Red Dead Redemption 3 would be a title that would garner massive amounts of attention, with a huge community being hopeful for the title despite its jam-packed predecessor only releasing five years ago. The game has not yet been officially confirmed by Rockstar, yet the prestige and success of the franchise has meant that another installment is more than likely to release at some point.
The concept of Red Dead Redemption 3 is contentious, with fans being split between what kind of setting or narrative the game should explore. With this in mind, there may be another obvious option available to Rockstar, in which it uses its next game in the franchise to continue the lesser-known Red Dead Revolver that launched the IP.
The Uncertainty Behind Red Dead Redemption 3's Setting
Both Red Dead Redemption and its 2018 successor focused extensively on the Van Der Linde gang, with the same core figures being portrayed in detail across these two narratives. With this narrative lasting between 1899 and 1911, the two Redemption games showed the transition between the days of the Old West and the modernity of industrialization and government intervention.
When considering this, it would be difficult for a sequel to move any more forward in time, with any setting past 1911 being outside the Wild West era that the games pride themselves on. Some people have suggested that a Red Dead 3 could follow Jack Marston as an older man, fighting in World War 1 and coming to terms with the death of his older lifestyle. While this would be interesting, it would strip the franchise of its most synonymous themes, and so going backwards in time may be the next installment's only hope. Considering that 2004's Red Dead Revolver is the earliest-set addition to the IP, it may be the perfect way forward for the franchise.
The Benefits of a Red Dead Revolver 2
While Red Dead Revolver spearheaded the Red Dead franchise, it is very much a product of its time. A far cry from the immensely detailed open worlds that the franchise would go on to portray, Red Dead Revolver played as a linear arcade-like experience that laid a rough framework for the sequels to follow.
Despite its comparatively barebones gameplay, the characters and narrative of Red Dead Revolver are still beloved by many fans, with many players debating over what happened to protagonist Red Harlow to this day. Given the huge level of detail that is present in modern Red Dead titles, a sequel to the game that started it all could finally provide a scale and depth that befits its memorable characters.
Revolver was set in the late 1860s, and an immediate sequel would therefore foster the most authentic Old West experience that the franchise will have seen in a long time. This would also allow Revolver 2 to tell a tale away from the familiar faces of the Van Der Linde gang, but still be set in a time perfect for potential nods and Easter eggs toward more recent franchise figures.
Given how it is seemingly impossible for Rockstar to develop a cowboy-centric game any later than the setting of the first Red Dead Redemption, a return to the past seems inevitable. As a result, the familiarity of the characters of Revolver as well as its earlier setting foster the perfect storm for Red Dead Revolver 2 to truly shine as the next mainline game of the franchise.
Red Dead Redemption 3 is not confirmed to be in development.