Being the biggest game of its kind to date, there is much to do in Red Dead Redemption 2. While it will be impossible to cover just about everything here, we are going to share what we think are some of the more pointers that players should know ahead of time in this Red Dead Redemption 2 Tips Guide.

I’ll buy it at a high price

As you journey about the vast land, you are bound to be robbing people and ransacking homes for valuables. The goods you get from your criminal activities are usually of high value but ordinary merchants just will not take them. To offload them, you are going to have to pay a visit to a Fence, who is in other words a black market dealer.

Located in places such as Emerald Ranch, Saint Denis and Rhodes, these merchants are found manning their own shop. And like any other merchant, they have their own wares to sell, and here you will find many unique items that cannot be bought anywhere else. Some fences even deal in stolen wagons and horses, which is a good source of revenue on their own. Whenever you hit a new locale, be sure to find your neighbourhood fence.

Horsing around

Horses are your primary means of transportation in the game, and while you can always head to your local stable to get yourself a ride, there is the option finding wild ones and taming them yourself. As the game already hints from time to time, approaching these beasts require that you calm them down first. Horses will not hesitate to be aggressive to strangers, so exercise full caution as you would with any other creature. Once you get close enough, pat the horse’s head and it will become your new friend. After that, it is a matter of treating your new horse as you would with any other.

Dodge this

As some of the gunfights can get rather frantic when you have to deal with multiple enemies at once, getting to cover is imperative. However, there will be more than one occasions where you will need to move from one point to another as your foes begin to swarm you. While running is a decent strategy, the best way to transition from one safe place to another is by diving or rolling. To do this, while aiming your weapon, hit ☐ on your PS4 controller or X on the Xbox One controller. Unlike Max Payne, another Rockstar title where you can shoot while dodging, the maneuver in Red Dead Redemption 2 is exclusively for evasive purposes.

Goody two shoes

While you are able to play the game in any way you like, Red Dead Redemption 2 does reward the honourable player with a lot more than if you were playing a nasty person. The immediate perk of being a good guy is the discounts afforded to you by stores. That said, do not worry too much about maintaining high honour, as it fairly easy to gain honour points. The easiest way is to simply walk down a crowded street in the city and greeting everyone. If you don’t feel like doing that, another way is to go fishing and letting go of your catch.

Running in circles

For better or for worse, Rockstar wants you to explore its beautifully-crafted world and has made fast travel a chore to unlock. The way to do that is upgrade your gang leader’s camp up to a certain point to unlock the option. Simply access the ledger once you have it from doing the debt collection mission at the start and you will be able to do so.

Bear in mind you will only be able to fast travel to locations which you have visited prior, and the best way to do that is to take the train to visit all the stops. You will want to do this as early as you can in the game as it opens up the map much faster, giving you access to sidequests that normally will only be available later.

Sharing is caring

Your gang is also your family, so improving everyone’s living conditions at camp should be a priority. Apart from feeling good about yourself and making your abode better, there is a gameplay purpose to it. As you wander around the world, you are bound to be spending a lot of consumables in terms of ammo and medication. Stocking up on these can be rather expensive if you buy them from stores. The most efficient way is to in fact upgrade select facilities at your own camp because you will be able to restock at home too for a fair amount of money.

Go to Jail, Do Not Collect 200

If you find yourself becoming a wanted man, sometimes serving jail time is not necessarily a bad idea. There are several wanted levels and the highest is when you are wanted dead or alive. Playing the game at this stage will be incredibly difficult as everyone will shoot you on sight. The goal here is to serve your time before it reaches that point. One other benefit of being behind bars is that doing so restores your cores back to full. The best way to go about this is to first donate all your money to the camp so you don’t need to actually pay off your own bounty or have it confiscated. After that, head over to town and have a lawman arrest you accordingly.

Hold ’em Up

By default, you will start the game by having only one holster which carries one pistol or revolver. You can have another rather early in the game by completing a Master Hunter challenge which involves skinning three deer. Once you have accomplished that, simply go back to the Trapper and get your second holster. The ability of having a second gun with you at all times will definitely improve your experience throughout.

Do you have any Red Dead Redemption 2 tips and tricks that you think would be useful? Let us know in the comments below.