Red Dead Redemption is "unpleasant"

By Robert Purchese Published 13 May, 2009

Not Little House on the Prairie, says R*.

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has said "blood and gore and gruesomeness" are key to Red Dead Redemption and its portrayal of the Wild West.

"We didn't want it to feel like those old Saturday afternoon TV shows, matinee movie Westerns where people kind of get shot and crumble and die very quickly, very carefully off-camera," Houser told IGN. "We didn't want it to feel like Little House on the Prairie.

"I think there was a certain amount of blood and gore and gruesomeness [that] was vital for the game to have the weight that we wanted it to have. It's not generally something where we didn't think it was being gratuitous at all. We thought it was vital for it to properly depict these kind of characters and this kind of world, the violence had to feel slightly raw and unpleasant.

"You don't feel these are just people being shot and dying with dignity," he added. "They're not. They're being shot and they're dying scared and miserable like everyone else would die. And I think that's what we wanted to try and capture."

It's not just the violence of the late 1800s in the southern United States and northern Mexico that Houser wants to capture, but also the racial discrimination, although this will be handled tactfully

"We didn't fully represent era-appropriate racial attitudes because it's too unpleasant to deal with, but we touch on those issues," he said.

"Not tensions, just attitudes. Tensions we did want to include. Within our research, the language - not that we shy away from too much, and we didn't really shy away from it - people use to describe other races is insanely offensive to modern ears, and we hint at that but we maybe don't do it with quite the vibrancy that people use in some of our research.

"I mean some of the stuff you find is unbelievably simplistic and offensive," he added, "and we can hint at that and hint at these people's attitudes but we're not going to have them screaming these words at each other or displaying such complete ignorance. We have some characters like that but we tend to make them look somewhat ridiculous."

Similarly, there will be a "little bit of swearing" but also in a "period-appropriate way".

Red Dead Redemption, announced in February, follows the life of John Marston, a reformed bank robber and outlaw who tried to turn his life around but is coming to see that that is impossible, a bit like Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven.

Action will take place across three zones, and stories and missions will be handed out much like in GTA, although there will be less of them. "Our main goal with a game like this, or with any game, is giving the player freedom over what they do next," said Houser.

Some missions will feature "long rides" that Houser is trying to make as fun as possible, but which can be skipped via a mission checkpoint system if things go wrong and need redoing.

And like GTA, there will also be miscellaneous tasks to occupy explorers of the world, such as hunting around 40 types of animals to earn money and eventually an outfit.

"You get various rewards to your appearance once you reach the various tiers of achieving the various sets of things you can do one of which is hunting," said Houser, varying his choice of words.

Rockstar will be implementing a Wanted-like system in Red Dead Redemption where NPC characters will call out posses to hunt you down if you stand around discharging your six-shooter in public. Your fame goes up in tandem with your wanted level, apparently, and the world reacts to this.

Mini-games and side activities will be a central part of Red Dead Redemption, and include activities such as Five Finger Filet, drinking, card playing, fighting and running in a posse. Duels are in, too, but girlfriends and friends are out.

Character interaction and dialogue will be as important as ever, however.

"We love doing dialogue at Rockstar. We tend to put many, many multiples of tens of thousands of lines of dialogue into these games, and this one will be no exception," said Houser, who is aiming for a similar level or production value to GTA IV.

"A vast amount of pleasure in any game is just sitting and watching the world go by, and that's something that we've really tried to push in this world. In parts of the map where appropriate you'll see soldiers grab hold of people, just line them up along a wall and shoot them. So there'll be hopefully tons of that kind of stuff and you can sit and passively observe the world without you having to cause all the trouble."

Houser revealed that Red Dead Redemption will have "an interesting twist with the [endgame] compared to what we've done in the past" that will keep us playing after the story is finished and the 100 per cent completion status earned.

There's also going to be multiplayer, where players will be "charging around on horses and stagecoaches and trains". "It's pretty epic, but it's not finalised to talk about in any more detail than that," concluded Houser.

Red Dead Redemption will be out this autumn on PS3 and Xbox 360.

Our Red Dead Redemption gamepage has the first screenshots and trailer.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (42) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Cappy #1 3 years ago

    Well, that piqued my interest in a game I was totally oblivious to previously.

  • thenastypasty #2 3 years ago

    This is the game that im looking forward to more than anything else it could be amazing.

  • ulikmegee #3 3 years ago

    I cannot wait for this. Personally thought the first was very arcady and over very quick but still enjoyable. GUN was ok but with the Rockstar midas touch, I'm sure this will be a cracker
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 10:32

  • Doctor_What #4 3 years ago

    I'm with Cappy. This is sounding increasingly like a very hot title.

  • Thamuhacha #5 3 years ago

    If it's basically "Deadwood" then I am most definitely in.

    Getting hired by Al Swearengen to deal with cocksuckas would rock

  • Wastelander #6 3 years ago

    It sounds so cool.

  • Domovoi #7 3 years ago

    Still sounds totally awesome. My only regret is the apparent lack of a PC version. I still can't handle FPS games on consoles.

  • menage #8 3 years ago

    Rockstar doing violent shit?

    Get out of here.

  • XanderFish #9 3 years ago

    "girlfriends and friends are out"

    \o/

  • BBIAJ #10 3 years ago

    Crikey, that read more like a mini-preview than a news article! Loving the trailer on the XBLMP!

  • BBIAJ #11 3 years ago

    @ Domovi: If this is anything like the original RDR, then it'll be third person.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 10:50

  • BillyBrush #12 3 years ago

    ..Gun had hunting in it...and it was quite fun sneaking up on a white wolf and co...glad they put this in..

  • jack_klugman #13 3 years ago

    But can you do a sick in a hooker's snatch? Well, Mr. Houser?

  • NOSAVIOUR #14 3 years ago

    I have dreamed of a game like this for years. Cant control my excitement!

  • Domovoi #15 3 years ago

    Domovi: If this is anything like the original RDR, then it'll be third person.

    That sounds promising. Did the original have auto-aim too?

  • Dan_Dare #16 3 years ago

    Somewhere around Deadwood and Blood Meridian, please. Although in the case of the latter, perhaps less of the infant scalping and indiscriminate butchery of innocents...

  • kinky_mong #17 3 years ago

    That article has made me interested in the game now even though I have no interest in Westerns and have become a bit fatigued with sandbox games. Will keep my eye on this.

  • Gearskin #18 3 years ago

    Rockstar don't do fail.

  • MyPointIs #19 3 years ago

    @KingsX - Lame reaction seeking trolling mate.

  • Colin8703 #20 3 years ago

    Looking forward to this.

    Sounds like the Wild Bunch mixed in with everything form the Sergio Leone movies.

    Never a bad thing if they can pull off the gameplay.

  • Kazzahdrane #21 3 years ago

    This will have to do until someone makes an free-roaming Brisco County Jr. game!

  • Quint2020 #22 3 years ago

    /more interested in Call of Juarez sequel

  • Lukree #23 3 years ago

    This sounds absolutely great! I cannot understand lack of western themed games. There are SO many american developers so why no-one hasn't done this era and setting properly? Free roaming western "GTA" is that sort of game I have waited for really long.

  • BBIAJ #24 3 years ago

    @ Domivoi: Yup, there was auto-aim, and slo-mo bullet time stuff called Dead Eye.

  • mikew1985 #25 3 years ago

    Game looks excellent, have a feeling it will probably miss the pencilled in Autumn slot. But then that could just be GTAitis.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 11:38

  • andywilkie35 #26 3 years ago

    Jesus this is high on my list of games to get this year. The trailer looks great and it sounds really good

  • Darren #27 3 years ago

    The content of the trailer looks superb in terms of cinematics and art work but the actual quality of it leaves something to be desired as it makes the game look like it's running at PS2/Xbox resolutions! Looked like very poor compression to me. Or was that made up of footage from the AA-free PS3 version? :p

    Never got the chance to try the original but an open-world western-themed game in the style of GUN meets GTA sounds very intriguing so I'm definitely interested.

  • PlushGraffiti #28 3 years ago

    Sounds absolutely fantastic. This has shot straight to the top of my most wanted.

  • Harmonica #29 3 years ago

    This has been in dev for ages, I just hope it will live upto the promise of what a western game could do - because nobody has capitalised on the setting yet.

    Rockstar do parody very well, what they don't do as well is homage, or working seriously within a genre. This is why GTA was strongest when it was taking the piss out of organised crime, gangsterism, or whatever, and not in GTA IV when it tried to play it straight and was largely dull for it.

    However this is being made by a completely different team, so who knows what to expect, really.

  • mikew1985 #30 3 years ago

    ^^^^

    Sigh.

    This old chestnut.
    Dull to you perhaps, but a more than significant amount of people would class GTA IV as their favourite of the series. We just don't feel the need to be obnoxiously vocal about it at every single opportunity.

  • Harmonica #31 3 years ago

    I was actually making a pretty clear point about parody and homage, I wasn't being obnoxious at all. There are many obvious reasons why GTA IV fell short of what it was trying to achieve, it's not a bad game but I think 'dull', 'repetitive' and 'pointless' is a fairly accurate description of a lot of the gameplay.

    edit: unless you think that a good GTA game should consist of one mission repeated a lot of times over, in which case, congratulations, you have low standards.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 16:52

  • mikew1985 #32 3 years ago

    Well maybe you weren't but the small minority who didn't enjoy the game are very vocal about this fact and try to portray their opinion on GTA IV as fact, which you have done again in your reply.

    You don't like the game? fine, absolutely fine, I don't care has no affect on me personally, but a lot of people enjoyed the game and the way the story was presented and handled. I'm one of them. I get that a lot of people didn't enjoy the game perhaps as much as they were expecting but a hell of a lot of people did like it and would class it as the best in the series.

    Edit: I can see from your edit, I'm probably wasting my time. fwiw there are some absolutely excellent missions in GTAIV, have you even played it to completion?
    Edited by 2 at 13/05/09 @ 16:59

  • Harmonica #33 3 years ago

    What I was saying before you leapt on me was largely about whether Red Dead Redeption will do its own thing or whether it will fall into the trappings of the main Rockstar output.

    You're not wasting your time, but the trouble is that people who say they enjoyed it or rate it that highly are never able to offer up much in the way of argument, other than 'well, I enjoyed it, therefore this game obviously has merit'. Which is weak to say the least.

    I'm one of the most considerate and balanced of all gamers, I play everything under the sun, I adore GTA as a series and I've played it since its inception, but I find a lot of GTA IV tedious with good reason.

    Yes, I think that people who are able to overlook certain things are lowering their standards. There are things Rockstar did right in their previous games - that won them their acclaim - that they failed to do in GTA IV. Surely it's not being overly critical to point out this fact.

  • Harmonica #34 3 years ago

    Yes I've played through GTA to completion. I'm currently playing it again and all the old feelings are returning. It's actually worse the second time around.

  • mikew1985 #35 3 years ago

    I wasn't jumping on you, It's just a bit tiring the amount of people who feel the need to have a GTA IV = fail party whenever possible.

    You do seem like the resonable kind so we'll probably have to agree to disagree, as I mentioned I really enjoyed the structure, story and the missions in GTA IV (not to mention the DLC which was also fantastic). I found enough variety in it to keep me gaming for 45+ hours which most games wouldn't get close to. There are certain high profile games I don't enjoy, but I know that others do and I understand this does not make them bad games just because I don't enjoy them.

    I've got pretty discerning taste and I won't just play a game because it got good reviews or because everyone else says it's good. I make my own judgements and I'm generally a fairly harsh critic. Again my argument isn't to say your wrong it's just to say not everyone agrees.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 17:27

  • Andreas2402 #36 3 years ago

    Please, no more "GTA IV is so much worse than previous GTAs" bs. If you liked San Andreas so much more, why don't you just play it and give us a rest?

    RDR developed by R* and like GTA? Easy decision - another game on my list this year.

  • Harmonica #37 3 years ago

    Give you a rest from what? Oh your poor eyes, I'm so sorry you had to read people talking about games on a games discussion forum!

    @ mikew1985: yes, we'll just have to agree to differ :) Which is a shame because I genuinely like tackling these kind of issues that come up when people are at odds over enjoying games. We probably like a lot of the same games but for some reason, not GTA IV.

    edit: I might add, though, that actually whilst I tend to stick it with 'dull' in parts, there are a lot of moments in GTA IV that made me scream 'yes, this is blockbuster gaming at its peak'. Many moments. I think it's something of flawed gem, which is probably why it rankles with me. Also bear in mind that I do love some things which other people would think were dull!
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 17:38

  • mikew1985 #38 3 years ago

    So do I, but it's nearly home time now ;)

    Edit: That was a pre edit response!
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 17:45

  • cyber_nicco #39 3 years ago

    "It's not just the violence of the late 1800s in the southern United States and northern Mexico that Houser wants to capture, but also the racial discrimination, although this will be handled tactfully"

    I don't know for sure, but I imagine this takes place in an area we Americans would refer to as the West (especially during that time period). While it's true that that includes the southern united states - starting with, or just after, Texas (depending on who you ask) moving west, it just seems odd to describe it as "the south".

    Then again, I have not read enough to know where it does actually take place. We think of that area associated with Cowboys and Indians and train robberies and outlaws, etc. to be the west. The Wild West...

    Did any of that make sense?

  • Harmonica #40 3 years ago

    Yes. I'm not sure whether game is representing the mythic Old West or actually relating to specific locales. The former would be more like Leone, the latter more Peckinpah - particularly if they're going down Texas way. Deadwood sort of struck a balance between both. Although of course even Deadwood took some artistic liberties, and was all the better for it.

    Any kind of broad amalgam across any of those areas could produce a fantastic game.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 18:50

  • suicida #41 3 years ago

    Sounds absolutely f**king awesome. Wants.

  • BBIAJ #42 3 years ago

    @ Darren: You need to take a look at the latest gamesTMs 4 page coverage of RDR, it certainly does not look like a PStwo/X-Box game, not in the slightest!

    EDIT Also, AA is one of the last things added to any game.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/09 @ 23:53