Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2 is a few years old now, but the cowboy adventure remains one of the best open world games ever made. From tight gameplay and impressive graphics to an emotional story and good old fashion gunslinging, the game improves upon almost every element of its predecessor. The key word being almost.
The first Red Dead Redemption was released in 2010 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to critical and commercial praise. Of course, being over ten years old and of the previous console generation, the game can't compete with the flourishes present in Red Dead Redemption 2, but it does best the sequel where variety in idle animations are concerned.
The information comes courtesy of Reddit user MelodicSatisfaction9 who posted a video on the Red Dead subreddit showing the main character from each game idly standing with no controller input from the player. While Red Dead 2's Arthur Morgan stands still, shifts his weight, then stands still again, Red Dead 1's John Marston shifts his weight, dusts off his vest, scratches his nose, wipes his brow, and is generally much more animated. Of course, Arthur Morgan gets diagnosed with tuberculosis in the sequel, so it may be in line with the game's story that he's simply a little less lively than John Marston.
More likely developers simply became preoccupied with some of the other insanely fine details in Red Dead Redemption 2, like how the firing pin indent can be seen in bullet shells when reloading a shotgun, or how Arthur Morgan sometimes sings while riding his horse. In fact, there are so many polished little touches in the game that players are still discovering new things years after Red Dead 2's initial release, so a little less diversity in idle animations is pretty easy to forgive.
For fans who simply prefer the first of the two games, rumors of the first Red Dead Redemption getting a remake have been swirling for the better part of a year, so fans may get to see the various idle animations again, this time in the glorious 4k resolution of current gen consoles. Rockstar has yet to comment on any of these rumors however, so such murmurings should be taken with a grain of salt.
At the end of the day, both Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 are incredible (and incredibly detailed) games, and while the sequel is largely an improvement upon the original, Red Dead 1 still has a few little surprises up its sleeves as well. It's uncertain when the world might see a Red Dead Redemption 3, but when it does, thanks to MelodicSatisfaction9, there will at least be a handful of players who boot the game up and put their controller down to see exactly how animated the protagonist is while they idle.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is currently available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.