Rockstar Games’ magnum opus of this generation -next to Grand Theft Auto 5- is now out and available for all of us open-world action adventure fans. The game is getting phenomenal praises from critics and game streamers. We’re still on it because the game is really, REALLY huge and detailed.

What we can do instead is offer a guide for the game, at least for the numerous parts we’ve played so far. From basic level stuff to even fishing tidbits, we’ll be posting and updating this guide from time to time.

So yeah, this feature is still in development. With that said, let’s get started.

Tip & Tricks To Get You Going

-Get used to the controls. RDR2 is by no means a perfect game, gameplay-wise. Your controls are a tad floaty and loose, and the gunplay requires some effort moreso than usual.

-Keep auto-aim turned on. It’s ok; no one’s going to judge you.  You may have to practice without it when Red Dead Online surfaces this November.

-Don’t rush. Red Dead Redemption 2 is an Old West simulation with action tossed in for good measure. Rockstar took years and people’s sanity/willpower to deliver this in-depth experience, and the last thing they want is for you to just blaze through it.

-Loot, loot, loot. Loot everyone and everything that isn’t tied down. As you progress through chapters, you’ll come across a lot of dead bodies courtesy of your wicked gunplay. Take your time looting; you’ll be $50 richer and have your bullet satchels filled. You’ll learn to love making those black Xs on your minimap grey, and you’ll be well-stocked and richer for it.

Just make sure not to loot the corpses of innocent bystanders.

-Don’t buy guns. You’ll get almost every main type of gun in the game for free through story missions, so it’s rarely worth it to spend your precious cowboy bucks on a gun. Save your gun-money for customizations, which you should definitely pay for. Particularly for things like sights and rifling that improve each weapon’s performance.

You should also save up for upgrade accessories like the bandolier, which increase your ammo capacity.

-Don’t worry about money. Arthur is nearly broke for the first bit of the game, and everything seems really expensive. Just keep playing story missions, and pretty quickly you’ll have more money to start getting better gear. Once you do, the game opens up a bit, since it becomes easier to pay off your bounties and buy whatever you want in stores. Plus you’ll be looting a lot.

-Level up your horse: Your horse is basically your buddy, your partner, your soulmate in the world of RDR2. Don’t worry about upgrading to a better horse. It’s usually better to just befriend and tame the one you have for now. At least until you save up enough to get an elite horse.

-Take your time upgrading your camp. During Chapter 2, you’ll unlock the camp’s ledger which lets you upgrade various parts of the camp. Take your time to accumulate the money needed for the upgrades, but only if you think it’s necessary and if it isn’t redundant to your style of looting.

The chicken coop will give you a dead eye boost via the camp stew, but if you looted like a mofo, you should have ample tobacco to keep it full. Best you save money for a more specific camp upgrade, right?

-Our camp upgrade recommendations: Dutch’s tent and Arthur’s tent ($545 total) for a fast travel upgrade that doesn’t involve stagecoaches and trains, and Pearson’s leather working tools ($225) to gain access to a bigger satchel for your looting.

-Get used to your weapon wheel. You have access to the following: sidearms, fists, knives, longarm back, throwables, and longarm shoulder. Plan what you need to carry before going into a mission. If you’re doing stealth, think about equipping a bow and not much else. If you’re going into a gunfight, use a long-ranged and short-ranged longarm to sort your options.

-Hold down the menu button to go straight to the map. The map in Red Dead 2 may seem like it can only be accessed through the pause menu, but you can get to it faster by holding down the start/options button.

-Weapons-wise? Bring a shotgun if you want to kill things really well. They are effective AF. Later on, you’ll unlock a second pistol holster that lets you carry a second pistol. We recommend dual wielding two revolvers at once. They are also pretty handy. Take cover before you reload, though, because it takes a minute.

Red Dead Redemption 2’s Cores & Rings

Red Dead Redemption 2’s way of dealing with stats is a little different than most Rockstar games. You have three to manage: health, stamina, and dead eye. Health lets you take more damage, stamina lets you sprint for longer, and dead eye slows down time to let you take better shots. Let’s break it down.

–Each core you have contains a ring. Let’s use the stamina core as an example. When you start out, you have a small chunk of a ring outside your stamina core. When you sprint, you drain the ring. When the ring is empty, you start draining the core.

–Your health core drains over time, even when you’re not doing a thing. If you are wearing summer clothes in 3 feet of snow, your core will drain fast. If you did not eat enough, your core will drain fast too.

–The ring can regenerate over time, but the core cannot. Think of the cores as emergency reserves: once you use up the ring, your cores get drained. When you can find the opportunity to replenish your rings, you should do so.

-Furthermore, the regeneration rate of your rings is dependant on your cores. If your cores are full, they regenerate faster.

–To refill cores and rings, you use Provisions for the former and Tonics for the latter. Provisions are meant as maintenance items while Tonics are immediate short-term boosts. Protip: sleep at campfires or at any bed to restore your cores.

-The deadeye ring doesn’t refill over time; you need to kill people and animals to refill it. Protip: chew tobacco to keep your deadeye ring full. If you looted corpses like we asked you to, you should have an ample supply of it.

-Another protip: certain items can fortify rings. That means the item will turn the ring into a complete yellow circle that doesn’t drain for a few moments. The better the Tonic, the better the fortifying effects.

-So how do you increase your rings? Simple: do stuff. If you run a lot,  you’ll earn stamina XP and level up your stamina ring. Hunt and skin animals to get ring points for your dead eye and health. If you are familiar with the Elder Scrolls series of leveling up skills, you’ll get the hang of RDR2’s ring-upgrading system.

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