Highlights

• Red Dead Redemption 2 features well-constructed towns with vast open-world maps, allowing players to explore and experience the personality and environmental storytelling of each location.
• The towns in Red Dead Redemption 2, such as Colter and Lagras, offer unique features and missions, adding depth to the game and providing a great sandbox experience for players.
• While some towns like Armadillo and Van Horn Trading Post may not offer much in terms of activities or interactions, they still add to the immersive world created by Rockstar Games and contribute to the overall narrative of the game.

After waiting eight long years for a sequel, fans were finally rewarded with one of the best-selling games of all time, Red Dead Redemption 2, and many people are still loving the story-based cowboy simulator. A lot of that is due to the multiplayer Red Dead Online and its ongoing updates, but it's largely just because the main game has a lot of places to explore. Rockstar Games is known for its large open-world maps seen in franchises like Grand Theft Auto and RDR2 featured a number of towns that players could visit throughout the story, with some towns leaving more of a mark than others. These settlements all have their positives and negatives, but there are bound to be a few well-constructed areas in Red Dead Redemption 2 to see which town comes out on top.

That being said, players should obviously check out all these areas regardless of their apparent quality. Rockstar's open-world design is in a class of its own, and this can be seen in the detail-rich world of the game and how everything gels together to make for an extraordinary experience in every way. From the most populated RDR2 towns to the desolate woods — each location in Red Dead Redemption 2 is bursting to the seams with personality, and the environmental storytelling in each and every one of these locations is a great example that shows why Rockstar is a master of its craft.

Updated on February 8, 2024, by Ritwik Mitra: Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game that blew everyone's minds when it launched. Players loved the detail present in every corner of the open world, making for a great time as they explored Rockstar's rendition of the Wild West in the shoes of Arthur Morgan. The sheer number of things to do in this open world is limitless, with the many settlements that players visit being memorable in their own way. Not all of them will have the same impact on the player, but it doesn't take away from Rockstar's meticulous work to make every town come to life with its residents, activities, events, and everything else along the same lines.

11 Colter

The Prologue Is Entirely Based In This Town

The prologue of Red Dead Redemption 2 may be a bit too long for most people's tastes, but there's no denying that the game does a great job of introducing the characters, exploring their dynamics, and setting the tone for a story that starts off from the very start of the van der Linde gang's downfall. After a string of unfortunate events in Blackwater, the gang is forced to escape the Pinkertons and take shelter in an abandoned mining town during a major snowstorm.

Until the weather clears up, players are forced to scrounge for supplies and take on a rival gang that has taken shelter nearby. It's a simple way to limit the scope of the world and not overwhelm players from the get-go. It helps that Colter makes for a decent base in its own right, even if players will move away from this town soon after and not really have a reason to come back since this place is devoid of any life and meaningful interactions.

10 Armadillo

One Of The Last Few Towns That Adheres To The Tenets Of The Wild West

While the small town of Armadillo is the first settlement that players visit in Red Dead Redemption, when John Marston arrives in the town during RDR2, it is a fiery apocalyptic mess. Players soon learn that the town has been hit with a series of plagues, with the latest Cholera outbreak either killing or driving away most of the town's residents.

While there are some intriguing mysteries regarding Armadillo, Herbert Moon (proprietor of Armadillo's General Store), and the Strange Man that begs for a proper explanation, there just isn't that much to do in Armadillo to get answers, and the town is best to be avoided during the player's travels through New Austin. Thankfully, by the time Red Dead Redemption's events start, fans will be glad to know that this settlement bounces back to become a lively place once again.

9 Van Horn Trading Post

A Decrepit, Neglected Town

The Van Horn Trading Post sits in Roanoke Ridge on the Lannahechee River and looks like it was at one time a healthy, growing community. Unfortunately, when Arthur and the rest of the gang reach Van Horn, it's a grungy dying town with very little to offer players.

The Post Office is the largest draw of Van Horn, though its saloon does offer Blackjack. Aside from a Fence and a few story missions, there's not much for players to do in Van Horn, though it is 1 of only 2 towns where players can get in duels. There are also no Lawmen in Van Horn, though the citizens won't hesitate to shoot if a crime is committed. If nothing else, it's a fun place to mess about in if players want to go on a classic Rockstar rampage that these games are notorious for.

8 Lagras

A Small Settlement With A Close-Knit Community

The small settlement of Lagras isn't much of a town, but the small group of buildings located in the bayou does have a very important Bait & Tackle Shop for players looking to catch a few Legendary Fish and does feature exciting missions that introduce players to the Legendary Bullgator that can be hunted down post-mission.

However, the main reason that Lagras sits higher than a few other towns with more stores is that the bayou and area around Lagras is the only place where players can encounter the Night Folk. The Night Folk are cannibalistic humans/monsters who live in the swamp and brutalize their victims, and it's an easy mission to miss if players don't wander around the bayou at night. While the settlement itself may not be the most interesting part of the Bayou area, it's still a great place to feel safe after braving the dangers of the swamp.

7 Annesburg

The Largest Town In New Hanover

While players do spend a lot of time in Annesburg near the end of the main story, there is a sense of dread that falls over the town. This is likely because of the issues between Arthur, Dutch, and Micah that have been steadily building for the last few chapters, and any beauty or fun found in Annesburg is drowned out by the gang's troubles.

Regardless of the feeling of the town, it does allow players a sense of closure with Arthur's dealings with the Downes family, and the mine can offer a fun distraction for players. However, most players just didn't find themselves visiting Annesburg much if the story didn't call for it, unlike some of the other towns on this list. That being said, it's still a fun settlement to explore for players who love Rockstar's design ethos when it comes to the many habitable areas in the game.

6 Tumbleweed

A Town In Decline That Becomes Completely Barren By The Time The First Red Dead Redemption Starts

Much like the town of Armadillo, Tumbleweed is in New Austin and also appears in the first Red Dead Redemption. However, in the first game, Tumbleweed isn't much more than a ghost town/gang hideout, which shows just what a few bad years can do to a town.

It's interesting that Armadillo and Tumbleweed seemed to trade places for each game, with Tumbleweed flourishing in the second while Armadillo prospered in the first. Tumbleweed offers a number of amenities as well as a few bounties for players to check out post-game, extending the game just a bit further for those players looking for more.

5 Saint Denis

The Jewel Of Lemoyne

The industrial city of Saint Denis is awe-inspiring to witness firsthand and also shows how the world is slowly evolving, leaving behind the people of the past who aren't used to such technological innovations. The polluted city looks absolutely beautiful at night, with the busy streets, cramped marketplace, and overabundance of lawmen really making it feel like the player simply isn't welcome to engage in their murderous sprees. It doesn't help that there are way too many bounties for "Disturbing The Peace" or "Assault," to the point where even running too fast in a crowd can lead to an unintentional crime the player has to either pay money for to diffuse or avoid any enthusiastic lawman as the bounty on their head is slowly forgotten.

This feeling of claustrophobia and close spaces and tight crowds is, of course, intentional, as this is the showcase of the civilization that Arthur and the Dutch van der Linde gang have been running from. Arthur and the player feel not just out of place but trapped, and the city will punish players very quickly for any "uncivilized" misstep.

4 Blackwater

It's Only Until The Epilogue That Players Can Finally Access This Town

It might seem crazy to see Blackwater so high on the list, considering that players aren't even able to visit the town until the epilogue, but there is a different feeling in the large town that possibly colors Blackwater in a different light than some of the other towns of the sequel.

While it is stocked with police like Saint Denis, players didn't find themselves having too many problems in the town because they just weren't playing the same way after Arthur's death. Blackwater, in the sequel, is a town of new beginnings, and the missions to build Beecher Hope reflect that. Still, Blackwater features quite a few shops and story missions that keep most people visiting.

3 Strawberry

The Capital Of Big Valley

While there isn't actually as much to do in Strawberry as the Mayor would have players believe, it still serves as an early gateway to the northern Big Valley area of the game, which features Legendary Fish, Animals, a few Stranger missions and even the exciting Mount Shann UFO.

The town itself features the basic luxuries of other towns, but its importance to the game lies with Arthur and Micah's breakout and later leads to their final matchup in the epilogue. Strawberry is also the only town in RDR2 where players can commit their own hanging instead of watching in the crowd, though it doesn't have much to offer for additional missions beyond finding a lost dog amongst a stressful wilderness.

2 Rhodes

Founded By Brigadier General Sherman M. Rhodes In The Early 19th Century

The town of Rhodes is located in the Scarlett Meadows area of Lemoyne, which is home to the Confederate Lemoyne Raiders, whose criminal activities are always fun to interrupt. Scarlett Meadows is also home to one of the Gang's best camps and a weird side business at the Gunsmiths that can be experienced.

Rhodes gives players the chance to see Dutch's gang in action as they attempt to play the competing Gray and Braithwaite families against each other, and the player's time in Rhodes remained enjoyable even when things began to fall apart. Rhodes' lasting mark on the gang is proven when players can find Pearson running the general store there in Rhodes.

1 Valentine

The Closest Town To Horseshow Overlook, The Area Where The Gang Camps After Leaving Colter

The lovely town of Valentine is the first actual town players visit in Red Dead Redemption 2, though they do initially set up camp in the former town of Colter. While Valentine offers the majority of stores and even introduces players to the lucrative act of robbing side businesses, it remains a favorite town in the eyes of most players for several reasons.

Not only is Valentine the easiest place in the game to cause a bit of mayhem, considering the low level of lawmen and multiple quick escape routes out of town, but it features a number of fun missions and stranger encounters, including the hilarious "A Quiet Time" mission with Lenny and the competitive twin brothers Proteus and Acrisius that are not to be missed.