Summary
With each passing year, discussion around a potentialRed Dead Redemption 3only grows more passionate within the franchise’s community. Despite releasing almost six years ago, the narrative, characters, and intense detail ofRDR2has set a seriously high bar that its sequel will have a challenging time trying to exceed.
As no information is currently available surroundingRed Dead Redemption 3, many of its potential settings and featured characters are simply sourced from prominent fan theories. With Rockstar already setting such high expectations for the franchise, it seems thatRDR3might mark the end of a trilogy, finally wrapping up the immersive world of the Old West. If this is the case, then it seems thatRed Dead Redemption 3may have to lay the IP’s penchant for narrative-bridging epilogues to rest.
As things stand,Red Dead Redemption 3has not been officially confirmed by Rockstar.
Epilogues have always been a staple of theRed Dead Redemptionfranchise, offering important narrative bridges between games while allowing the player to free-roam after the events of a main story.Red Dead Redemption 2famously offered the most comprehensive of these epilogues, giving players time to process the heavy themes of its core story by stepping into the shoes of John Marston, who is attempting to build a legitimate life for himself and his family.
Of course, this epilogue directly ties intothe events of 2010’sRed Dead Redemption, where John is essentially forced to hunt down the outlaw comrades from his past in order to preserve the family life that he built in the epilogue ofRDR2. While nothing is known aboutRed Dead Redemption 3, this trend potentially indicates that the epilogue of the firstRDRis a sign of what fans can expect from a potential third release.
RDR’s epilogue comes shortly after the untimely deaths of John and Abigail Marston, leaving their son Jack in a state of grief and uncertainty. Despite the themes ofRDRand its sequel stressing the futility of revenge and the growing impossibility of the outlaw way of life,Jack Marston continues the cycle inRDR’s epilogueby adopting his father’s gunslinging ways in order to avenge him.
Many theories currently point towardsJack Marston as the protagonist ofRed Dead Redemption 3, being the only character to feature prominently in both preceding games while still having a story that needs to be told. While this narrative approach would lose the western themes that have made the franchise so popular, the concept of following Jack through major events such as the First World War and the rise of organized crime in the 1920s is a fascinating one thatRDR3could capitalize on.
If this does end up being the setting ofRDR3, then it seems important that the game should not feature an epilogue in the same way that its predecessors did. It isunlikely that theRDRfranchise could move beyond the 1920s, and an epilogue without a link to a future narrative would break the fantastic tradition that the epilogues of past games have upheld so well. While there should still be a way for players to free-roam after beating the game, a dedicated epilogue would feel out of place without the narrative insurance that it will lead into a new experience later down the line.
