It’s one of the biggest questions that Rockstar will have to face after GTA 6’s release. With GTA 6 firmly being Rockstar Games’ sole focus for the foreseeable future, a huge question that still remains is what will Red Dead Redemption 3 be about?
This is probably going to be one of the most difficult questions/game concepts Rockstar will ever have to answer/figure out as they have kind of boxed themselves into a corner with the events of Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2.
Not only have they killed off two huge, beloved protagonists (Arthur Morgan and John Marston) and the gang from which each protagonist came from in those two titles, but they also killed off their version of the Wild West by setting the two previous games in the late 1890s and the early 1900s.
Simply put, Rockstar has to create a new outlaw gang and set the game decades in the past to have another gang-like atmosphere set in the Wild West, which would obviously not allow much of the weapons and technological advancements we saw in Red Dead Redemption 1 and Red Dead Redemption 2 to be present.
A pretty difficult task, right?
Though, out of these two big issues, the one where I would see Rockstar struggling with the most would be creating a new story/environment that is of equal standing with the current Rockstar Wild West.
The characters of Arthur Morgan, John Marston, Dutch Van Der Linde, Abigail Marston, Sadie Adler, Charles Smith, Uncle, Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella, Micah Bell, Jack Marston, Edgar Ross, etc. are iconic in not only the Rockstar gaming franchise, but also in the gaming universe as a whole.
Everyone who even has a hint of what the Red Dead series is about has heard of the struggles of John Marston’s fight for his family in Red Dead Redemption 1 or has fallen in love with the redemption of Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2.
It’s simply impossible to replace these legends in the minds and hearts of the Red Dead series fans, which is why it would be silly for Rockstar to forsake the Red Dead world completely. No, they need to create a game that involves the world of Red Dead Redemption but set in an earlier time frame with new (but familiar) characters.
So, in my humble opinion, the only paths Rockstar can really take is either doing another prequel with Dutch Van Der Linde forming the Van Der Linde gang, a prequel/same time frame as RDR2 game that revolves around another gang, following Jack Marston after the events of RDR1, or following one of the many side characters that survived RDR2 (such as Sadie, Charles, Landon Ricketts, etc.).
Personally, I think a game revolving around Landon Ricketts would be the ideal choice as it not only breaks the outlaw trend that RDR1 and RDR2 established, but there’s also so much potential with Ricketts and his involvement in the Rockstar Wild West world.
(Rockstar/Take-Two Interactive-Red Dead Redemption-Mexico)
Rockstar could literally set this game anywhere in their Wild West universe at any time with Landon Ricketts as the main protagonist as there is so much we don’t know about the great lawman. They could center the game around his early adulthood, his time as a lawman, how he ended up in Mexico by 1911, what he did after he met John Marston, etc. The storytelling limits with Ricketts are endless.
Plus, his gruff, no-nonsense personality fits perfectly within the ‘redemption’ theme this video game franchise has perfected.
Anyway, I also wouldn’t mind a story about Sadie in South America, Charles and his family in Canada, or even Jack in America during WWI after the events of RDR1 (though, there really wouldn’t be too many outlaws or famous cowboys in the 1914’s and on), but Landon Ricketts would be my first choice.
Fortunately, Rockstar has a long time to think about what the next Red Dead game will be about as Grand Theft Auto 6 is still a good 2-3 years away.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Rockstar Games/Take-Two Interactive) (Red Dead Redemption 2: Official Trailer #2 – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Rockstar Games/Take-Two Interactive) (Red Dead Redemption)
