If you are a lost sheep, this shepherd will definitely help you find your way in RDR2 with his Beginners Tips and Tricks. Our Red Dead Redemption 2 Beginners Tips and Tricks will try to be pretty precise and accurate but there is always a margin for error. Please proceed with a pint of salt.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Beginners Tips and Tricks
Red Dead Redemption 2 is an amazing open-world game with a lot to do, so, naturally, a person can get confused considering the amount of material available in the game.
We have tried to compile a list of some tricks that we learned during our experience in the game.
These RDO tips and tricks were rather useful to us because we were able to get much better at the game due to them.
Some of the tricks might have helped us but you might already know. If you know something more about this game, please let us know in the comments section. However, do remember: “Pint of Salt”.
Maintain your Health
Okay, the first thing you should know about RDR 2 is that even though the game is a sandbox open-world action shooter, it feels more like a Wild West simulator.
The game has much realism involved. Of course, this includes the fact that your character, Arthur ya boi, is supposed to be a human being. Moreover, like all human beings, he must eat, sleep and exercise.
This will affect every aspect of your gameplay, too, so be sure to maintain your health as much as possible. Some of the things you should know to maintain your health are:
A Perfect Balance
Eat food if you want Arthur to stay healthy and keep his health and stamina bar up. Eat too much and you’ll get fat. If you get fat, you’ll gain some health but lose considerable amounts of stamina.
The Weather Affects!
Ye, you heard it right. If you’re fat in the summer, you’ll see Arthur draining his HP faster than normal. However, if you’re fat in the winter, things might take a turn.
Regardless, staying fit will be the best option, for both health and stamina.
Take it slow
Like all relationships, this game also needs some time to be enjoyed completely. It would be an injustice to speed through the game without admiring its beauty.
Take it as a long term relationship instead of a one night stand. If you play like this, this game will be much more rewarding and you will discover a lot that you would’ve missed in the first place.
Don’t leave Un-looted
Whenever and I mean whenever you fight and take someone out you need to loot whatever is on them. If you do, there will not be a time when you will be looking to collect anything for something you need.
You will already have it. The looting shouldn’t be limited to only bodies, you should check every cabinet, drawer, wardrobe and it would yield you money, ammo, and much more.
The Camera Angle
Using different camera angles will help you a lot in making most of a situation and it will make things easier.
Whenever you are in a closed space like indoors, use first-person views as it will be easier to track this way and when taking long rides, use cinematic mode to make the ride more memorable.
Listen to your Heart
If you want to do a mission, do it. You would find tasks to do by going to the yellow dots on your maps but as I said above, there is no need to hurry.
The main missions are not going anywhere, instead, just travel, find a town, sit by the campfire, and enjoy yourself.
But if the game is telling you to not go somewhere, don’t as there is a high chance you will be killed if you do.
Cores improve with time
Your health, stamina, and dead eye would improve with time as you gain XP. Earning XP will help you out through the game increasing your total health and you would be able to run for longer and shoot better for longer. Also, tobacco will improve your dead eye as well.
The Weapon Wheel
The weapon wheel will contain weapons or equipment that you would be able to use quickly. Whenever you are going into a mission, you have to sort of manage your loadout by checking your horse’s saddlebags.
Take the weapons that would be best for that specific task and it would be beneficial for you.
Don’t show your face
This is kind of a given, whenever you are about to do something that goes against the law, use the bandana so that you cannot be identified later.
Weapons
Weapons are the main part of this action-shooter game (Who would’ve guessed, huh). Visit your local Gunsmith for a catalog on all the weapons that can be bought and used at your current skill level.
Some weapons cost more than the others did. Be sure to stack up a lot of money if you wish to get better armor. Your arsenal is directly affected by your inventory. The Gunsmith will also have equipment upgrades that are a useful part of the game.
Equipment Upgrades will help you carry more ammunition, and slow the degradation of weapons. Even better equipment can be bought from the Trapper store. He will require both money and crafting materials though.
Types of Weapons
Ye, there are a ton of weapons in the game. Some of the types include:
- Pistols: Hold good amount of ammo and can be reloaded quickly.
- Revolvers: Hold less ammo than Pistols but have huge damage per bullet.
- Repeaters: Faster than rifles but less accuracy and damage
- Rifles: Perfect blend between damage and fire rate. Snipers may also be included
- Shotguns: Amazing at close-combat but not very effective at medium to high range.
- Bow & Arrow: Best weapons for a stealthy gameplay, and hunting.
- Throwing Knives, Tomahawks & More: Best if you just want to throw stuff at enemies.
- Melee: For brawling. Knives and hatchets can be found in the game.
- Lasso: For incapacitating enemies immediately, use a Lasso.
Ammunition
There are several types of ammunition for each type of weapon in the game. Ammunition can be bought from Gunsmiths or General Stores. They can also be crafted, looted from dead enemies, or found randomly in the world.
- High Velocity cartridges are used for sniping and hunting. They travel farther and pierce an enemy with a higher velocity and power.
- Split Point cartridges are used for a better aim and less Deadeye drain.
- Express cartridges are upgraded versions of a standard cartridge, rewarding you with more damage, for a higher price point.
- Explosive cartridges contain super powerful ammo that will explode on impact, dealing a great deal of damage to an enemy, or enemies.
- Small Game Arrows are a type of arrow that allow better damage control for hunting. They’re accurate and precise.
- Poison Arrows are another type of arrows that will slowly deal damage to a target that you hurt.
- Fire Arrows deal fire damage on impact.
- Dynamite Arrows explode on impact, dealing a lot of damage.
Animals Hunter Simulator
You can find out more information on animals in the Animals Section of the Compendium. The compendium will tell you everything you need to know about animals, so be sure to follow that if you wish to become a better hunter.
Always read the book before hunting a new type of animal. The compendium has a lot of tactics on how to hunt an animal and the type of behavior an animal may exhibit upon contact.
Some meat is better than the rest, so don’t be afraid to hunt the bigger animals. They will reward you with more money. Although taking them home will be a grind.
Use a Bow
Use a bow for the best efficiency when hunting an animal. Bows are clean weapons that shoot arrows. Arrows deal a lot of damage to skin and leave little marks when removed. Plus, bows are relatively silent.
Mask your Scent
Some animals in the wild will react to your smell, so be sure to mask your smell with special tonics that you can buy from a vendor. You can also craft a smell tonic if you know how that is.
Hit a Bath
Masking your scent is good and all but don’t forget to take a bath regularly. Getting too close to animals can be a bad thing. For the animals.
Attract
You can attract an animal’s attention by pressing the Square button on a Playstation controller or the X button on the Xbox controller. The animal will raise its head. Take your aim and shoot at its head. BOOM. Headshot!
Experience the Westworld
You can immerse yourself in Westworld by turning off all the in-game maps. You can download the companion app on Google Play Store or iOS store for a better experience.
The companion app will become a better experience if you have a phone. Regardless of whether you have a phone or not, you can also turn off all in-game maps by holding down button on the directional pad and opting out of mini-map.
You will notice and rely on the world around you for a better gaming experience. The world will become more forthcoming in explaining itself to you.
The characters you’re riding with will give you hunts to where you are right now. This will make a natural and a very authentic way to play RDR2. Of course, you can re-enable the mini-map by holding down button on the directional pad.
Campfire
When you’re experiencing the world, you will notice some smoke in the sky. The smoke will usually lead to a campfire which can be raided or visited for supplies and people. After all, nothing like finding people in the middle of nowhere, right?
Public Transport
Use a public transport whenever you can if you’ve opted out of the experience. There are usually taxi coaches for public transport. The train is the classic experience for the Wild Wild West, though. Such a delight!
Fast-Travel
Apparently, if you purchase a map after upgrading Dutch’s quarters in the camp, you will be able to fast-travel to certain locations you have previously visited in the game.
Horse is your Kouhai
I’m being a little bit carried away here but still, horses are amazing companions in the Wild West.
You can deepen your bond with your horse by positive reinforcement. If you compliment your horse on doing stuff, you will bond with it. After all, what Kouhai doesn’t like when their senpai notices them?!
You can compliment your horse once every 15 seconds or so. Spam it if you like, and you will have bonded with your horse and reached a level no other horse-rider has ever reached, in no time!
Additionally, you can buy horses from the Ranch, upgrade or change their appearance. You may also find some horses in the wild that you can tame.
Bonding: Why it Matters
If you bond further with your horse, you will be able to use more abilities and it will become more relentless against people who try to steal it from you. Some of the skills you may obtain after bonding are as follows:
- At Bonding Level 2, you will unlock the ability to Rear.
- At Bonding Level 3, you will unlock the abilities of Skid Turn and Skid Stop.
- Finally, at Bonding Level 4, you will be able to perform a Piaffe and also drift.
Autopilot your Horse
You can autopilot (the closest word I can find, don’t judge me okay?) your horse if you set a target on the map. This will effectively make moving to a certain location easier because you won’t be doing anything.
You will also be able to enjoy the scenery of the game. That is a good experience, isn’t it?
Tips for your Horse-chan
- If you tap the X button on your Playstation controller or A button on your Xbox controller, in conjunction with your horse’s gallops, you will be able to save a great deal of stamina.
- Use autopilot for the best experience. You can also use the cinematic camera for a definitive view.
Tips and Tricks
There are several tricks that didn’t fall into any of the categories, so we have decided to add them to the extra tips category:
- Long press the Start button to directly enter the Map. It will save you a considerable deal of time.
- You can switch between four camera positions. Choose the one you like the most.
- You can always switch on “Assisted Aim” for better aiming. Head to Settings > Controls and toggle this option.
- If you are suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome or any other strains on your hands, you can enable “Tap Assist”. This will greatly decrease the number of taps certain occasions will need.
- If you fail any mission three times, the game will offer you to skip that checkpoint.
- While focusing on your horse, you can feed it by pressing the right directional pad button. Similarly, pressing the left directional pad button will enable you to brush it.
- Sleep at a camp, or at a hotel to restore your health and save your progress. You can set camps even in the wilderness.
- Meet Strangers in the game that have a big ‘?’ above their head. They will give you Stranger’s Missions.
- Fences are people that will buy stolen goods from you. Do note that they are shady people and like to stay in the dark. If you are wanted, the Fences will prefer to not talk to you.
- Your satchel holds your provisions, kit, documents, and other items. Access it by pressing the right directional pad button.
- Do the time-limited missions that appear with a white marker around the camp. They disappear after some time.
- Save yourself precious money by buying only the better weapons in the game. Progress in the story and the story will award you with a handsome amount of cash for you to spend on. Think smart.
- If you are trying to rob a bank or something, always shoot a warning shot in the air. Some people may get scared and run away.
- Do a bullet jump by hitting the □ button on your PlayStation controller or X button on your Xbox controller while diving. You can use a bullet jump to reach safety faster.
- Fastest way to earn cash is to kill enemies and loot their fallen bodies. They are denoted by an ‘x’ on the map. Be sure to do missions solo, because your allies can loot the enemies too. And they won’t give back.
- If a civilian spots you committing a crime, they will try to report it to the law. Silence the witness by either killing them or threatening them by pressing the following key combination: L2 + Triangle on Playstation Controller or LT + Y button on Xbox Controller
- Minor crimes will make the witnesses and victims angry. Run away before they burn you at the stake. They might not even report it to the law.
- Flick your fishing rod to help attract fish, if you are not getting any. But don’t flick too much. You’ll scare the fishes away. Fishing is a very important part and a ritual. Do NOT forget that.
- Fishes are affected by weather and time of the day. Some fishes are more active when it is raining, and during cloudy days.
