While we don’t know anything officially about a potential Red Dead Redemption 2 (other than it likely will not be called Red Dead Redemption 2, because that just doesn’t make any sense), a map was leaked earlier this week that claimed to be from whatever new game Rockstar was working on. According to TechRadar, sources have confirmed that this map is real.
Like any Internet rumor, this shouldn’t be taken as a guarantee until Rockstar or publisher Take-Two make any official announcements. That being said, TechRadar likely wouldn’t be putting its integrity on the line if this news wasn’t true.
According to the source, the next Red Dead game will be set before the events of Red Dead Redemption. The map is also confirmed to be just east of the map found in the previous game, as evidenced by the Tall Trees and Great Plains areas found in the bottom right corner of the leaked image. Those served as the northeastern boundaries of the Red Dead Redemption map.
As for why the map looks like it just got out of clown school, the source says it’s a very recent art direction version. The colors are simply there to make each element pop easier for the development team to see on the fly.
As for when we’ll see an official announcement, this year’s E3 in June is as good a time as any. Take-Two has already announced a large presence for the show, so a Red Dead announcement coming at that time would certainly be an impact.
Red Dead Redemption has also been spotted on the Xbox One backward compatibility list. Seeing a bundle including a download code for Red Dead Redemption in the new Red Dead game would be very similar to previous releases like Fallout 3’s inclusion with Fallout 4 and Alan Wake’s inclusion with Quantum Break. That, or Rockstar is letting Red Dead Redemption be backward compatible as a marketing decision. Regardless, Red Dead Redemption is coming to the backward compatibility program at some point or another.
So what do you think? Are you excited to see the events that lead up to Red Dead Redemption? Do you think we’ll get an official announcement at E3? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
