According to a historian, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an extraordinary achievement, yet it tells stories rooted in an era that doesn’t quite match the year in which the game is set.

Players remember Red Dead Redemption 2 for many reasons: its expansive open world, memorable characters, powerful story, and unforgettable ending. Until the arrival of GTA 6, it remains Rockstar Games’ most recent landmark release, one that players continue to revisit years later to uncover secrets or analyze its themes. This time, however, the game has been examined through a historical lens, revealing that while it excels in many areas, it stumbles when it comes to chronology.

Historian Tore C. Olsson, who has even taught a university course centered on Red Dead Redemption 2, argues that many of the game’s conflicts and characters draw inspiration from events that took place decades before 1899, the year in which the story unfolds. In his book Red Dead History, based on years of research into the series and the cultural impact of Rockstar’s games, Olsson highlights how several narrative elements align more closely with the 1870s than the closing years of the 19th century.

Red Dead Redemption 2 Scores High, but Not Everywhere

One of Olsson’s clearest examples is Dutch Van der Linde’s gang, which echoes groups such as that of Jesse James. According to the historian, real outlaws of the era were far more ruthless and sometimes even collaborated with organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. By contrast, many gang members in the game are portrayed as empathetic, charitable, and deeply loyal to one another, a depiction that differs sharply from historical reality. The same applies to the struggles of Native Americans defending their land and rights: characters like Rain Falls and Eagle Flies reflect genuine conflicts, but ones that largely occurred earlier.

Olsson explains that setting the story in 1899 was likely a narrative necessity, allowing the game to connect directly with its predecessor. If the story had taken place decades earlier, John Marston, protagonist of the first Red Dead Redemption, would have been a child. To preserve continuity, Rockstar opted to compress multiple social and historical conflicts into a later period, sacrificing strict accuracy in favor of a richer dramatic arc.

Even so, the historian emphasizes that Red Dead Redemption 2 was never meant to be a purely historical work. Instead, it stands as a remarkable blend of researched detail and creative fiction. He adds that it would be intriguing to compare it with a title like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which openly prioritizes historical realism as a core design principle.

Source: GamePro