How Historically Accurate Was Red Dead Redemption?

Red Dead Redemption took top honors in many a Game of the Year list, including our own. John Marston's bloodied past, attempted reform, and ultimate return to lawlessness echoes the western stories that dotted the fiction landscape throughout the golden age of radio and television. Rockstar was praised for its deft hand at painting a narrative with heart in an unconventional time period.

The myth of the cowboy, however, is quite a bit different than the true stories of wage-workers and farmhands. We talked to Andrew Needham, an Assistant Professor of History at New York University, about the game. Needham specializes in the American West and environmental history, so we turned to him with our questions on Marston's journey through the Old West.

This is Red Dead Redemption's reality check.

The year is 1911. Government agents have blackmailed a former outlaw into capturing or killing his old gang members. The ways of the Old West are dying out, and technology is starting to infringe on the simple lives of small-town America. The federal government is exerting its control, and John Marston is a cog in their machinations to bring order and civility to the dusty settlements.

Most of this probably wouldn't have happened in 1911 at all.

"1911 is much later than the game seems to be set," Needham said. "If I didn't know it was 1911 -- if you had sat me down and asked when it was set -- I'd say something like early 1880s. It feels like that time, [around the] shootout at the OK Corral. 1880s, 1890s, rather than 1911 when you have significant urbanization going on in the west. That kind of technological conquest of the west happened much earlier than is depicted in the game."

Setting the game in 1911 was clearly a conscious choice, and most likely served a few purposes. For one, it allowed Rockstar to invoke the Mexican rebellion as a plot point, which Needham says is accurate to the time. It also avoided any uncomfortable scenes involving the displacement of or battles with Native Americans.

Gun, another western game published in 2005, featured frequent battles with Native populations. Red Dead Redemption, by comparison, only contains one major Native American, a patient man who quietly simmers under the racist and condescending tone other characters. Needham suggests sensitivity played a factor in selecting the time period.

"I think that's a pretty deliberate choice given the difficulty [of the subject]," he said.

video game reviews video games cheats video games online video games stores xbox 360 games