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‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ Release Date Announced, But Somebody Do Something About That Name

By Cal Jeffrey
Published on: 08:37 PST, Oct 19, 2016

Rockstar Games has officially announced a Red Dead Redemption 2 release date. The forever rumored sequel to the 2010 smash hit, Red Dead Redemption, will finally see the light of day in 2017. Rockstar was clever about the way they announced the game.

Over the last few days, the development studio posted a series of mysterious tweets. The first, posted on Sunday, was nothing more than a black Rockstar logo on a splotchy red backdrop. There was something familiar about the background, though, and fans were quick to start speculating that Rockstar was getting ready to announce a Red Dead sequel.

Then on Monday, the team posted an image with the same splotchy red canvas, but this time, featuring seven silhouetted figures walking with the sun behind them. Even though no detail could be made out, it was unmistakable. The background had been used in several Red Dead Redemption promotional pieces, as well as the art for the game’s box cover. Fans immediately knew that Rockstar had just unofficially announced a new game in the franchise.

This tease was a big deal as the game has been rumored for years with no official word about it even being in development. Rockstar did an excellent job keeping the lid on production. While there were a few supposed leaks and rumors about it, the Inquisitr reported that none of the stories were considered reliable.

“Rumors of a Red Dead Redemption sequel have been circulating on the internet since at least 2014. The rumors have never been substantiated and were mostly based on second or third-party information. The sources have rarely sounded reliable, and the information they have provided has always turned out to be wrong.”

Understandably, the posting of the image had fans freaking out. The developers had all but just admitted that the game was in production, then they released the final tweet yesterday.

It is now official. Red Dead Redemption 2’s release date is the Fall of 2017. It is rather vague, but fans will take it.

However, the title Red Dead Redemption 2 seems a bit out of place. This game will be the third in the franchise, not the second. The first was titled Red Dead Revolver. The 2010 sequel was titled Red Dead Redemption. So it seems strange to be calling it Red Dead Redemption 2 as if the series started with the second game.

At one point it was rumored that the title would be Red Dead Revolution. Someone even went to the trouble of mocking up official looking images to support the bogus rumor.

The most recent rumor on the name came earlier this year when Fraghero reported that an anonymous former Rockstar employee claimed that a sequel was in production and would be announced at E3. The informant said the game would be titled Red Dead Redemption 2: Legends Of The West. The statement about the E3 announcement was wrong, and as for now, the assertion about the name seems to be incorrect as well. In fact, it appears that there is real evidence to suggest that the Red Dead Redemption 2 title is a placeholder title, and the final name of the game will be Red Dead Retribution.

According to YouTuber YongYea, an inspection of the elements on the Rockstar website revealed that the company had references to two pages on its domain. One page is titled /reddeadredemption2, which is the current announcement page for the game. The other is titled /reddeadretribution. Going to this address just fetches a 404 page not found error.

On the one hand, Red Dead Retribution certainly fits into the previous naming scheme of the franchise. On the other hand, Yong points out that Red Dead Redemption was not a direct sequel to Red Dead Revolver. The first game was the story of a character named Red Harlow, while the follow-up was the story of John Marston. The men were two completely independent personalities.

Rockstar is remaining tight-lipped on details regarding the story in the new game. However, the ending of Red Dead Redemption led players to believe that there would be a spin-off to the Marston storyline. If this holds true, then perhaps Red Dead Redemption 2 would be the most appropriate title with Retribution being reserved for an entirely different wild west tale.

Square Enix broke a similar naming convention in the same way with Final Fantasy X-2. They wanted to continue the story of Yuna from Final Fantasy X, something that Square Enix had never done before. So they named it X-2 instead of XI.

Although Rockstar Games has revealed very few details, the company has said that the game will be multiplayer.

“Developed by the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America’s unforgiving heartland. The game’s vast and atmospheric world will also provide the foundation for a brand new online multiplayer experience.”

This information provides no hints as to the storyline of the campaign mode. However, perhaps we will not have to wait long to get a small glimpse of the story. According to the official website and yesterday’s tweet, a trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 will be released tomorrow, October 20, 2016, at 11 a.m. EDT. It is very likely that we will get a peek at a bit of the narrative or perhaps a look at the protagonist. Marston and his grown son looked almost identical, so fans will be able to determine immediately if it is a continuation of the Marston legend or an entirely new adventure.

[Featured Image by daniel.ro27 | Flickr | CC BY-SA 2.0]

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