History RedDeadRedemption2 / TropesAToL

** Uncle is established to be a former member of Dutch's gang, while the first game never revealed anything about him and implied he's just a random farmhand with whom John was drinking buddies with. This raises some awkwardness as Jack in ''I'' asks how John knows him despite growing with the gang, although it doesn't quite go into retcon territory.
** The 1899 Blackwater massacre was a mere background detail and had no ties to Heidi [=MacCourt=] or Dutch's gang, and existed mostly to give a reason why Landon Ricketts was in Mexico. This game establishes that Dutch's Boys were behind it and Heidi's murder triggered it.
** An inversion also happens: The heist during which John got left behind [[spoiler:was neither a bank or a ferry job like was implied in ''I'', but they both happen and Marston gets screwed in both (shot and imprisoned, respectively), and instead the camel's back broke during a robbery of an army train.]]

** It’s not clear what exactly happened in Blackwater. The gist of it seems to be it was going well until Dutch was goaded into murdering the girl by Micah and things quickly went south from there. Javier says it was chaos but tries to downplay Dutch murdering the girl. He could very well just be trying to protect Dutch or Dutch could have needed to do it. It’s also never explicitly said what Arthur and Hosea were working on and/ or how big it’d be. Arthur makes it seem like a much safer real estate scam in his journal but not much else is stated beyond that. It’s also implied that the whole thing could have been a set up by the Pinkertons. Dutch’s speech that can be found in Horseshoe Overlook makes it sound like he knew it was going to be a bloodbath all along but the question is why he would have thought that.

*** The life and death of [[spoiler: his son Isaac is also left vague. All Arthur says is that he was a good kid who died of a robbery. He says Eliza was nineteen when she got pregnant which ,assuming they were the same age, would mean he would have been roughly the same age as Jack in the first game]]. It’s also not clear how long ago he died, [[spoiler: Arthur tells Jack and Rains Falls that it happened a long time ago.]]

** John's dead daughter is never seen nor referenced. It's unlikely she was born before Jack since John has issues believing Jack is his kid, and she cannot have been born after the gang breaks up since Javier knows about her[[note]]In ''I'', he taunts John by yelling something along the lines of "I hope your wife and child''ren'' rot in hell!"[[/note]]. It is possible that Javier just assumed that John would have more kids and that she lived and died during [[spoiler:the TimeSkip from 1899 to 1907]], but it's not explained in-game. However, [[spoiler:using the "sleep" function in Beecher's hope may trigger a cutscene of John and Abigail making small talk on the bed, and once the game returns they both are in their underwear regardless of what you were wearing beforehand implying they had sex. Considering that contraceptives weren't really a thing in the Wild West, it's not too farfetched to think of it as a nod to her.]]
** Venturing out to New Austin in the epilogue (which, it should be noted, is completely optional, save for a single story mission that takes place near the state's outskirts in Hennigan's Stead) makes no real sense, as [[spoiler:John implied in ''Redemption'' 1 that he's never been in the area, seemed unfamiliar with the [=MacFarlane=] Ranch and Armadillo, and needed an escort to Fort Mercer]]. It's been speculated that the existence of New Austin in ''II'' at all is mainly for the multiplayer portion.

** Before release, Rockstar mentioned that the game world is open from the start. This is technically true; ''you can go'' to West Elizabeth and New Austin before the game allows it, but you'll be faced by unlimited waves of Pinkertons that will hunt and gun you down. Every new area can be visited as soon as the prologue is over, though.

** The main story of the game takes place over a couple of months in early 1899. You can, of course, take quite a bit more time than that to actually complete the story in-game, with potentially hundreds of days passing.

* GenreShift: The first half of Chapter 5 turns the game from a western sandbox to a [[spoiler:''[[VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}''-esque jungle adventure.]]

** Uncle doesn't seem to be a blood relative of anyone in the gang, yet everyone still refers to him as such.

** While wood-burning 1870s-style locomotives could still be found in the West, especially on short and narrow-gauge lines, most locomotives by 1899 were coal-burners of more modern design. Oddly, the locomotives in RDR2 are still more modern than those in the first game, which is set in 1911.

** Texas Hold'em being the go-to version of poker. While it's possible that Texas Hold'em was invented by 1899 (the history of the game is rather obscure), it didn't become popular until at least 1925. Four or Five Card Stud would have been the go-to card game of the era.

** The original Carcano 91 would have been around (at least in Italy), but in its 1891 form was a much longer rifle than the in-game model copied directly from the infamous "Lee Harvey Oswald" version.

* FirstPersonGhost: The game can be played from a first-person perspective. Like its ''GTA V'' sister game, Rockstar opted for using separate weapon and movement animations in order to better adapt combat to a different view.

** A portion of "See the Fire in Your Eyes" plays when the gang travels to Horseshoe Overlook in the beginning of Chapter 2. The full thing plays again during the credits.

* AKA47: The game uses a mix of real life gun names and BlandNameProduct names for guns closely modeled on real-life guns. Like ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', the compedium uses fictional companies as stand-ins for real-life firearm manufacters, like "Buck" for Colt and "Lancaster" for Winchester. Consequently, the first game's Winchester and Henry repeaters were renamed "Lancaster" and "Lichfield" for the second installment; it's possible those companies raised trademark issues. (Springfield Arsenal was a government installation, and the Volcanic company is long defunct).

* BadassGrandpa: Hosea is a veteran gunslinger who made his mark as an outlaw during the golden age of the Wild West. By the time of the game, he's up there in age (55 when average lifespan for men was about 46), but can still handle himself in a shootout. He also still serves as the "brains" of the Van der Linde operation.

** Tuberculosis doesn't quite work in real life the way it works in this game, presumably for the sake of time compression. First of all, only about 10% of people who get infected ever develop the disease and generally speaking if you make it two years without showing symptoms, you're in the clear. Although people [[spoiler: who smoke like Arthur]] do have a higher probability of it becoming active. Even today about 80% of people who live in the developing world carry the disease even though it can now be treated with a course of antibiotics. Second of all, even pre-antibiotics you had about 1/3 chance of being able to survive it so it wasn't an automatic death sentence. It varies how long it takes to start showing symptoms but presuming the game takes place over the course of a few months, [[spoiler: the time it takes for Arthur to start getting sick]] is accurate. What's not accurate is [[spoiler: how quickly it takes him to die]]. It usually takes several years for this to happen, not several months. Had it taken that long [[spoiler:for Arthur to die, it likely would have dragged the story out]], especially given that they were already working with pre-existing timeline.

* DarkReprise: There's two different, creepy and aggressive remixes of "Unshaken" that can play during the ending.

** Regardless of ending choice, if Arthur has low honor at the end of the story, a version of "Unshaken" with an ethereal, spooky instrumentation and a deep, bass-y choir plays at the very end of the mission.

* EtherealChoir: [[spoiler:A reprise of "Unshaken" plays in the background during Arthur's final moments leading up to his death; depending on what you do with his honor, it can be either angelic or sinister.]]

** Why Dutch is there [[spoiler: at Micah’s hideout in the epilogue]] is also not explicitly explained. He says he’s there for “The same reason as you” to [[spoiler: John]] but that could mean he thinks [[spoiler: John is there for the money]] or that [[spoiler: he wants to kill Micah.]]

* TheAlcoholic: The Van der Linde gang sure has some notable alcoholics. Uncle is rarely found without a drink in his hand, Karen becomes one later in the story and, in the Epilogue, [[spoiler:is presumed to have drunk herself to death]]. Bill Williamson is almost always seen with a drink in his hand and is quite prone to ''AlcoholInducedIdiocy''. Perhaps the biggest example of an alcoholic is Reverend Swanson who's, almost literally, never seen sober around camp. [[spoiler:He does get better in chapter 5 and quits drinking altogether.]]

** Talismans require other materials than just the trophy from the legendary animal to be crafted, some only require VendorTrash that can be robbed/looted from [=NPCs=] but three are unique items that only spawn once in certain locations [[note]]The Old Brass Compass, Abalone Shell Fragment, and Cobalt Petrified Wood[[/note]] and two others are rewards from questlines [[note]]The Vintage Civil War Handcuffs and the Quartz Chunk[[/note]]. What's worse is those unique items [[LostForever can be sold]].

** Tuberculosis doesn't quite the way it works in this game, presumably for the sake of time compression. First of all, only about 10% of people who get infected ever develop the disease and generally speaking if you make it two years without showing symptoms, you're in the clear. Although people [[spoiler: who smoke like Arthur]] do have a higher probability of it becoming active. Even today about 80% of people who live in the developing world carry the disease even though it can now be treated with a course of antibiotics. Second of all, even pre-antibiotics you had about 1/3 chance of being able to survive it so it wasn't an automatic death sentence. It varies how long it takes to start showing symptoms but presuming the game takes place over the course of a few months, [[spoiler: the time it takes for Arthur to start getting sick]] is accurate. What's not accurate is [[spoiler: how quickly it takes him to die.]] It usually takes several years for this to happen, not several months. Had it taken that long [[spoiler: Arthur to die, it would have likley would have drug the story out ]], especially given that they were already working with pre-exsisting timeline.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Dutch's horse, The Count, is said to be an Albino Arabian Stallion. In real life, horses cannot carry true albinism due to Lethal White Syndrome. Albino horses are born with non-functioning colons and die within a few days of birth.

* BlamingTheRailroadedPlayerCharacter: Arthur catches flak from his fellow gang members several time for botched missions over which the player had no choice but to go along in order to advance the story.

** Toward the end of Chapter 6, [[spoiler:Arthur gets ambushed and injured by Micah while in his final stages of TB. You have to fight off Micah for as long as you can, and if you went with John, you'll have to crawl over to Micah's revolver in the final part of the fight ''[[AdvancingBossOfDoom while he's chasing after you]]'']].

** Sometime after collecting the debt from Thomas Downes, Edith may visit the camp as a random encounter and tell Thomas [[spoiler:is dead]]. Arthur even expresses regret about how things turned out. However, Arthur is also told this little fact in a story mission cutscene later in yhe game, and acts like it's new information to him.

** When John is holding Javier at gunpoint in ''Redemption'' 1, he says the following: "Now, I ain't the judge, but as it turns out, it's you or me. The way I see it, it might as well be you". In ''II'', Dutch says nearly the same thing ("It is either us, or him! I figured it might as well be him.") after [[spoiler:a shocked John admonishes him for drowning Angelo Bronte]], changing the context of the original line to John deliberately quoting Dutch.

** Hunting. Each animal's (sans legendary) condition is measured in 3 stars, and trappers and Pearson require the best, 3 star-ones. However, animals spawn in all 3 conditions, and it can take a good while before the animal spawns and even longer to find a perfect specimen. After this, you need to get a one-hit kill with a weapon that fits the animal (small caliber for small animals, powerful guns for predators, for example), and hope the bullet hits the hitbox you were aiming for. And even after this, if you die or a stray bullet hits the animal on your horse, it's either gone or damaged respectively. It can be made easier with a few tricks and a trinket, [[note]]The legendary deer trinket adds an extra star upon skinning, although it will never go above the one the animal spawned with and excessive damage won't be fixed, and unlike carcasses, skins cannot be damaged after they're put on the horse[[/note]] but the spawnrates cannot be affected.

* LuckBasedMission: The Gambler Challenges. Already based on games of chance, successfully completing the challenges means not just winning, but winning in specific ways which can take a lot of time and effort. Challenge 8 in particular is frustrating for many players. It requires hitting 3 times and winning a hand of blackjack. You have to do this 3 times. Even if you get five cards, the dealer could win or tie. There are players who got it in 20 minutes, and others that have spent hours with nothing to show for it. The other challenges have some degree of skill involved, but this one is entirely luck based.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: If Arthur, [[spoiler:or John]], kills an animal and doesn't bother to skin or collect it, he will lose a small amount of honor. Killing domesticated animals, like cattle, oxen, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, dogs or cats, causes the same amount of honor loss as killing an innocent. If he gets caught doing so, the crime is called Animal Cruelty. Too bad that some of the stuff that Pearson and the Trapper make requires the hides/feathers from some of these items. And then there's Micah, and whatever it was he did to Jack's first dog....

* DontGoInTheWoods: Tall Trees, the aptly-named coniferous forest west of Blackwater, is an absolute death trap. It's used as a home base by the Skinner Brothers, a sadistic gang of ruthless psychopaths that loves to abduct travelers, strip them naked, torture them horribly and flay them alive before leaving their carcasses in massive, bloody piles by the side of the road. Especially in the early stages of the epilogue, it's nigh-impossible to ride through these woods without stumbling upon such grotesque horrors, or being attacked by the Skinners yourself. By the 1911 the Skinners seem to have disbanded or moved away, as in the original game there's nothing particularly dangerous in Tall Trees but the occasional bear or wolf.

* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: In an easily missable conversation Arthur states that he wants to be buried facing west, "so [he] can watch the sunset and think about all the times [they] had." [[spoiler:While he dies facing, and watching, the rising sun (High Honor), Charles finds his body and buries him facing west, towards the setting sun.]]

** In an early chapter, [[spoiler:when Hosea asks Arthur how he's going to die, Arthur tells him to "Just face me west, so I can watch the sunset and think about all the times we had." These words become a contrast in the High Honor ending of Chapter 6 (if you go with John) when, instead of being a bad man who watches the sunset and reminisces about the old days of being an outlaw, Arthur becomes a good man who looks forward to a better future in store while watching the sunrise on the mountaintop and dying at peace with himself. However, it would later be revealed in the epilogue that Charles laid Arthur's body to rest on the quiet hilltop in a grave that perfectly faces the evening sun, thus fulfilling Arthur's request to Hosea.]]

** Also averted, as your horse has to take a dump on some occasions, and you have to clean up after it.