Summary
Rumors and theories around a potentialRed Dead Redemption 3have stirred ever since its predecessor released in 2018, with many fans assuming that such an iconic franchise will receive a sequel, despite no official confirmation. With the story ofRDR2and the originalRDRbeing so thorough and intertwined, one of the largest looming questions around a third entry is where it chooses to take its own narrative.
IfRed Dead Redemption 3is set to carry over some of the major characters of the past two games, then there is one uncomfortable area in particular that the game’s story needs to finally address. Many have theorized thatRDR3will carry on from the events of 2010’sRed Dead Redemptionwith Jack Marston in the leading role, and this would be the perfect opportunity to clear up the circumstances around Abigail Marston’s death.
The setting of a potentialRed Dead Redemption 3is the source of a lot of debate, with the franchise having exhausted its niche time period of the end of the Wild West. This period of transition was key to the themes of change and uncertainty in the first twoRed Dead Redemptiongames, and going further back in time could makeRDR3lose a lot of the narrative power that its predecessors possessed.
There is an argument to be made thatRed Dead Redemption 3should go forward in time, withJack Marston being the most obvious answer to who the title’s protagonist should be. Jack has already appeared as a protagonist in the epilogue ofRed Dead Redemption, heartbreakingly being forced into the same outlaw life that those around him fought so hard to free him from.
This aspect ofJack’s character is wasted on his briefRDRplayable appearance, and thrusting the character at the helm ofRDR3could explore this in the detail that it deserves.RDR3could then explore things like Jack’s experiences of the First World War and the organized crime of the 1920s, but it should not forget to honor some unanswered questions from the first two games.
Of course, the story of Jack’s father,John Marston, is told in great detail throughout theRDRfranchise, but some key events surrounding his mother Abigail are completely unaddressed, as things stand. Following the core events ofRDR’s story, the game’s epilogue skips three years into the future to 1914, when it is hastily shown that Abigail is buried next to John, having died just weeks before the epilogue begins.
The circumstances behind Abigail’s death are completely unknown, with fan theories providing the only answers behind what could have caused her demise. Abigail would have been approximately 37 years old at her time of death, and while sickness is not out of the question given the time period, the grief of losing her husband could have easily been the major contributing factor behind this.
Abigail is a massively important figure inRed Dead Redemptionand its 2018 sequel, and it only seems right that a character such as this is given closure in any future projects that might come for the IP. WhileRed Dead Redemption 3would have a lot on its plate in terms of how it needs to fulfill its narrative, even just a throwaway conversation about how Abigail passed away would be something that it needs to include, above all else.
Red Dead Redemption 3is not confirmed to be in development by Rockstar, but many expect this project to be the studio’s focal point followingGrand Theft Auto 6.
Red Dead Redemption 2
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America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him. From the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America at the dawn of the modern age.
