Even thoughRed Dead Revolveris the first entry in theRed Deadseries, it is the game most fans have skipped over. As the earliestRed Deadgame,Revolverhas the most dated gameplay, and sinceRed Dead Redemptionis only a spiritual successor and not a direct sequel, it’s not essential to play to understand the story in eitherRedemptiongame. However,Revolveris important in that it establishes the themes and character archetypes that will be explored inRedemption.Examining the ways in whichRedemptionbuilds onRevolverand how elements of both games contributed to major trends in gaming reveals where theRed Deadseries may go next.
Red Dead Revolverwas originally released in 2004 to mixed reviews, and the game had been canceled and then later revived by Rockstar before this. Had the game never been released, one of Rockstar’s strongest franchises wouldn’t exist. While it was 2010’sRed Dead Redemptionthat truly solidified the series as one of Rockstar’s biggest,Revolveris Rockstar’s first foray into a genre and style of game that would prove to be hugely successful. Not only is theRed Deadfranchise part of a long history of Western-inspired games, but it also contributes to the growing trends of large, open-world games set in nature and morality systems in gaming.
RELATED:10 Gaming Heroes With The Coolest Last Lines
Fatherhood is a huge theme in allRed Deadgames, andRed Dead Revolversets the tone for how this topic will be explored in the future. InRevolver,protagonist Red Harlow seeks revenge for his parents' murder, equipped with his father Nate’s revolver. Not only is this where the series gets its name, but Red’s quest to avenge a parent becomes a repeated motif throughout the series. More broadly,Revolverwas released just before thenoticeable trend of father figures in gamingpicked up steam (as seen inBioShock, Heavy Rain, The Last of Us, God of War,etc.). Now referred to as the “daddening” of video games,Revolverpresented an easily adaptable formula for exploring this topic.
WhileRed DeadRevolverhas Red avenging his father in the lawless Old West,Redemptionsimply switched the motivation to a father, John, trying to rescue and protect his child (while having some major issues with his own father figure, Dutch). Although fatherhood has long been a central theme in Westerns,Revolverset the stage for a game specifically exploring fatherhood in the Old West. As more and more father figures appeared as protagonists of popular games,Revolver’s formulaof fatherhood being routed in vengeance, legacy, and lawlessness was utilized to makeRedemptionas successful as it was.Red Dead Redemption 2continues many of these themes,as Dutch acts as a father figure to Arthur and John, while Jack is again presented as the child that a father must protect.
Natural World
Red Dead Revolverwas not an open-world game, but it did establish a setting that would work perfectly as an open-world inRed Dead Redemption.Since the Old West is full of evocative imagery centered around natural landscapes,Revolverestablished a world that was not only fun to explore, but also fit with the growing trend of open-world games set in the natural world such asDeath Stranding,Fallout,andAssassin’s Creed. All of these games have established societies and infrastructure, but the player can easily leave these areas to explore a world untouched by mankind.
Red Dead Revolveralso explores questions of good and evil and establishes morally gray characters. This gray morality is thenquantified in the Honor Systemfor later games.Red Dead Redemptionwas then able to take the themes and gameplayRevolverhad established and pull from popular trends to makeRed Deadinto one of Rockstar’s most popular properties. The change of characters didn’t really matter in the spiritual successor, as they mainly serve as explorations of the same topics: the relationship between father and son and an exploration of morality. This leaves futureRed Deadgames open to explore different stories with new characters, though the themes established inRevolverwill surely persist.
Red Dead Revolver wasreleased in 2004 for PS2 and Xbox.
MORE:How Every Red Dead Redemption 2 Character Reacts to Arthur Morgan’s Death
