The world of 2018's blockbuster hit Red Dead Redemption 2, which is filled with NPCs that go about their daily lives in the rugged 1899 American South and animals that behave so realistically that fans have even conducted studies on the behavioral patterns of the different horses Arthur can tame and ride.
Thanks to this random and stunningly realistic AI, Red Dead Redemption 2 players have come across plenty of odd events and encounters during Arthur Morgan’s journey across the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. NPCs have taken the law into their own hands during barfights, carried awkward conversations in with Arthur in graveyards, and have even started dressing like RDR2's Arthur himself on occasion. Red Dead Redemption 2’s assortment of animals has also been the subject of these kinds of randomly occurring events, as Arthur can find himself attacked by a wild mountain lion or unwittingly tasked with caring for an NPC couple's dog after killing its owners.
It seems Arthur Morgan can’t even buy some hunting supplies without coming across a wild animal looking for a meal in Red Dead Redemption 2, as indicated by a short gameplay video posted to Reddit’s RDR2 subreddit by CanadlanBacon recently. This video shows Arthur conducting business with the traveling Trapper when a wild bear approaches him. The bear then attacks Arthur, viscously biting down on the outlaw and forcing him to defend himself with a few stabs of his hunting knife and a killing shot from his rifle. However, while the Trapper is present for all of this, he does nothing to help Arthur and even flees from his makeshift storefront as Arthur rises from the struggle, bloodied but still alive. Not only that, but Red Dead Redemption 2’s Wanted system flags Arthur’s struggle against the bear as “disturbing the peace,” meaning that Arthur could be targeted by local law enforcement for the incident despite acting purely in self-defense.
Click here to view the full video on Reddit.
Despite (or perhaps because of) wild glitches and odd NPC behavior like this, Red Dead Redemption 2 remains one of the most popular open-world games in recent memory even almost four years after it was first released to near-universal acclaim. Fans are still hoping that Rockstar will announce a follow-up, even looking for clues in the storied developer’s other games like Grand Theft Auto 5. However, it has been pointed out that continuing the story of Red Dead Redemption after the events of the first game in the series (which takes place after Red Dead Redemption 2) could be a problem given RDR2’s placement at the tail end of the Wild West era.
In the meantime, players are still uncovering new and exciting details about Red Dead Redemption 2, including just how helpful certain NPCs are in a tough situation. The Trapper may be a skilled hunter and outdoorsman, but he apparently isn’t of much use when a wild grizzly attacks, as Arthur Morgan has recently discovered the hard way.
Source: CanadlanBacon/Reddit
