Fans have been eagerly awaiting a sequel to 2010’s western-focused Red Dead Redemption, but we may be due a sequel sooner than you might think. It’s worth mentioning, of course, that Red Dead Redemption is, in itself, a sequel to Red Dead Revolver, which was released way back in 2004 for the original Xbox and PlayStation 2 - six years before Red Dead Redemption came out. It’s now been six years since Redemption, so it might not be long before we see another Red Dead game ride onto the scene.
Release date
Of course, nothing official has been announced by Rockstar yet, but we can make an educated guess on when we can expect Red Dead Redemption 2 to come out. Both Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption came out between one to two years after their initial reveal trailers, so considering we haven't even got a trailer yet, we're probably looking at either a 2017 or 2018 release window at the very earliest.
We've also got E3 right around the corner, so we might hear something more concrete then. While Rockstar don't typically have much of a presence at E3, if recent rumours are to be believed, we could see them show off Red Dead Redemption 2 this year. After all, Take Two's CEO, Strauss Zelnick described Read Dead as a "permanent franchise" way back in 2014, and at an earnings call in May this year, Strauss also explained that Take-Two's “working on exciting future projects that will be revealed soon."
What we know so far
For the last few years, there have been a couple of leaks that, while taken with a grain of salt, do suggest a Red Dead Redemption 2 sequel is in the works. A map, allegedly focusing on the playable space for Red Dead 2, made its way onto the internet in May. The image (below), posted to NeoGaf, shows an expansive world that we may be able to roam around in in the near future. Techradar said its sources reportedly confirmed its legitimacy, but only time will tell whether the map is actually legit.
Early reports that are yet to be refuted also suggest the Wild West sequel may take part in the events prior to Red Dead Redemption along with some rumblings of a remastered edition of the 2010 title for current consoles and PC too.
Features we’d like to see
Red Dead Redemption launched in 2011 to critical acclaim, described as a “slick and expansive wild west adventure” in our own review. It had a fantastically engaging story about the lengths its protagonist John Marston would go to protect his family, with plenty of interesting characters and some enjoyable gameplay mechanics. Marston was killed at the end of the first game, giving you control of his son, Jack, in the epilogue, so could we see the continuation of the Marston story in the sequel?
Of course, Rockstar are the champions of the open-world genre, so we’d expect the sequel to be no different. If the leaked map is anything to go by, the playable area looks to be even larger than the wide expanse of Read Dead Redemption, giving you plenty of space for horsing around. A significant graphical improvement is expected too, running on the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine that powered Grand Theft Auto 5.
The leaked map's large water sections and separate islands also implies we might see some swimming involved. This wasn't an option in the first game, so it's likely we'll be ditching our horses and taking to water at some point if the map is, indeed, correct. We'll update this article with more information as soon as we have it.
