RDR2's John Marston Lied to Us About Swimming
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game that provides a very realistic experience, both in terms of game world, the story, and the characters. Players were extremely surprised by the fact that they can't swim in Rockstar's game. But... what if we can, and the characters were lying to us the whole time?
- Reddit user alexgiiraud discovered that John Marston in RDR2 can swim;
- The player found an opportunity to push John into the water, and instead of drowning, he swam to shore as if nothing had happened;
- This is all the more bizarre as, in one of the game's dialogues, the main character, Arthur Morgan, laughs at the fact that Marston can't swim.
RDR2, the game of the year according to the 2020 Steam Awards, is packed to the brim with detail. Every action we perform has its own animation, NPCs memorize our behavior, fighting deer can lock their antlers during a fight, and horses... Let's just say that if these beautiful animals were still as popular now as they were a hundred and fifty years ago, their owners would have to bring large paper bags along for the rides. So it's no surprise that gamers were somewhat perplexed when it was revealed that swimming in the game was severely limited. Now, more than two years after the title's release, it turns out that this only applies to the player, and the NPCs - even if they claim otherwise - aren't afraid of water at all.
SPOILER ALERT
Further down in the news, there are some minor spoilers about one of the early missions in the fourth chapter of Red Dead Redemption 2's campaign. Nothing that will spoil your gameplay - it's mainly about the new location of the gang's camp and the identity of one of the "customers" - but be warned nevertheless.
The discovery was made by Reddit user alexgiiraud. He didn't swim any great distance on his own, but he forced another character to do it. Specifically - John Marston, the guy who the main character of the game, Arthur Morgan, launched at during a game of poker that he can not swim. alexgiiraud, however, found a way to give the lie to this claim.
At the beginning of the fourth chapter of the game, when the heroes move their camp near the city of Saint Denis, we receive the mission Angelo Bronte, A Man of Honor. To begin it, we must meet Dutch van der Linde and John Marston in the town park. Alexgiiraud followed them to the railway tracks, which cross the river... and pushed poor John into water. As you can probably guess by now, Marston was just fine. The man swam to the nearest shore quite quickly, while at the same time berating Arthur as the player, frustrated by John's lie, started shooting at him.
The whole situation, though rather funny, makes you wonder. It's anyone's guess as to why Rockstar enabled NPCs to swim - even if they deny it in dialogue - while severely limiting this ability in the case of players. It seems most likely that the mechanic isn't really necessary in the long run. Yes, it would add even more realism to the game, but be honest - did you miss it? Because I sure didn't. So much so that I didn't realize Arthur would drown when he find himself in too deep water until halfway through the third chapter of the campaign. Which doesn't change the fact that comrades-in-arms shouldn't lie to us - even if they're only hiding the truth so the player can't mess up the mission because of them. Maybe the folks at Rockstar were trying to wink at fans of the first Red Dead game (where we couldn't swim at all), or maybe they just didn't take into account this kind of deviousness on the part of the audience? Let us know what you think.
