Red Dead Online: Beyond the Ultimate Concept Bundle - A Further Five Concept Updates - Update 16: Redemption

Update 16: “Redemption”

Seasonal Changes and Events:

• RDR's story has been added RDR2 as a part of a new paid expansion.
• Manzanita Post now serves as a general store, post office and has a functioning train station.
• Bill Williamson will no longer ally with the player or offer stranger missions. Instead, his contracts will eventually be replaced by Nigel West Dickens.
• Armadillo is no longer suffering from the plague. The graves have been filled in and stores have opened, including the Doctors office.
• Blackwater train station has also been added to the line travelling through the southern section of West Elizabeth and through New Austin.
• Live events:
  • Cutscene: Upon first opening the game this season, players will be opened with a familiar piano tune as their character gets off the Morningstar slightly behind John Marston. As he walks off with the agents, the screen cuts to black as the word “Redemption” flashes on the screen against a red backsplash.
  • Cutscene: From the first day of the season, players can see one more cutscene triggered at MacFarlane’s Ranch. They will be riding on Bonnie’s wagon with her past Fort Mercer as they stumble across the unconscious John Marston. The player will point him out to Bonnie and help her load him onto the wagon. In the singleplayer expansion, players will see their Online character help load John onto the wagon with Bonnie – Making a slight retcon to the character originally being an unnamed NPC. The player and Bonnie ride off with John on the back of the wagon.
  • Cutscene: On the third week of the season, the player will bump into Bonnie MacFarlane in the Armadillo General Store. She will remark on the man that they found, saying he’s a kind and useful gentleman. She will thank the player for the introduction and helping save him, before heading outside again to meet up with John.
  • Event: From the fifth week of the season, players can encounter a group of Ranchers herding cattle across New Austen. They will make comments on being thankful for being rescued by “The Marshall and a Bounty Hunter.”
  • Cutscene: On the seventh week of the season, players will join Drew MacFarlane at MacFarlane’s Ranch during the storm. They will help him chase some chickens back into their coop after the weather pulls away some boards. Just as they are fixing the coop, they will see John, Amos and Bonnie return with the cattle.
  • Cutscene: On the ninth week of the season, the player will be able to see a cutscene from the Armadillo Doctor’s office. As they enter, Nigel West Dickens is just getting out of the bed from recovering. He offers the player a variety of tonics and cures, to which the doctor protests are a scam and a fraud. This spurs an argument about West Dickens’ pseudoscience cures, causing West Dickens to leave and be greeted by John outside. The doctor laughs and the cutscene ends. After this cutscene, Nigel West Dickens will be available as a travelling merchant random encounter, selling special health cures and tonics all across the Frontier.
  • Cutscene: On the tenth week of the season, players will be able to witness West Dickens’ first showcase of his tonics with John Marston from a post at the edge of the farm. As Dickens puts on his show and John reluctantly goes along with the spiel, they laugh to themselves.
  • Cutscene: On the twelfth week of the season, players will be passing through Ridgewood Farm again as they hear the gunshots. They go to inspect the violence and are met with a hail of gunfire. A woman comes running out to the player with her two children, begging for help. She says to get them to the Marshall in Armadillo. The player grabs the kids on their horse and rides out to the town. The older child starts to explain what happened to the Marshall as the player heads out.
  • Cutscene: On the fourteenth week of the season, players will see Seth interrogate Moses about the location of the treasure. As soon as he mentions it being at Benedict Point, the player’s eyes light up and the cutscene ends. As a special reward, after witnessing this cutscene, players can head to Benedict Point and find buried treasure using their metal detector. It will award RDO$125 and 3 Gold Bars.
  • Cutscene: On the fifteenth week of the season, the player will be riding across the East of New Austen as they see a glow in the distance, towards MacFarlane’s ranch. They charge towards the settlement to find the barn on fire, with Bonnie panicking out the front. Not a moment later, the door bursts open with John behind it. Bonnie charges in to get the horses out but the smoke stops her, John runs back in, sending the rest of the horses out and riding the final. At this time, the player joins the rest of the ranch hands in grabbing buckets of water to extinguish the fires.
  • Cutscene: On the sixteenth week of the season, the player is in Armadillo visiting the general store when they hear a voice shouting on the Marshall. They head outside to see the confrontation from the start of ‘Hanging Bonnie MacFarlane’ – Hearing the outlaw say “This is a land of opportunity, mister” sets the player into a moment of rage. They follow the bandit back to the town of Tumbleweed. Approaching the bridge, the player sees Coates and Horatio running out. He tells the player that the whole town has gone mad, and that he’s having nothing to do with it. The player rides into town to see Bonnie being taken over to the gallows. They sneak over in that direction, but are caught out by a guard. He puts his gun right to the back of the player’s head. They raise their hands, but the guard is distracted by shooting off in the distance. The player grabs the guard’s gun shoots him in the stomach and then the head. Two more gang members run from round the corner, but the player shoots one in the side, causing him to flinch and shoot his ally in the head whilst falling. The player drops the revolver and turns to help Bonnie, but John has already gotten to her and cut her down.
  • Cutscene: On the seventeenth week of the season, the player will walk past the gate of Fort Mercer as West Dickens gives his “trojan horse” speech, before John bursts out with the gatling gun. The camera crossfades to the player leaning on one of the posts upstairs as West Dickens pounds on the door to be let in, Eli calls for the gate to be open and West Dickens warns John and the others about the approaching gang members. John heads out for the Gatling Gun, and the Marshall tells the player to scour the fort for Bill Williamson. The player sneaks through some of the tunnels seen in the Fort Mercer gold heist, where they find his ally. The player hands him off to the sheriffs, and waves everyone farewell.
  • Cutscene: On the eighteenth week of the season, they will witness the thieves try to rob John upon entering Chuparosa, and Landon’s criticism of John. As John and Landon head out for the target practise, the player checks the corpses. One has one of the old Torquemada Bandit revolver cylinders on them. The player clenches it in their fist, and throws it into the fountain.
  • Cutscene: Upon opening the game on the nineteenth week of the season, players will be fishing near the border, just below the waterfall. They hear an explosion come from the top, and look up to see the bridge collapsing into the river. Shortly after, a train stops right at the edge of the bridge. The player looks back to their fishing rod, thinking they have a bite, and reels it in to find a small chunk of wood attached to the hook. They throw the plank back into the river and walk away. From this week on, the rail bridge linking Mexico and the United States at the waterfall at the top of the San Luis river will be destroyed.
  • Event: From the twentieth week of the season, Tesoro Azul will be smouldering after recent fires caused by the government attack on the town.
  • Cutscene: On the twenty-first week of the season, the player will be playing poker with Landon and his friends in the town of Chuparosa. They win a hand against Herr Muller, causing him to punch the table. The player laughs at this and leaves the game for some refreshments. As they get up for a drink at the bar, John arrives at the table. They watch the game up until the altercation with Muller and the “impasse”. The player points their gun at Muller, too. As the duel is agreed upon, they stand and watch from the side – Allowing them to view John’s gunslinging skills from a new perspective. The player heads back to the bar after the duel, ending the cutscene.
  • Event: On the twenty-second week of the season, players will be able to witness two new random encounters:
    • Mexican soldiers burning down Luisa’s home.
    • Reyes serenading Luisa whilst on a raft, riding down the San Luis river.
  • Cutscene: On the twenty-third week of the season, players will be greeted with a cutscene of their character walking into Chuparosa to find John with a gun to his head. As Reyes kills John’s executioner, and the gunfight breaks loose, the player dives into cover and fights off a few attackers. They shoot their way through the saloon, leaping over the bar for cover and join the revolution outside. Reyes points them into the church, where more soldiers are loading up. The two take either side of the door, and the player pushes it open. One soldier charges out, and Reyes trips him up followed by a shot to the head. The player rolls into the building and shoots another three guards. The two check around for more, not seeing any. They both head out, where Reyes gives his motivational speech to the rebellion. The player heads over to the empty bar, and pours themselves a drink from behind the counter, ending the cutscene.
  • Event: On the twenty-third week of the season, players will also be able to see Colonel Allende giving a speech in Escalera about having killed Luisa’s father. He will note that this is what happens to those who “Rebel against their country, and against their God.”
  • Cutscene: On the twenty-fourth week of the season, players will stumble across John beating down Captain de Santa. The rebel will ask John if he would like to kill de Santa, and the camera will cut to the player’s face as a gunshot is heard in order to not canonise either player choice. After this cutscene, de Santa will no longer be available as a stranger offering missions. All de Santa contracts will now be offered by a new stranger encountered in the same locations, ‘Diablo Ruiz’ who is an aspiring Mexican soldier.
  • Event: From the twenty-fourth week of the season, Reyes will request players bring ammo and supplies to rebellion camps across the Mexican frontier. He will reward players with random collectables and other valuable items.
  • Event: From the twenty-fifth week of the season, players will be able to randomly encounter Reyes giving out rewards from the train heist to poor people. He will be taking all the credit for himself.
  • Cutscene: From the twenty-sixth week of the season, players will be greeted by a scene of their character charging El Presidio with John and the rebels. As John charges in after Javier Escuella, the player will shoot through the armoury of the fort. The scene cuts to Javier pushing John away as he jumps out the window, he throws the player to the side and runs out of the fort. From this week on, the gates at El Prisidio will be blown down. They won’t be repaired until the thirtieth week.
  • Event: Throughout the twenty-seventh and twenty-eight weeks of the season, players will be able to witness multiple fights and battles across all the settlements of Mexico. Players can ally themselves with either side in by helping clear enemy forces. Helping rebels will award players with collectables and treasure, with an honour boost, whilst helping the soldiers will reward players with money and an honour penalty.
  • Cutscene: On the twenty-eight week of the season, players will be able to see Allende sacrifice Bill Williamson. The player is riding their horse down that road as they see John and Reyes confront the stagecoach. They hold back and watch from a distance. Reyes passes the player and taps the side of their horse, saying he looks forward to allying with them in his beautiful country. The player nods and they part ways.
  • Event: On the twenty-ninth week of the season, Professor MacDougal will request that the player brings herbs and such for the healing of Nastas.
  • Event: From the thirtieth week of the season, Cochinay will be blocked off to players as Dutch and his new gang have taken over the settlement.
  • Cutscene: On the thirty-first week of the season, players will be greeted with a cutscene in which players see Nastas and MacDougal racing down with the unconscious John. The player rushes over and helps load John onto the back of Nastas’ horse. Nastas and MacDougal race off as the player raises their gun back to the gang. Dutch walks out forward to the player and aims his pistol back at then. He sneers at them, and goes to shoot the player, but Cripps appears in the nick of time, shooting a nearby explosive barrel and distracting Dutch. The player flees to Manzanita Post with Cripps, who tells them to stay out of these matters as he knows it won’t end well between John and the Pinkertons.
  • Cutscene: On the thirty-second week of the season, players will be greeted with a long cutscene following the chase of Dutch. They will begin sitting at the train station at Manzanita Post as they hear a loud racket of engines and gunfire, followed by an explosion. They will see John and the agents crawl from the wreckage of the jeep, and go to help, but Cripps will hold them back and shake his head, telling them that what John does, they can’t be involved in for their own sake. The group will head towards Cochinay, and the player will return to Manzanita. They will sit there with Cripps, fidgeting. Cripps will take notice and send the player to help. They’ll ride into Cochinay, now occupied by the government agents, and follow through to the caves. This will cut to Dutch’s speech to John about fighting the agents. As John is walking back into the cave, he comes across the player. They exchange a look, and John tells the player it’s over and Dutch is dead. They approach the cliff, looking off the edge to see the corpse of Van der Linde on at the bottom. Fade to the inside of the Marstons ranch, John is sitting with his family. There is a knock at the door, which Abigail answers. It is the player, she hugs the player and says it’s good to see them again and that she heard about Sadie. She invites the player in for dinner, and then the cutscene fades to black. From this week, for a short period of time, Family Flashbacks will once again take place at a Marston dinner.
  • Event: From the thirty-second until the thirty-fourth week of the season, players can encounter new random events at Beecher’s Hope:
    • Jack Marston training with his gun.
    • Jack telling Abigail about the hunting trip with John.
    • Uncle tending to the cattle and horses.
    • John clearing crows from the corn.
    • Uncle and John arguing about general ranch issues.
  • Cutscene: On the thirty-third week of the season, players can see a cutscene where Abigail is tending to Jack’s wounds from the bear. She tells of the dangers in the wilderness and how much she worries about what could happen to Jack or John.
  • Cutscene: On the thirty-fourth week of the season, players will be greeted by a cutscene where they are sitting at camp as Agent Ross and Fordham ride up. They tell the player they want them to hunt down John Marston and kill him – And that it’d be better if it was from a friend. The player spits on Ross’ boot, causing him to threaten their way of life. The player punches Ross in the face, decking him. Cripps and any other camp allies the player has aim their guns at Ross and Fordham, causing them to raise their hands. The player draws their revolver on Ross, and points out from camp with their other hand. The agents leave, and Cripps stands next to the player. He tells them that can’t be good, the player nods and mounts their horse to set out for Beecher’s Hope. Cripps tells them that it's a dangerous ride, and as much as he likes the Marstons, he worries that their time is over. The player looks off into the distance, thinking back about the old days with Dutch, LeClerk and everything else they have faced. They ride off towards Beecher’s Hope. Fading in on the area, Jack and Abigail are sitting over John Marston’s corpse. The player is shocked and begins pacing. They put their hand on Jack’s shoulder and help Abigail to her feet. The camera pans up to the sky, and back down onto John’s funeral Jack, Abigail and the player are there, also joined by Charles Smith, Bonnie MacFarlane, Lee Johnstone, Tilly Jackson and Simon Pearson. Everyone stands in silence, and walks away one by one. The player is the last to leave Jack and Abigail, in the distance, a Strange Man is seen watching. The camera zooms in on his unnerving smile. Following this, there is a montage of days and nights passing, eventually revealing the grave of Abigail Marston. The confrontation between Jack and Ross is then shown, with Jack killing Ross. Jack walks away towards the camera, showing the classic end card for Red Dead Redemption. After this week, John, Abigail and Uncle will no longer be at the table for Family Flashbacks – Rather just a dinner with the adult Jack Marston.
  • Event: After witnessing all season, players will be able to purchase the car from the vehicles section of a stable. This will cost 100 Gold Bars.

“No Serendipity Here” Storyline Finale mission:

• Chapter 15, “For All You’ve Done”, is the finale taking place in Mexico, this is a large epic mission taking players on an adventure to avenge Sadie Adler. This can be read by clicking here.

Red Dead Redemption Singleplayer DLC:

• The original story from Red Dead Redemption has been appropriated and added as a purchasable DLC for Red Dead Redemption 2. This will cost $29.99USD / £25GBP / €29.99.
• Players can either begin the Red Dead Redemption storyline straight away from the landing page, or continue it directly after Epilogue part 2 by heading over to the Blackwater docks.
• The game will have a soft reset for players in terms of provisions again, but weapons, money, ammo, clothing and horses will carry over if players choose to continue from an existing save.
• New mechanics such as dual wielding, cores and skills now have a place in the Red Dead Redemption story, and removed mechanics such as the parkour shimmy have now been changed to one-time animations for their specific locations.
• The cutscenes have new cinematic camera angles and performances, having all been redone with full performance capture for a much more immersive experience.

Miscellaneous Changes and Additions:

• Jake from the introduction of RDR1 is now a Stranger offering High Honour missions from the Armadillo Saloon.
• Various changes to Stranger missions throughout the season to reflect changes in the story.
• For this season, the Outlaw Pass would be themed around multiple RDR1 characters, as well as various John Marston outfits from the original title.
  • Some outfit examples:
    • Bonnie MacFarlane
    • Drew MacFarlane
    • Bush
    • Agent Ross
    • Agend Fordham
    • Nastas
    • Professor MacDougal
    • John: Duster Coat
    • John: Legend of the West
    • John: Gentleman’s Attire
• Added a variation of new lines to ‘Blind Man Cassidy’, including:
  • “You won. But at what cost?”
  • “Your friend walks alone. You must let him.”
  • “All things must come to an end..”
  • “I see a man on a rock, staring at stars.”
  • “And now, even the son is doomed. Shame.”

Justification:

This update brings support for the Red Dead Redemption remaster in RDR2’s engine, serving as a standalone singleplayer DLC for the game. That’s why in terms of content, there isn’t much for Online. Live events will be free for all players, as a form of marketing for RDR’s main story expansion however. As it carries through the full story of Red Dead Redemption 1, this season will last longer than any of the previous ones. I once again wanted to give the player some personal stakes and interest in the story without compromising the original tale told by Rockstar, so for the most part they hang back and have little-to no consequences in the story. I tried to also make sure that the longer cutscenes weren’t too frequent, either, as I didn’t want there to be too much time spent watching things within the game.

In terms of the finale to ‘No Serendipity Here’ – The epic story comes together in the fifteenth and final mission as players fight numerous bosses and defeat Yara in a dark and brutal conclusion. I liked having the story take the darker turn as it makes for a more interesting dynamic for the player character and avoids them coming across as too friendly for the era they live in. I really love the idea of having a licenced song play for the credits too, as it just helps bring in that feeling of us being in a whole new world.