One of the most beautiful open-world games ever created, Red Dead Redemption 2, was and still is a smash hit for Rockstar. Its story, characters, vast world, and all its beautiful details all add up to create an immersive experience for players. A big part of this experience is the decisions players have to make throughout the game.
There are plenty of decisions to make within Red Dead 2, if you're a fan of understatements. Both by the player and by the game presenting them to the player. Some of these decisions require little thinking and are natural choices. Several of them, however, make you think a bit more. Here are a few of the hardest choices you will come across during the game.
Updated June 12, 2023 By Ben Jessey: Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game with plenty of difficult choices that impact Arthur and the gang as a whole. The difficulty comes from the fact that the consequences of your choices aren't always easy to predict.
So, we took the most difficult decisions along with their consequences and put them into this list. However, when we originally wrote it, we could've fit all the tricky choices into the collection. So, we've now returned to the piece to add a few more.
13 Save Or Kill The Man From Blackwater?
During a main mission in Valentine, a random guy in a suit recognizes you. He remembers seeing you and the rest of the gang in Blackwater. This is concerning since your group did some illegal things in Blackwater and are now on the run. The last thing you need is to be linked to that place.
So, you chase the guy down. Eventually, he falls and ends up hanging on the edge of a cliff. You have the choice to kill or spare the man. If you kill him, you can loot his body for some valuables but lose honor in the process. However, if you save him, he is grateful and gives you a gift.
12 Crack Or Blow The Safes During The Valentine Robbery?
One mission in the game sees you and a few other members of the iconic gang attempt to tob the bank in Valentine. You do a great job at the start, too, as you successfully get into the building and reach the safes filled with money without alerting too much outside attention.
Then you have the option to crack the safes or blow them open with dynamite. Going for the dynamite method will attract the attention of people outside, meaning you may have to fight your way out. By cracking the safe, you avoid unnecessary attention, but it takes much longer.
11 Hang Cleet Or Spare Cleet?
This choice comes in the epilogue mission American Venom and allows players to choose the fate of one of Micha's old running buddies, Cleet. The difficulty in the decision comes from wanting to perhaps keep John honorable by sparing Cleet's life but also wanting to kill him for revenge.
Should you choose the dishonorable option to hang Cleet, he will hang. Should you decide to spare him, however, Sadie will shoot and kill him. Either option happens after he gives you the location of Micah.
10 Stealth Or Dynamite?
This decision arises in the mission "That's Murfree Country" when Arthur and Charles are sent to scope out a new camp. They find a group of crazies already there, in a cave, and the difficult choice to sneak up on them or draw them out with dynamite arises.
The dynamite leads to you throwing dynamite and having to take on a load of Murfree's. The stealth option leads to the same outcome, but facing off against fewer enemies should you do well in your stealth.
9 Night Robbery Or Daytime Robbery?
In the mission "The Spines Of America," Arthur and Hosea are seeking to steal a stagecoach and rob the farm. The choice is to do so in either day or night time. This choice is difficult because both hold a different strategy, which would make a first time player think more carefully.
If you select day time, you must wait for Hosea to distract the family, sneak inside and loot the house before going to the barn to wait for Hosea. You must also make sure you close all drawers and such before leaving. At night time you can go straight in, but must crouch and stay away from the sleeping family while Hosea gets the stagecoach.
8 Help Mary Or Reject Mary?
Mary Linton is a character who, depending on your decision on the matter, can be a recurring one. Mary sends Arthur a letter asking for his help to get her brother back, you can choose to help, or part ways with Mary for good.
Should you choose to help her, you save her brother and get another mission further along in the story (as well as a date with her), adding more emotional depth to Arthur and his account. Should you reject her, you do not get these missions.
7 Spare Or Kill Anthony Foreman?
Anthony Foreman is a man who has a history with Tilly. And at one point during the game, he and his gang kidnap her. Thankfully, you and Mrs. Grimshaw save her, and you get to decide what to do with Anthony.
Choosing to kill him ends the matter then and there as you stab the man in the gut, and he dies quickly. You also have a chance to spare him, which leads to him becoming a bounty you can hunt later in the game. Tilly remains safe regardless.
6 Kill The O'Driscoll Or Spare The O'Driscoll?
This decision is the first choice the game gives you. Kill an O'Driscoll bandit, or spare the O'Driscoll bandit. This choice is made difficult simply by being the first time the player has to make a decision presented by the game, which is always unnerving.
Ultimately the decision does not matter. You can either choke the O'Driscoll to death or leave him to freeze in the cold, whatever is best for Arthur's character.
5 Main Missions Or Every Mission
This choice is not one the game presents the player, but rather a decision the player makes about the game. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a long and expansive game with a lot to do, and a lot of players will find the decision difficult to stick to the main story or to also try and do all the side quests, such as stranger missions.
Should you stick to the main story, you complete Arthur's story and beyond much quicker, allowing for a lot of free-roaming and doing some extra stuff afterward, bu you do miss out on a lot of things. The opposite happens if you choose to do it all.
4 Absolve Debt Or Absolve Debt With Extra?
In the penultimate money-lending mission, Arthur learns that Arthur Londonderry has died, with his wife revealing it was all down to trying to pay back Arthur. The choice is then given to either absolve the debt or provide them with some money, a harrowing choice with neither outcome feeling good.
Should you absolve it, the wife thanks you and says that Arthur should have done it before her husband worked himself into the grave. She adds that maybe Arthur and Strauss should rethink the way they do things. Should you give her money, the same happens, added honor and all, with the addition of the wife calling Arthur a good man.
3 Help Rains Fall Or Dismiss Rains Fall?
There are a few straightforward choices regarding helping people in Red Dead 2, such as assisting Sadie with the O'Driscolls. But one that is a bit harder is whether or not to help Rains Fall. While it is clear Dutch is a madman, he clearly does not want you to help Rains Fall, and Arthur even says it is not his fight which, in a lot of people, creates a drawn-out thought process over whether to help Charles with Rains Fall or not.
Should you help Rains Fall, your honor increases, and you can do a series of missions revolving around helping him and the tribe. Should you not, then these missions do not happen.
2 John Or Money?
The most significant in-game choice comes at the end of the main story. At the very end of Arthur's story you get the opportunity to either help John get to safety and his family, or return to camp for the money that lies there.
Should you help John, you get an honor boost, and you help him to safety by holding off Pinkertons before a final encounter with Dutch and Micah. Should you go back for the money, you have a final confrontation with Micah and Dutch that does not end well.
1 High Honor Or Dishonor?
The biggest and hardest decision players of Red Dead 2 have to make is whether to play through with high honor, or low honor. It has a massive impact on the game, especially in the latter parts.
The dialogue between characters changes depending on how high or low your honor is. On top of that, cutscenes will show a dark wolf should you be a deplorable outlaw, and a sunlit deer if you are a good-hearted man. In the endings, should you be typically bad, you are ingloriously killed by Micah, whereas if you have high honor, you die looking into the sunrise.