As a franchise, Red Dead Redemption is a little inconsistent. Most people who have played Mass Effect, Dragon Age, or any other number of video game franchises can usually trace a direct connection and way they’ve played the entire thing, but not Red Dead. For example, PC players finally got to check out Red Dead Redemption 2, but the first game is not available on PC. Many didn’t even expect Red Dead Redemption’s sequel to be RDR2 because technically the first game is Red Dead Revolver, but even that game matters little to the overarching franchise as it currently stands.
Yet, anyone familiar enough with it will likely list three Red Dead games: Revolver, Redemption, and Redemption 2. The problem is that this still ignores a part of the franchise: Red Dead Redemption: Gunslingers. In fact, it stands to reason that even many hardcore fans are likely unaware that this game ever existed.
Red Dead Redemption: Gunslingers Explained
With the rise of Facebook and social media, there was a time when franchise developers made social media games. Several franchises made social media spin-offs, but most of those are no longer accessible. That’s where Red Dead Redemption: Gunslingers falls.
Prior to the release of Red Dead Redemption in 2010, Rockstar Games made and published Red Dead Redemption: Gunslingers as a free Facebook game. It lasted for about two years until Facebook changes saw Rockstar end the game. Red Dead Redemption: Gunslingers was a multiplayer dueling RPG where players faced each other to gain XP and achievements. The outcome of these duels was randomly calculated based on player class, skill points, and a few other unseen variables, highlighting the social nature of gunslinging in this Red Dead Redemption game.
XP in Duels was determined by the comparison of levels by the winning character to the lower level character, although players could also form or join a posse. This meant everyone in the Red Dead posse would get XP whenever anyone won a duel. Accumulated skill points could increase a player’s attack, dodge, health, or stamina stat. These duels would cost players 20 stamina, but they could also participate in shootouts—which didn’t cost stamina but the outcome wasn’t modified by a player’s stats either.
There were three classes for Red Dead Redemption: Gunslingers characters—Outlaw, Fast Hands, and Sharpshooter.
- Outlaw – Power-based class. Character design was based on RDR’s Ramiro de la Torre and Alice Thayer.
- Fast Hands – Speed-based class. Character design was based on RDR’s Harry Dobbing and others.
- Sharpshooter – Accuracy-based class. This class did not seem to be inspired by any Red Dead characters.
Overall, it was a small entry in the franchise from an era where Facebook pushed games much more than it does today. It may have been small and it may have been forgotten, but it speaks to the cultural relevance of the franchise at that time and helps show how much it has ballooned in recent years, from small franchise to a genre-defining one in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.