen off the DAMN TRAIN!
