Westerns To Play While Waiting For RDR3 To Release

Red Dead Redemption 2 became an unrelenting success in the gaming industry, but with its sequel nowhere to be found, players should turn to other Westerns while they wait for RDR3‘s release date. The Wild West genre is a popular adaptation in the gaming world, with Rockstar’s Red Dead series paving the way for open-world phenomenons. Heavily inspired by various cowboy characters and movies that came before them, RDR and RDR2 aren’t the only Wild West stories that provide players with hundreds of hours of content. While none might be as polished as the recent Red Dead Redemption 2, each offers a unique experience for franchise fans.

Red Dead Redemption 2 released in 2018 and acted as a prequel to RDR1. Players controlled Arthur Morgan in the main story, a legendary gunslinger in the Van der Linde gang. After a botched robbery in Blackwater, the gang goes on the run and struggles to maintain their way of life in an increasingly civilized world. As Arthur struggles with his morality and mortality, players are forced to make decisions that reflect Arthur’s Honor level. As the Van der Linde gang falls apart, Arthur desperately tries to ensure John and his family’s survival. RDR2 also introduces many characters that could feature in RDR3, like Hosea Matthews, Sadie Adler, and Charles Smith.

There is much speculation surrounding Red Dead Redemption 3‘s story, characters, and setting, but Rockstar Games has given no official statement concerning the outlaw series. Other titles like GTA V and GTA Online are likely to release before Rockstar’s RDR3, forcing Western players to turn to different IPs to occupy themselves. Thankfully, there are dozens of high-quality Wild West games with riveting stories, moving characters, and heartbreaking adventures reminiscent of a simpler era. Since Red Dead Redemption 3‘s release date likely won’t be announced for a while, many titles can present a unique, new experience for RDR2 fans in the meantime.

Hard West Rivals Red Dead Redemption’s Single Story

Unlike RDR2‘s open-world adventure design, Hard West is a strategy game whose story quality resonates with Rockstar’s cowboy adventure. In Hard West, players experience eight unique scenarios with dozens of memorable characters, all bound together by a mysterious stranger (likely the Devil). The player is offered a chance to claim vengeance for the death of their family, a drive eerily similar to John Marston’s from the first Red Dead Redemption game. However, Hard West utilizes a more supernatural twist, with each character granted an extraordinary power from the Devil. While the game isn’t an open-world spectacle like RDR, players can still visit towns, buy items, and make decisions with long-lasting effects that impact the character’s morality.

Call Of Juarez: Gunslinger Players With Unreliable Narrators

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is likely the closest to Red Dead Redemption 2‘s gameplay and mechanics. The Call of Juarez series features some of the greatest Western-themed games in the modern era. Gunslinger features unique mechanics that make its combat exhilarating. Like Red Dead Redemption‘s Deadeye ability, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger features a unique low-health mechanic that allows players to avoid death. When players are about to die, the world turns black and white, slows, and allows clever players to dodge bullets.

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger‘s duels also utilize exciting mechanics that encourage players to strategize their shot for several moments before the fight occurs. These gameplay mechanics make an already astounding Western narrative that shifts with Silas Greaves’ storytelling. Players are liable to experience a total level shift depending on how Silas tells a story and how his listeners interject. RDR fans are in for a beautiful, unique storytelling experience with exciting mechanics reminiscent of Rockstar’s franchise while adding its own entertaining twists, so it’s worth checking out while waiting for RDR3′s release date.

Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath Mixes Aliens And Westerns

Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath introduces sci-fi themes into the traditional western story told by Red Dead Redemption. Players control an alien known as the Stranger, who hunts outlaws and other bounties across the Mongo River Valley to pay for a mysterious surgery. Like Red Dead Redemption, third-person and first-person options are allowed, though first-person is far more appropriate for shooter mechanics. The Stranger uses a strange crossbow that fires live animals, with players forced to set up traps to capture additional animals to help defeat their enemies. Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath provides a unique twist on the Wild West genre, expanding its enjoyment by lightyears despite its cartoonish characters and setting.

Fallout: New Vegas Is An Apocalyptic Western

Fallout: New Vegas is the best Fallout game in the franchise and heavily resembles a Wild West narrative in a post-apocalyptic setting. Aside from the Romans and irradiated monsters, Fallout: New Vegas provides players with a classic revenge story throughout the Mojave Wasteland. Originally sent as a courier, players are nearly killed by Benny, an ambitious businessman and kingpin of New Vegas.

The endless roleplaying opportunities beat out Red Dead Redemption‘s occasional roleplay interactions, replacing them with a meaningful (and fluid) Karma meter that impacts gameplay. Fallout: New Vegas utilizes futuristic weaponry to break away from the monotonous collection of revolvers and rifles present in most Western titles. The ability to modify weaponry to a unique playstyle also ensures players won’t become bored of their loadout. Looting fellow enemies and utilizing different damage types keep combat fresh, all without losing the Western charm that makes New Vegas a refreshing outlaw adventure.

Darkwatch Revives RDR’s Undead Nightmare Aesthetic

Red Dead Redemption 2 didn’t include Undead Nightmare, despite various hints throughout Red Dead Online that may have hinted toward its existence. Thankfully, Darkwatch provides a similarly supernatural-themed Western adventure game for fans that miss the Undead Nightmare expansion. Darkwatch follows the tale of a wanted outlaw named Jericho Cross, who is conscripted by a vampire-hunting organization after freeing a powerful vampire named Lazarus. However, as the game progresses, it becomes clear that Jericho is turning into a vampire himself. The darker storyline running parallel to 1800s society introduces unique twists to the traditional Western storyline. Like Red Dead Redemption, Jericho is an outlaw character who can eventually redeem himself and become the hero of his ‘gang’ and the West.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a fantastic outlaw story that provides players with a twisted narrative of justice and honor while covering the end of the outlaw era. Discovering how John Marston became the character he is in the original Red Dead Redemption is a heartwrenching experience, and Red Dead Redemption 3 is sure to deliver an adventure of similar emotional scope. However, other Wild West games provide similar adventures with exciting twists, characters, worlds, and genres. Restricting likes and dislikes based on a franchise robs gamers of amazing experiences offered by other IPs and developers, and the listed Westerns provide players with hundreds of hours of enjoyable content.

About The Author

Natalie Lindner
(499 Articles Published)

Natalie Lindner is a Game Features Writer for Screen Rant, creating content on the past, present, and future of games in the industry. Prior to this, she worked out of a writing consultancy in Rhode Island from 2018 to 2021, where she helped college students improve their writing abilities. Natalie has contributed her video game writing to several smaller websites and projects since 2018 and is eager to continue that journey with Screen Rant.

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Working out of New Hampshire, Natalie spends the time she isn’t writing about games outside; hiking or biking. On those rainy days, she can be found striving for action on the latest FPS or perusing the latest comic books.

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