New 'Red Dead Redemption 2' Story Trailer Confirms That It's A Prequel

Rockstar Games has released a new trailer for “Red Dead Redemption 2” and it finally reveals some of the game's story elements. The upcoming game will be a prequel set before the events of the 2010 game and will feature a new protagonist.

The new story trailer for “Red Dead Redemption 2” shows off some of the vast and beautiful locations of the open world western setting. The game will now feature more varied locations including snowy mountains and swampy areas. Most importantly, the trailer introduces the new character Arthur Morgan, whom players will take control in the game.

Morgan is a member of the Van der Linde gang which is being led by a younger Dutch in the game. Dutch actually first appeared in the original 2010 “Red Dead Redemption.” As most gamers would recall, the original game featured John Marston as the protagonist. Marston was a former member of the Van der Linde gang and was tasked to take down the gang’s remaining members including Bill Williamson and Dutch himself. The trailer didn’t show a younger Marston or Williamson, but it’s very likely that both of them will make an appearance.

Morgan is introduced in the new “Red Dead Redemption 2” trailer as being a wanted man and an outlaw. The Van der Linde gang is being pursued by law enforcers from three different states. The trailer seems to suggest that players will have to keep on traveling to avoid getting caught in this classic western cat and mouse.

The trailer teased two other new characters as well. One is woman that actually resembles Bonnie MacFarlane from the first game. GameSpot speculates that this might actually be an older Bonnie, which suggests that the prequel might also jump forward after the events of the 2010 game.

The other new character introduced is seen walking beside Morgan in some encampment. Based on his attire and his look, he seems to be of Native American descent. Not much else is known about this unnamed character, but it’s likely that he’s going to help players through some objectives.

The new trailer for “Red Dead Redemption 2” also featured some of the gameplay elements. Like the original 2010 game, it looks like players will still have to rob trains and banks, form alliances, hunt down people, break horses and hunt animals. One of the most interesting things shown in the trailer is that players won’t just have to rely on guns as their weapon. There’s one shot in the trailer showing Morgan using a bow and arrow to take down a deer.

Including bows and arrows in the game has actually been a long requested feature for the game, as pointed out by Polygon. Some fans were actually disappointed that the 2010 “Red Dead Redemption” didn’t include the weapon. The 2004 “Red Dead Revolver,” which was the inspiration for the “Redemption” franchise, actually featured bows and arrows as weapons.

Historically speaking, bows and arrows weren’t really used by cowboys during the wild west period. It wouldn’t be efficient or effective in fighting off gun-toting outlaws, but it should become a popular weapon for hunting animals in the game. It could also be used to sneakily take down enemies and save some ammunition.

Unfortunately, the new “Red Dead Redemption 2” trailer doesn’t give out an exact release date. All there is to know is that it will launch sometime in the spring of 2018. The game was originally set to be released in the fall of 2017, but Rockstar announced back in May that it had to be delayed. The game will be available for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with no word yet on a PC version.