Red Dead Online's new Naturalist role introduces a new characters and ways for players to interact with the world around them. One key aspect of this new role is its dual nature, as both sides of the Naturalist are characterized by Harriet the scholar and Gus the Hunter.

The Naturalist role sees players either sedating and capturing or hunting and skinning rare animals throughout the world. Depending on which route they take, different rewards lay ahead of them. That said, the decision actually isn't all that difficult, as one of these two Red Dead Online paths is clearly the better choice.

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The short of it is that Harriet should be the player's main focus when working as a Naturalist. She offers far more diverse and useful rewards than Gus but is also a bit easier to please. The long answer is that players can work both sides to an extent.

Red Dead Online - Naturalist Harriet

harriet-spraying-player

As mentioned previously, Harriet will task the player with capturing rare animals for study or taking photos of animals in the wild. Completing missions for her has the potential to reward the player with special equipment that can boost certain abilities. The catch is that Harriet will get upset if the player kills animals, even in self-defense, and eventually cut the player off entirely for a time. While killing animals or trading pelts with Gus seems to make Harriet more upset, giving her pictures and samples seems to calm her down a bit.

Red Dead Online - Naturalist Gus

red dead online gus crafting trinkets screen

On the flip side, Gus tasks players with hunting animals and retrieving their pelts. For the most part, Gus' rewards are mostly cosmetic, hence why Harriet's are better. Thankfully, though, Gus doesn't get upset if the player works with Harriet, so he will be available for trading any time. The best thing to do is to work with Gus infrequently so that Harriet doesn't get too upset but the player will still have access to the cool fur coats and hats that Gus can reward. This will certainly require some patience, though, as players will want to avoid getting Harriet too upset.

If Harriet does get upset, she will refuse to work with the player for around ten minutes. During this time, players should avoid working with Gus or killing animals and focus instead on gathering samples and photos for her. Ideally, giving her a large amount of these after she agrees to do business again will help calm her down.

Red Dead Online is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.

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Source: USGamer