Red Dead Redemption 2 is a strange product. The single-player portion of the game was abandoned about as fast as it was released in 2017, with Rockstar following the same model it had used with 2013’s GTA 5. The entire focus of the team turned to Red Dead Online, but even that would eventually wither and fall by the wayside.
Fans clamouring for an expansion or fresh content have a reason to get excited now. It was recently revealed that a surprise stack of missions is being added to Red Dead Online today, and one of them requires players to ‘track down undead plagues’.
That’s a little too on-the-nose for my liking.
Are Zombies Coming Back to Red Dead?
In 2010, Red Dead Redemption was expanded with Undead Nightmare, a stellar bolt-on that saw players battling the undead in an all-original story set in the world of RDR. It became a fan-favourite expansion, but Rockstar never revisited it. There were some nods to the undead in 2017’s Red Dead Redemption 2, but the world was otherwise left devoid of shamblers.
Recently, an email was sent around by Rockstar to those subscribed to mailing lists, notifying them of a surprise group of missions inbound to Red Dead Online:
Author Theodore Levin needs your help investigating the bizarre and unexplained in Strange Tales of the West – a new set of four eerie Telegram Missions available tomorrow in Red Dead Online. Track down undead plagues, rogue automations, swamp beasts, and more by collecting Mr. Levin’s letter from any Post Office or your Camp’s Lockbox, or by launching Telegram Missions from the Player Menu.
(Thanks to PushSquare for the quote)
It’s not often that Red Dead Online gets any kind of a meaningful update these days, so this is great news for all involved, but is it an indication of something deeper?
Fans on social platforms and forums (*cough*, the Insider Gaming forum) have surmised that the ‘undead plagues’ we’re hunting in Red Dead Online might be heralding an incoming expansion. However, it’s almost certainly far too late in the day for that, especially with GTA 6 being less than a year from release.
We could be about to get a 60 FPS update for Red Dead Redemption 2, bringing it up to spec on current-gen consoles, but again, there’s nothing concrete about that.
Are you jonesing for an Undead Nightmare 2 release? Let me know in the comments.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Ben Starr and Neil Newbon are in Surgent’s new game
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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