History VideoGame / RedDeadRedemption

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Marston is downright friendly, even to his enemies. Which doesn't mean he isn't capable of putting bullets between the eyes of you and your entire posse in the time it takes you to reach for your pistols.

* TheSheriff: Leigh Johnson is a US Marshall, but otherwise fills this role for the town of Armadillo.

* StayInTheKitchen: The animated short ''Beaumont the Burly,'' concludes with the message that [[DeliberateValuesDissonance women's suffrage will make America lose its way.]]

** The fact that you can cripple enemies leads to this. The worst you can do is to shoot them in the waist/stomach, as this break their spine without killing them; they'll spend their remaining time trying to crawl away before bleeding out.

* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Some outfits are purchasable or available as DownloadableContent; others can be assembled from scraps received by completing certain tasks. Some outfits are purely cosmetic; others have tangible gameplay benefits, such as dressing up as a bandit gang so they won't attack you on sight.

* ArbitraryGunPower: A Volcanic pistol that is more powerful than a Single Action Army. In real life, the Volcanic's "Rocket Ball" ammunition was pathetically underpowered and the weapon was obsolete long before the time the game takes place. Meanwhile, the .45 Colt cartridge is the weakest in the game, even though it should logically be the strongest.

* ArtificialStupidity: During bounty hunts, the bounty target's friends will simply run straight at John without even attempting to take cover, even as John gun them down one by one. Also, if John scare some people out in the wilderness, they will often run away on foot even though they have horses.
** Speaking of horses their AI is also cringe worthy. Letting your horse walk free near water or cliffs will inevitably result in your horse walking into certain doom. Horses will also frequently run away from the player if they run past the player when called. In really bad cases they will stop and then start running away when the player gets close enough to mount them.

* AKA47: The game uses both real gun names as well as fake names. You'll see famous and well known guns of the period such as Springfield Rifles and Henry Repeaters. However the FN Model 1903 gets the award for ultimate BlandNameProduct in this game: High Power Pistol. Rockstar may have intended use the Browning Hi-Power pistol and realized that it would be anachronistic and switched it to the visually similar 1903 (although it does make one wonder why they didn't just use the Colt M1911, which would have been brand-new but still period-appropriate, especially since it was featured in a few pieces of concept art).

** [[spoiler:The US Army end up being no better when they turn their backs on John after he helps them take down Dutch Van der Linde. DownplayedTrope, in that the Army's officers are in no position to refuse, Edgar Ross having authority over them, and acting more like {{PunchClockVillain}}s compared to their more despicable Mexican Army counterparts.]]

* BrokenAesop: While not exactly a heavy focus, the game does have some anti-racism messages here and there, such as Abraham Reyes showing an ugly anti-Chinese mindset to emphasize he's a {{Jerkass}}, Edgar Ross showing a similar anti-Indian streak to make it clear he's an utter HateSink, an EasterEgg mixed couple household hidden in New Austin, and the general use of DeliberateValuesDissonance in the random dialogue sprouted by the various [=NPCs=]. Then once you reach West Elizabeth, you're suddenly treated to an over-the-top racist doctor who's intented to be PluckyComicRelief, you meet [[TokenHeroicOrc the only Native American in the entire game]] who ''doesn't'' try to shoot you on sight (and is [[spoiler:gunned down by other natives in his [[WeBarelyKnewYe third mission]] partially thanks to the aforementioned doctor who becomes a KarmaHoudini]]), before the missions make you slaughter countless more natives to finally reach the ManBehindTheMan MightyWhitey who's given more sympathy than the dozens of now-dead mooks who've explicitly said to be misguided young men looking for a purpose. In short, any anti-racism messages the game may have are unfortunately buried under the AlwaysChaoticEvil Indians who'll happily kill their own and obey a white guy without question as long as he lets them cause mayhem, without any indication it's meant to be commentary on the CowboysAndIndians theme common in old westerns.

** Professor [=MacDougal=] studies and statements of Native American "savagery" were [[TruthInTelevision popular claims for the time period]]. Many like [=MacDougal=] also misinterpreted Darwin's theories to support their racist ideas, completely ignoring him saying that human racial differences are superficial. [=MacDougal=] claiming that Darwin said "extinction is a myth" hints that he has no idea what he's talking about.

** Special mention goes to the Mauser Pistol for being the only weapon the inventory with a fully-automatic fire rate.

%%* NotInThisForYourRevolution: The entire section taking place in Mexico.

%%* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: "The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed"]].

** [[spoiler:Jack]] bears more than a slight resemblance to ''[[spoiler:[[Film/ThePrincessBride Inigo Montoya]]'']]

* TwilightOfTheOldWest: The game is set in 1911, when the age of cowboys and bandits is coming to an end as the federal government strengthens its control over the West. The starting area of New Austin is the last bastion of the Old West where outlaws run free, and it's made abundantly clear that this status quo won't last much longer. John is treated by many characters as a person who has no place in the current age.

%%* TheSheriff: Leigh Johnson, Town Marshal of Armadillo

* TwilightOfTheOldWest: The game is set in 1911, when the Wild West as people knew it is all but dead. The starting area of New Austin is the last bastion of the Old West where outlaws run free, and it's made abundantly clear that this status quo won't last much longer. John is treated by many characters as a person who has no place in the current age.

%%* TortureAlwaysWorks: [[spoiler:Subverted. Not on De Santa, it doesn't.]]

* TwilightOfTheOldWest: The game is set in 1911, when the Wild West as people knew it is all but dead. The starting area of New Austin is the last bastion of the Old West where bandits and other rogues run free, and it's made abundantly clear that this status quo won't last much longer. John is treated by many characters as a person who has no place in the current age.

* WideEyedIdealist: Luisa, who is blindly fanatical to a man who can't even remember her name and doesn't seem to get that John's only working for the side that gets him Williamson and Escuella.

! Due to ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' being a prequel to this game, all {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s pertaining to it may have been left unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!

** Best illustrated by the leader of the rebels and the ruling governor in Mexico. Abraham Reyes, rebel leader, is a lustful, selfish, and power-hungry lout, but he's still better than the Provincial Governor of Nuevo Paraíso, Agustin Allende, who is a mass-murdering, cowardly, tyrannical rapist (though it is implied that Reyes later became just as bad as his predecessor after taking power).

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: While the whole game is rather realistic, [[spoiler: John's LastStand counts. An unarmed and oblivious Uncle is killed, and John only manages to kill around 3 or 4 people when he comes out the barn door. The best to a FinalSpeech he got was a cough and a fall to the ground.]]

* TwilightOfTheOldWest: The game is set in 1911, when the Wild West as people knew it is all but dead. The starting area of New Austin is the last holdout of the Old West where bandits and other rogues run free, and it's made abundantly clear that this status quo won't last much longer. John is treated by many characters as a person who has no place in the current age.

* WrittenByTheWinners: No matter how high or low he goes on the KarmaMeter, Edgar Ross sees to it that [[spoiler: John is remembered by the press, the government and most civilians as a vile, dangerous outlaw.]]