While it may be some time before Rockstar announces anything regardingRed Dead Redemption 3, it is not too early to speculate on its potential for DLC. The firstRed Dead Redemptionreceived its highly-acclaimed Undead Nightmare expansion, which brought undead hordes to the Wild West, and while an updated version of that same premise would be intriguing, a better route could be from a different post-societal plot; namely, the mechanical behemoths of Guerilla Game’sHorizonfranchise.
Rockstar’s 2018 sequelRed Dead Redemption 2was an instant hit that took the gaming world by storm. Selling over 50 million copies as well as accruing countless awards and accolades in the process, the epic saga of Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang remains a high watermark for the games industry in terms of scale and story. While Rockstar is currently hard at work on what a 2022leak hints will beGrand Theft Auto 6, there is little doubt that the studio will eventually return to its more ruralRed Deadfranchise.
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Rockstar Needs to Go Back to Its Expansion Pack Roots
In 2010, a standalone expansion forRed Dead Redemptiontook a somber setting and turned it on its Stetson-adorned head.Undead Nightmare was a riveting success, blending the Western and Zombie genres in an enthralling way, which many fans still remark as one of the finest gaming expansions to ever bolster an existing product. Following the release ofGrand Theft Auto 5and the immense profitability ofGrand Theft Online, Rockstar appeared to shift away from its single-player expansion packs in favor of a live-service model.Red Dead Redemption 2followed a similar track, with steady updates to its online mode, and nothing in the way of additional single-player content.
For many fans, the hope remains that Rockstar will revert to its previous model for supporting its games, and that its future titles will include some form of post-launch single-player DLC. What that might look like is unclear, but for the all-but-inevitableRed Dead Redemption 3, something in the vein of Undead Nightmare would be incredible; a far-out premise that alters the tone in a major way. Returning to the well of zombies would be a fine choice, though something that has less representation in the medium would be even better.
One avenue Rockstar could go forRed Dead Redemption 3’s DLC is something akin toHorizon: Zero Dawnand its sequelHorizon: Forbidden West. An apocalypse begat by technology instead of disease, where rampaging machines bring the human race to heel. It would be on-brand for the taming of the Wild West through industrialization theme thatRed Dead Redemption 2portrayed so deftly, showing a hypothetical doomsday scenario where man-made contraptions rebelled on the frontier, resulting in a machine versus cowboy showdown. The robotic dinosaurs ofHorizonwould make formidable foes for whatever outlaw protagonist Rockstar features in Red Dead Redemption 3.
A full-blown crossover might be asking too much, but there is nothing stopping Rockstar from taking artistic license and heavy inspiration fromHorizonfor aRed Dead Redemption 3expansion. The sleekly-designed machines from Guerilla Game’s franchise would feel out of place in the Wild West, with a more steampunk-designed set of robot animals making a better fit. If Rockstar was so inclined, it could even go the route ofI, Robot, with rebelling automatons serving as the expansion’s big bad. Anything to do with the worst-case scenario of technology running amok would make for a fantastic side-adventure towhatever the main plot inRed Dead Redemption 3is.
It may be a decade or morebeforeRed Dead Redemption 3comes to pass, but it is never too early to envision what it might look like. One of the industry’s most popular studios could feasibly go in any number of directions with its franchises and still sell historic numbers, which makes it more likely that it will take a big swing with what it decides to do next.
Red Dead Redemption 2is available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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