History YMMV / RedDeadRedemption2

** With a nigh-identical plot about an outlaw party that falls apart and grows increasingly more vicious in the process, gratuitous amounts of {{gorn}}, troubled AntiHero protagonist, similar time period, horror elements, and being a dark, gritty {{deconstruction}} of the [[TheWestern western]] genre, this could very well be the best spiritual adaptation of ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' of all time. And to drive the whole thing home, the game has a ShoutOut to said book.

** With a nigh-identical plot about an outlaw party that falls apart and grows increasingly more vicious in the process, gratuitous amounts of {{gorn}}, troubled AntiHero protagonist, similar time period, horror elements, and being a dark, gritty {{deconstruction}} of the [[TheWestern western]] genre, this could probably be the best spiritual adaptation of ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' of all time.

** With a nigh-identical plot about an outlaw party that falls apart and grows increasingly more vicious in the process, gratuitous amounts of {{gorn}}, troubled AntiHero protagonist, similar time period, and being a dark, gritty {{deconstruction}} of the [[TheWestern western]] genre, this could probably be the best spiritual adaptation of ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' of all time.

** With a SuspiciouslySimilarStory about an outlaw party that falls apart and grows increasingly more vicious in the process, gratuitous amounts of {{gorn}}, troubled AntiHero protagonist, similar time period, and being a dark, gritty {{deconstruction}} of the [[TheWestern western]] genre, this could probably be the best spiritual adaptation of ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' of all time.

** With a SuspiciouslySimilarStory about an outlaw party that falls apart and grows increasingly more vicious in the process, gratuitous amounts of {{gorn}}, troubled AntiHero protagonist and being a dark {{deconstruction}} of the {{western}} genre, this could probably be the most faithful adaptation of the otherwise [[HardToAdaptWork unadaptable]] ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' to date.

** With a SuspiciouslySimilarPlot about an outlaw party that falls apart and grows increasingly more vicious in the process, gratuitous amounts of {{gorn}}, troubled AntiHero protagonist and being a dark {{deconstruction}} of the {{western}} genre, this could probably be the most faithful adaptation of the otherwise [[HardToAdaptWork unadaptable]] ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' to date.

** A Mafia boss in the 19th century DeepSouth seems ridiculous, or Rockstar trying to inject more ''GTA'' into their Western. However New Orleans, which Saint Denis is based on, did in fact have significant Italian organized crime all the way back in the 1880s. Existing independently of their more famous Northern cousins, the New Orleans Mafia still exists today and is older than many of the more famous Mafia families.

** Guido Martelli may seem anachronistic, but the Mafia was powerful enough during the era of the game that his presence in Saint Denis is perfectly plausible.

* LoveToHate: Micah Bell. He is a despicable, sadistic psychopath, but you can't deny that he is incredibly badass, funny, entertaining and {{creepy|Awesome}}.

** Maybelle Elizabeth Colter, better known as [[RedBaron Black Belle]], is an infamous outlaw and one of the four legendary gunslingers Theodore Levin tasks the player with interviewing. When the player tracks her down in a shack at Bluewater Marsh, they find themselves approached by an army of bounty hunters. Declining the player's offer of misleading them, Black Belle lures one of the bounty hunters closer to her house before ordering the player to set off an explosive charge, killing the bounty hunter. She and the player fight off the rest of bounty hunters, utilising more explosives that she strategically placed around her compound. After, she allows the player to take her photo before riding away.

** Maybelle Elizabeth Colter, better known as [[TheRedBaron Black Belle]], is an infamous outlaw and one of the four legendary gunslingers Theodore Levin tasks the player with interviewing. When the player tracks her down in a shack at Bluewater Marsh, they find themselves approached by an army of bounty hunters. Declining the player's offer of misleading them, Black Belle lures one of the bounty hunters closer to her house before ordering the player to set off an explosive charge, killing the bounty hunter. She and the player fight off the rest of bounty hunters, utilising more explosives that she strategically placed around her compound. After, she allows the player to take her photo before riding away.

* UnderusedGameMechanic: Exotic plants, which only serve as glorified collectibles; despite actively respawning and seeming important, they're only needed for some ambient challenges and a single stranger quest. Other than that, they're [[UselessItem completely useless]] since they can't even be sold anywhere.[[note]]it is speculated that the cut "exotic shops" mentioned in the game's files would have bought them, giving them ''some'' value, but none of these shops made it into the final game[[/note]]

* DefaultSettingSyndrome: Auto Aim settings, which are enabled and at the highest strength by default. This affects ''Online'' particularly hard since, unlike ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV GTA Online]]'', players are ''not'' separated by their preferred aiming settings, so people who are used to playing in Free Aim lobbies in the latter game are putting themselves at a distinct disadvantage in the former game.

** ''Red Dead Online'' vs. ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV GTA Online]]''. The fandom is really divided here.

* BetterThanCanon: Surprisingly, a negative example. Many players were not fond of the online version of John's Cowboy outfit being slightly closer to the original than the one seen in single-player. This is because [[spoiler:John's own hair is available in the ''Online'' as well, which means it is possible to create a character that resembles the John seen in 1899 and 1911 more than the actual playable version of John does]].

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: At the time of release, Sadie Adler was originally beloved by fans due to her being a tough, no-nonsense ActionGirl who was capable of [[OneOfTheBoys kicking just as much ass as the rest of the men in the Van der Linde gang]], which was a nice change of pace compared to the more passive roles that most of the women in the franchise game have had. As time set in though, Sadie's reputation began to get a lot more fractured as she gained a lot of criticism for her AxCrazy LeeroyJenkins attitude that often causes more trouble for the gang than it solves. Her involvement with John's life in the epilogue is similarly disliked since she essentially strings John along on several bounty hunter missions without giving anything in return, and her decision to encourage John into helping her track down and kill Micah really soured fans who saw her as a KarmaHoudini that essentially doomed John. Though Sadie isn't outright hated by any means, her actions throughout the game make her far more of a BaseBreakingCharacter than before.

* UnacceptableTargets: Native Americans. Not only is their terrible treatment discussed and shown several times during the story, the Wapiti Indian reservation is one of the few places you are not allowed to draw your weapons in, and you cannot even antagonize people there. The player will also get negative honor if they desecrate native sites.

** Despite what the trailers played her up to be, Sadie doesn't become an official gunwoman of the gang until the final chapter of the main story.

** Dutch, Arthur and Bill working as Rhodes deputies was an interesting plot point and they could have used their authority to fight the O'Driscolls and Lemoyne Raiders. Alas, there is only one mission where the act on behalf of the Sheriff.

** [[spoiler:Charles, Sadie and John in the final mission. While Micah deserved to have a couple bullets or 10 pumped into him, Sadie's recruitment of John indirectly leads to him being tracked down by the Pinkertons while she and Charles presumably manage to escape, and John agrees to follow them despite Abigail begging him not to and insults Jack as he leaves. Their interrogation and execution of Cleet also feels uncharacteristically petty and cruel (and slightly hypocritical seeing that they were also outlaws), especially since Sadie overrides John's choice to spare him and kills Cleet herself. John is also quite rude and dismissive of Abigail as she pleads with him to stay, with him even insulting Jack's books as he leaves.]]

* AcceptableTargets:
** The Klan stand-in you can meet is both incompetent and, judging by the note found on their leader, extremely petty. Their random encounters always end with them killing each other in embarrassing accidents, and they refuse to even ''serve Spanish food'' at their initiation ceremonies. Also, they and Compson the slave-catcher are the only [=NPCs=] in the game that cause your honor to go ''up'' when you kill them, although people will still get the law on you if they witness it.
** Racists and other bigots in general, like the Eugenics advocate you meet in Saint Denis, are generally portrayed as unpleasantly as possible and can be treated by players in kind with little repercussions. It’s especially notable that the Lemoyne Raiders, a group of racist former Confederate soldiers, are something of a ButtMonkey among the gangs, even being the first to be effectively wiped out.

** [[spoiler:Charles, Sadie and John in the final mission. While Micah deserved to have a couple bullets or 10 pumped into him, Sadie's recruitment of John indirectly leads to him being tracked down by the Pinkertons while she and Charles presumably manage to escape, and John agrees to follow them despite Abigail begging him not to and insults Jack as he leaves. Their interrogation and execution of Cleet also feels uncharacteristically petty and cruel (and slightly hypocritical seeing that they were also outlaws), especially since Sadie overrides John's choice to spare him and kills Cleet herself.]]

* ArcFatigue: Beaver Hollow. Many of the objectives consist of little more than attacking the U.S army and/or the Pinkertons over and over again, and the overall toxicity of the Van der Linde gang, combined with Arthur constantly suffering from tuberculosis ''really'' dampens the satisfaction of completing any missions you do in the chapter.

* BizarroEpisode: We have the SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} episode called "A Quiet Time". After hearing the report that Micah has been arrested and imprisoned in Strawberry, Arthur is told to take Lenny to Smithfield's Saloon in Valentine to calm down with a beer or two. However, this is where the MindScrew happens, because, after a drink, Arthur and Lenny [[CantHoldHisLiquor end up getting wasted]], leading to the {{Smash Cut}}s to Arthur losing Lenny a few times and stumbling in random places, the two of them talking trash, Arthur getting into a supposed BarBrawl about to start right before the SmashCut to [[MoodWhiplash all the guys line-dancing with each other]], followed by another SmashCut to Arthur doing the NatureTinkling before getting back into the saloon to find that ''everyone looks like Lenny''! It only gets more hilarious when the real Lenny finds him and they slap each other, followed by another SmashCut to Arthur finding himself about to drown his old rival outside ''for no apparent reason!'' A few more {{Smash Cut}}s, and we now find Arthur and Lenny trying to escape the lawmen chasing after them. No matter how well or poorly your escape attempt went, they will wake up with no memory of what happened on the previous night, but with Arthur getting so sick and hung over that he'll lean over and puke on the grass with a VomitIndiscretionShot. Oh, and it can only get a few mentions afterwards by talking to Lenny about the funny bits or getting drunk with beer again.

* BizarroEpisode: We have the SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} episode called "A Quiet Time". After hearing the report that Micah has been arrested and imprisoned in Strawberry, Arthur is told to take Lenny to Smithfield's Saloon in Valentine to calm down with a beer or two. However, this is where the MindScrew happens, because, after a drink, Arthur and Lenny [[CantHoldHisLiquor end up getting wasted]], leading to the {{Smash Cut}}s to Arthur losing Lenny a few times and stumbling in random places, the two of them talking trash, Arthur getting into a supposed BarBrawl about to start right before the SmashCut to [[MoodWhiplash all the guys line-dancing with each other]], followed by another SmashCut to Arthur doing the NatureTinkling before getting back into the saloon to find that ''everyone looks like Lenny''! It only gets more hilarious when the real Lenny finds him and they slap each other, followed by another SmashCut to Arthur finding himself about to drown his old rival outside ''for no apparent reason!'' A few more {{Smash Cut}}s, and we now find Arthur and Lenny trying to escape the lawmen chasing after them. No matter how well or poorly your escape attempt went, they will wake up with no memory of what happened on the previous night, but with Arthur getting so sick and hung over that he'll lean over and puke on the grass with a VomitIndiscretionShot. This funny drunken Bizarro Episode is considered as a lube-free mind-fuck! Period! Oh, and it can only get a few mentions afterwards by talking to Lenny about the funny bits or getting drunk with beer again.

* MemeticLoser: Dorothea, the suffragette that you meet in Saint Denis, has become this due to [=YouTuber=] Shirakko's infamous videos of him killing her in various ways which kickstarted a trend for players to torment her. Many players as a result found her to be [[ButtMonkey the punching bag]] of the whole game. On his part, despite his misanthropy, Arthur agrees with Dorothea that women should be allowed to vote and is shown to be rather progressive in terms of women's rights. He even leads a suffragette parade at one point in the game.