*in game* I don't want to kill all these fools, Dutch. Just you Red Dead Redemption 2 is vast and you're about to settle into a game you're easily going to sink hundreds of hours into without batting an eyelid but of course, like GTA before it, there were loads of submenus, systems, and other things to get to grips with so here are 24 things I wish I knew before I started. Use Dead Eye for hunting. Morgan's slow-mo shooting skills are especially handy when targeting smaller prey like squirrels and foxes. Once you've upgraded it Dead Eye will also highlight animal vitals and nailing a shot to the heart or neck will usually result in an instant kill. Toggle to run Select this option from the main controls menu to save yourself some effort by switching to a system where you only have to tap X or A once rather than constantly hold it down. Issue simple commands to your horse You can make Morgan's loyal mount follow, stay, or flee by holding down the left trigger while in close proximity to your pony pal. Unlock secret moves by bonding with your steed. The more you bond with your horse the more abilities you can unlock for it. At level 2 bonding, your horse will rear in a classic Wild Wild West style with the press of RB or R1 At level 3 your companion can perform what essentially is a horsey handbrake turn just press RB and then A or X Once you've reached the maximum level level 4 Your horse will straight from side to side if you hold down B or Square mid-gallop This is a handy maneuver for when you're riding through dense forest and want to quickly steer around a clump of trees Know your HUD options You can turn off your radar and all other on-screen displays by holding down on the d-pad and selecting radar off This will give you a more immersive experience And in this HUD free mode a quick tap of down on the d-pad will briefly bring your radar back up Conversely you can also make the radar bigger by selecting expand which is useful for spotting enemy icons during hectic shootouts You can go the halfway house approach and select the compass option, which will show you the general direction You should be aiming for while riding to an objective Learn to play poker at camp You can learn to play cards back at Duchess camp so you don't risk losing all your hard-earned money While you're still learning the poker ropes the maximum bet here is going to be a measly dollar So or you can lose in a few games is a few cents, but playing is useful for teaching you the poker basics handily There's also a complete expansion of pokeballs tucked away in the help section of the pause menu Use cinematic mode if you're feeling lazy You can set a waypoint and enter the cinematic mode to make your horse ride to the destination with zero input from you required although we'd advise you not to step away from your console because every now and then bounty hunters and Rival gangs will attack you mid journey and you'll be swiftly booted out of cinematic mode and expected to defend yourself Take a wild west selfie Select Arthur's camera from the items wheel and you can snap gorgeous virtual shots of your surroundings that can then be uploaded to rockstars social club Hopefully any photos uploaded will also be marked with handy hashtags of where they were snapped For example Valentine or Saint Denis. You can even take an old-timey selfie with Arthur's camera Keep your cause topped up While tonics and other potions will keep that outer ring of your dead eye health and stamina topped up you're going to need to watch your cause Well, this means is keeping Arthur Morgan. Well fed watered and Smokes. Otherwise you're going to find yourself severely limited in how far you can run how long you can survive and how good you are at aiming make sure you're regularly opening the satchel to give Arthur food drink and other consumables he requires to keep his claws topped up and if In doubt go back to your camp or make a temporary one to give Arthur a well-earned rest Same goes for your horse by the way You need to keep them hitched where possible to give them a proper rest Brush them to top up their stamina and feed them sugar lumps and other horse delicacies to keep their health at maximum Carry plenty of tobacco Smoking cigars cigarettes or even eating raw Indian. Tobacco will top up your dead eye meter And as you're likely going to be downing a lot of dudes in slow-mo This is the core that will deplete the quickest snake oil can also be brewed at camps to keep your dead eye core up But just be wary of eating too much tobacco Because you can only eat so many plants in a 24-hour game period before the effects start to wane Go to the post office to pay off bounties It can be hard to travel across the frontier in peace with a bounty on your head So to ensure bounty hunters and other long and don't keep chasing you Every time Arthur has a bounty hanging over him visit the post office as soon as you can Most towns and rail stations have one and you can pay off the criminal charges there Bear in mind that these bounties are specific to each country The crime was committed in so that 120 dollar bounty You acquired shooting up all those Sheriff Deputies in the heartlands won't carry over to West Elizabeth But you can pay off any bounty at any post office Fast travel for a price For the first 20 or so hours of the game where Dead Redemption 2 doesn't have a traditional fast travel system To cover large distances quickly, you'll have to buy a train ticket or ride in a stagecoach train tickets usually range from about 5 to 15 dollars depending on the length of the journey and if you're really itching to visit the New Orleans s st. Denis before you have a mission there. You can ride the train from Valentine for just 10 bucks Keep your horse in whistling range Your steed doesn't have telepathic hearing if you're too far away when you whistle for it your horse won't come running So try not to wander too far away from it between missions if you can help it it also pays to bond with your mount The higher your bonding level the further away you can get and whistle for it Store hats on your horse if you lose your favorite cowboy hat in a saloon fight. Don't worry You can store up to three hats on your horse that can be taken out of your saddle at any time Read Arthur's journal hold left on the d-pad for an abridged version of the story so far Told from Arthur's perspective and even fills in the story gaps on Morgan's life shortly before the game begins Use the ledger to upgrade your camp The ledger isn't just a place to spy on how much gang members have been contributing to camp life You can also use this book to upgrade your camp's medical ammo and food supplies Upgrade these and not only will Arthur be able to fill his pockets with more bullets and snacks before heading out on missions But the cap Morel will also improve it's also worth upgrading duchess living quarters at the earliest opportunity doing so sees the rest of the gang mates instantly start contributing more money to the camp and The next option in this is to unlock fast travel Carry a horse revival kit at all times with Red Dead Redemption - horse permadeath Absolutely a thing You're going to want to be prepared for the worst One way to do that along with refraining from throwing it off a cliff Driving it into a tree or wagon and putting it in the middle of a firefight Is to make sure you've always got a horse revival kit in your pocket These massive injections will bring your valiant steeds back from the brink of death and can be purchased from any stable for 9.50 When your horse is about to fade away, you're going to be grateful for one of these Shoot into the air to scare off potential foes and predators You'll learn this as part of the Red Dead Redemption story But you can draw your gun and then press up on the d-pad in order to shoot into the air This can scare off anyone threatening you clear a saloon or give a wolf or other animal predators a fight Which does come in handy when you're traveling around the map? Always carry a jacket in case of a cold snap This might sound a little bit like I'm a worried parent, but the weather can be changeable Especially when you've got the potential of whooping it up a mountain anytime you choose You should store a cold outfit on your horse for when you visit mountainous regions Which you can do from the closed trunk in your area of the camp being cold will affect your health and stamina So it's definitely worth being prepared You can turn off the mini-map completely but we wouldn't recommend it as we mentioned There's a variety of mini-map and radar options to go through and while it might sound like the most immersive option possible You do run the risk of missing out on chance encounters and other Emergent storytelling prompts that will pop up on your map if you turn it off completely We'd suggest sticking to the regular or expanded radar for your first playthrough and then maybe ditching it for the second You can split point all of your bullets at the campfire to make them more powerful If you set up a camp in the wilderness, you have a number of options available But one of them wish you access fairly early on in the game is split pointing all your ammo It takes a while and you have to do it on a bullet by bullet basis But it will increase the damage they caused and slow down your Deadeye drain when they're in their chamber Use your bandana sparingly if you want to risk being identified while committing crimes Obviously being an outlaw committing crimes is your bread and butter But there is a way to minimize the risk of being identified while doing them Don your bandana Which can be found in the bottom left hand section of your items menu, and you can hide your identity that way if you've got a bounty on your head You can still walk around the towns without the lawmakers knowing exactly who they're hunting Although top tip here when talking to civilians. Make sure you remove the bandana. Otherwise, they won't want to talk to you Tap the gallop button to slow your horse stamina usage A lot of time in Red Dead 2 is spent on your horse galloping between one point and another and these can be quite lengthy journeys, even if you're going at full pelt Unfortunately, that's going to nibble away at your horses stamina the way to fix this is to tap at the gallop button Which is a or X in time with your horses gate that allows you to increase your speed without using up your stamina It takes a while to get used to but you should be galloping away in no time You can change the name of your horse Forming a bond with your horse, it takes a while and it can feel a bit weird when they're just caught a kentucky saddler Thankfully, you can rename your horse by heading to any stable. Just go to manage owned horses Choose the horse you want to rename and then go to services there. You'll find the option to rename your horse and That's it 24 essential tips that we wish we knew before playing Red Dead Redemption 2 Thanks for watching this video If you've got any more tips Put them in the comments below click the boxes on the left for more content from us and don't forget to hit that big button in the middle to subscribe for more gaming news reviews previews and features right here on GamesRadar plus
