10+ Easy-to-Miss Red Dead Redemption 2 Story Mode Details
Rockstar defined the open-world genre with its highly-detailed Red Dead Redemption 2 Story Mode, which set a high bar that games rarely beat to this day.
Red Dead 2’s story has so much depth to it that you’ll find new details and mechanics even after putting hundreds of hours in.
From savage animal interactions in the wild to dynamic behaviors from NPCs, RDR2 has hundreds of small details that create the sense of a world buzzing with life.
Of course, that’s far too many to put in one article, so I’ll just go over the cool mechanics and details that are hard to notice.
So with that, let’s explore the rich world of Red Dead Redemption 2 together.
12 Hidden Details & Story Mode Mechanics in Red Dead
From useful tips to fun details, these hidden features give Red Dead a feeling of being alive and complex
Seeing them work in tandem is one of the coolest things to see while playing.
1.) Impromptu Bounty Hunting
While exploring the world, it’s common to have a random, scripted encounter with criminals, whether one just robbed a coach, or they’re a pair of escaped prisoners.
The most obvious options you have in front of you are to either help them, walk away, or take the money for yourself — but there’s a hidden option for even more money.
Lasso, hogtie, and rob them. After that, take them to the nearest sheriff’s office — you’ll get a prompt to take them to a cell once you get there, and you’ll get paid usually about $10 — $20.
This is a fun detail that lets you make up your own bounty mission on the spot!
2.) Unprompted Stranger Missions
Speaking of hidden missions, there are several mini quests that you can find by observing the environment or following NPC interactions long enough.
Here are a few examples of those quests:
Aberdeen Pig Farm — Accept the invitation of the overly-friendly owners and discover the disturbing secret that surrounds the farm. (Walkthrough)
The Vampire of Saint Denis — Find the hidden clues of the sinister killer who stalks the streets of Saint Denis and slay the horror that they lead to. (Walkthrough)
American Dreams — Stumble on the grisly sites left by a psychotic murderer and unlock the cellar he works out of. (Walkthrough)
These are all missions that never show up on your map, so you have to find the starting point on your own (or with guides like this)
3.) Campfire Hints
Campers in the wild can be used for more than just their hospitality (or their stuff).
With high honor, campers will usually welcome you and let you rest and use their campfire, saving you the hassle of setting a camp up to craft and cook.
They like to ramble about a lot of stuff, but if you listen closely, they occasionally tell you about an area or person of interest and give you a general idea of where they are.
These lead to unique areas that are just fun to explore, like the town that only speaks in Norwegian.
Go see what you can find.
4.) River Canoeing
If you’ve ever wanted to float down the long river and rapids that flow through Tall Trees, then you’re in luck.
If you walk along the river edge, you can sometimes stumble onto canoes sitting on the beach. These seem like simple environment props, but if you press Y/triangle, your character will hop in and pull a row out to push off and raft with.
You can also paddle a canoe up from the ocean if you’re patient enough. Keep in mind you need to beat the game to gain access to this area without getting shot by bounty hunters.
From there, just let the river do the rest and avoid the rocks!
5.) Gang Members Outside of Camp
Rarely, you can encounter other gang members out in the world, but there are only a few times it happens and with certain characters.
Uncle — You can find him once as Arthur and once as John — and both encounters involve him getting thrown out of a bar. In chapter 2, you can find him getting thrown out of the small Valentine bar — as john in the epilogue, it’s the Blackwater bar.
Trelawney — Trelawney’s encounter solves the mystery of where he goes when he’s not with the gang. Walking through Saint Denis in chapter 4, you can overhear Trelawney talking to his family in his house. He asks you to keep it a secret if you knock on the door.
Charles — In the epilogue, Charles shows his loyalty to you by tracking you down if you are away from your home for a long time, so he can check up on you. What a friend, right?
6.) Bodies Decompose Overtime
If you leave dead bodies outside, they’ll get progressively more decomposed every day until they become a pile of bones.
This doesn’t affect gameplay at all, but it’s one of those details, like beard growth, that makes it feel like time is and progressing independently of your actions.
7.) Animals Have Realistic Behaviors
There are also in-depth animal interactions you can witness if you pay close attention, giving the feeling of a thriving ecosystem in the wilderness.
You can encounter anything from a pack of wolves chasing down a deer, to a couple of rutting bucks locking antlers.
You can basically see the food chain play out if you take a few days to hunt.
8.) Guns Going Off on Their Own
It’s really hard to notice when this happens, so it probably happens a lot without being obvious.
With enough luck, this mechanic can be very cool to see happen — I remember getting a double-kill by shooting a guy who dropped his shotgun, which blew another guy’s leg off.
Get into as many gunfights as you can, and you’ll notice this detail.
9.) Results of Arthur’s Actions
When you reach the epilogue, you might feel like there isn’t much to show for doing a lot of optional encounters, but there are a few ways to see Arthur’s legacy live on.
Plaque in Saint Denis — During the campaign, you can donate $20 to the construction of a homeless veteran shelter, and you can find Arthur’s name years later when playing as John.
Charlotte Balfour — If you finished the series of encounters with Charlotte Balfour as Arthur, you can meet her as John and have a wholesome talk about both being inspired and saved by Arthur.
Civil War Vet — If you interacted with Mickey, the civil war vet in Valentine, you can talk to him about Arthur and he tells you about what he thought about him.
10.) Gang Members in the Epilogue
Despite the sudden split-up of the gang, you can get closure with certain members and even a key character from the story during the epilogue.
Rains-Fall — Find him at the Annesburg station to hear his last wisdom
Miss Tilly — Find her in Saint Denis to have a heart-warming meeting with her.
Mary-Beth — Find her at the Valentine Station for a final meeting
Pearson — Find him as the new owner of the general store in Rhodes
The rest you can either see where they went in the credits or they were in Red Dead Redemption 1, or assume they’re dead.
11.) Bandana Mechanic Explained
One of the most frustrating things about robbing people is that everyone identifies, despite wearing a bandana.
It’s doesn’t explicitly tell you, but the game recognizes when people are watching you as you put the mask on, and they don’t get fooled by the mask.
You have to make sure no one is watching before putting the bandana on — it makes sense when you hear it, but it sometimes takes a long time to figure it out.
12.) Supernatural Creatures
Unfortunately, there’s no Undead Nightmare 2, but there are a lot of supernatural creatures that you can find.
Giant — Able to talk to a giant and find remains of another giant. (Walkthrough)
Vampire of Saint Denis — Vampire mentioned in the earlier section.
Alien UFO — A UFO can be found by following certain conditions. (Walkthrough)
Reanimated Robot — Find the robot from the Bright Bouncing Boy stranger mission. (Walkthrough)
Saint Denis Graveyard Ghosts — Unkillable spirits that run between the crypts in the Saint Denis graveyard during the ‘A Man of Honor’ story mission.
Ghost of Agnes Dowd — Ghost of a bride you can see and hear wailing but she will disappear if you get to close — Can do a series of interactions with her. (Walkthrough)
Not quite the same as zombies, chupacabras, and undead horses, but something to scratch that old-west-cryptid-itch!
There you go — 12 mechanics that you probably didn’t notice while playing through Red Dead Redemption 2’s story mode.
Like I said, there are hundreds and hundreds of small details like these that you can find with every playthrough, but there’s a great feeling of finding new details that I don’t want to take from you.
Red Dead 2 is a game that is best played slowly — the best way to experience the game is to get fully immersed and take in all the little details.
Let me know if you’ve found any of these before, and if I didn’t get to one you were hoping I would, tell me about it in the comments!
But most importantly, go out and see what you can find hidden in Read Dead Redemption 2’s massive world.
