If there's one thing that can be said about Red Dead Redemption 2, it's that the attention to detail is incredibly extensive. The sheer level of player interactivity in Red Dead Redemption 2 can almost be overwhelming at times. However, what most players may not realize is that the environments and terrain share a correlation with actual North American landscapes.
Red Dead Redemption 2 takes place in America at the tail end of the 1800s, where the age of outlaws and gunslingers is rapidly declining. The various towns and locations in-game, such as Valentine and Blackwater, while fictional in name and appearance, do possess a degree of accuracy to the actual landscape of North America. As one user has proven, the attention to detail featured in Red Dead Redemption 2 is modeled off of real American states.
A Reddit user by the name of Mr-Wide49 overlaid the in-game map of Red Dead Redemption 2 over the top of a map of the United States and shows where the areas are located relative to the actual landscape of North America. Another user made a similar map that assigns Red Dead Redemption 2 locations to real US States, but this map is updated to account for higher detail and accuracy. The map even shows where in-game towns would be located relative to the corresponding States.
The rdr2 states In real life. After going through nearly every comment on my last post, gathering all the feedback, and just a little bit of tinkering and extra design, I finally made a new map that to the best of my ability overlays the rdr2 states in real life. Feedback appreciated from reddeadredemption
It's amazing to see how accurate the in-game locations correlate to actual US States. Rockstar Games likely couldn't use the names of the actual States, even though historically speaking, essentially all of the States that the in-game locations encapsulate reached Statehood by the time the events of both Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2.
The fact that a fan was able to correlate each in-game location to a real world location is quite impressive. Then again, many Red Dead Redemption fans and player have managed to accomplish quite a lot both in-game and real life. One fan actually made a custom, Red Dead Redemption themed corn hole set featuring John Marston and Arthur Morgan.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds in terms of Red Dead Redemption. Right now, most of Rockstar's attention is likely focused on Red Dead Online, given the amount of content being produced for the game as of late. In which case, the likelihood of a third installment releasing anytime soon is quite slim. Although, given how popular Red Dead Redemption 2 remains, even after releasing nearly three years ago, it's entirely possible that a new installment will release at some point in the future.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.