Dan Houser Didn’t Make Red Dead Redemption 2 ‘Totally Accurate’ for a Good Reason Despite What Purists Think

When Red Dead Redemption 2 was released in 2018, it didn’t just make the players excited – it captivated them with its immersive narrative and engaging gameplay, so much so that players felt that they were living in the late 1800s. From riding across barren lands to building relationships with fellow outlaws, the game felt real and reactive.

Despite its nearly immaculate depiction of the American frontier, Dan Houser wasn’t interested in making the game 100% historically accurate. Why, you ask? Because he didn’t want to bring up the uncomfortable aspect of history. His thought process was simple: This is a game and not a documentary, so he chose to leave out the unpleasant truths.

Houser Wanted to Craft a Meaningful Experience With Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2, in many aspects, is a complete game that offers something for every type of player. However, what makes the game stand out from its competition is its way of making the game world feel real. NPCs in the game don’t just wait for the player to interact with them, they are living their own lives.

A player’s every action has a consequence. The next time they meet the same characters, those characters will remember and respond accordingly. Rockstar built an AI system that allows characters to take in all the information (past actions, current actions, clothing, situation) to determine their response.

Due to this system, every action felt important, making players fully immersed in the historically accurate world. However, what many won’t know is that Dan Houser made a conscious decision not to pursue complete historical accuracy, particularly when it came to sensitive issues like racial and gender inequality. He said in an interview:

We wanted to illuminate, in a way that was interesting for a contemporary player, the late nineteenth century as this period of flux. It was oppressive when you look at what was going on.

While the game is set during an intense time in American history, and Rockstar wanted to reflect the struggles of the people, it also wanted to handle the topics with care. Houser said:

It may be a work of historical fiction, but it’s not a work of history. You want to allude to that stuff, but you can’t do it with 100 percent historical accuracy. It would be deeply unpleasant.

This statement shows that Houser knew portraying the history totally accurately, without nuance or care for the emotional weight of the topics, it would have detracted players from the game’s purpose.

The Importance of Storytelling Over Exact Replication

While some may argue that Red Dead Redemption 2 should have been more historically faithful, the decision to move beyond strict historical accuracy allowed Rockstar to craft a meaningful, immersive experience for everyone.

It’s not like the game shies away from tough subjects like inequality, but it does so in a way that encourages reflection without being exploitative. Finding the right balance between historical context and narrative freedom was crucial, and Rockstar did it perfectly.

Purists on the internet may feel that depicting a historically accurate story of the period is essential, but the game’s goal was never that. It was to provide players with a rich and complex world set in the 1800s where their actions truly matter.

In the end, Houser’s decision to leave some part of history in books may have irked some purists on the internet, but for many, it’s a big part of what makes the game such a masterpiece.