While many people were waiting for Rockstar’s next announcement to be about the “GTA” franchise, the company surprised everyone by posting a few tweets which, while lacking any specific statements, left no doubt about their meaning.
The developer is clearly preparing for a major release related to the “Red Dead” franchise, and it’s pretty clear at this point that we’re about to see “Red Dead Redemption 2”. One of the teasers posted by the company shows seven characters standing together, although the exact meaning of the message is not clear.
Some fans immediately took it as a hint that the game might get multiplayer support, while others are convinced that it’s related to new characters being added to the story. Rockstar themselves haven’t said anything specific about the image.
In fact, all the studio is doing right now is posting cryptic-looking pictures related to the franchise, with no explanation attached to any of them. Some fans also quickly noticed that the studio seems to be making those posts at the same time every day, so there are probably more announcements coming up to keep everyone excited.
And as can be expected, most fans’ reaction to the news was along the lines of “it’s about time”. It’s been quite a while since we last saw anything in the franchise, and there was a lot of speculation about Rockstar’s potential plans for it in the last year, although we never got any official information.
Some publications seem to have rather odd ideas about the game. For example, we’ve seen at least one analysis on the possibility of seeing a modern-themed “Red Dead”. As can be expected, the idea immediately drew a lot of criticism from gamers, as many seemed opposed to the huge change.
It makes sense too – “Red Dead Redemption” actually had the joking nickname “GTA With Horses” among some of its fans. It wasn’t said in a negative way though, it was just a funny way to point out the obvious similarities between the two.
In that context, it would make no sense for the next “Red Dead” to actually have a modern theme, as that would make it just another “GTA” in the eyes of many. However, this was just the opinion of one critic (or rather, a group of critics at the moment), so it doesn’t make much sense for fans to get upset over the suggestion.
In fact, we’re probably going to see plenty of other seemingly outlandish ideas being brought up leading up to the game’s release. It’s a popular title and it’s definitely going to draw lots of comments from all over the place, so fans should prepare to read some things that might provoke them in wrong ways.
Those who feel like they’re going to be bothered by this should just ignore the rumor mill until the game actually comes out though, although this might be a bit more difficult with this title as compared to others. Its popularity means that it will be quite hard to avoid discussions and speculation about it online in the coming weeks.
On the other hand, those who want to raise their voice about what they want to see in the next game have the perfect opportunity right now. It’s pretty much guaranteed that Rockstar are following those discussions and streams and will be paying at least some attention to what fans have to say.