In this Shortcuts and Time Savers video I’m going to show you how can save a bit of time with some of the actions in Red Dead Redemption 2, as well as a few really fun things you might not be aware you could do. There are a few of these I’m going to show you, so let’s jump in and take a look…
I don’t about you but I’ve been playing a lot of Red Dead Redemption 2 and sometimes the game can go at kind of a slow pace. There are lots of interactions and little things you do throughout the game – and it’s a long game – so you tend to end up doing these things many times, again and again, and the amount of time it takes can sometimes be off-putting. For anybody who played the first Red Dead Redemption game you may remember the animation for skinning animals felt like it took a frustratingly long time, and if like me, you would ride around, see something, shoot it, jump off your horse and skin it, all these animation times really added up.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a much deeper, more involved game with a higher level of detail we may have never seen before. And this means there is so much more you can do, including many things which are not immediately obvious. Some of these things may have some value, and some others might just be for fun and look cool, but in a game this good-looking we kind of want control over some of that kind of stuff, right?
Go straight to the map
First up, when I’m playing I refer to the map a lot, but did you know you don’t have to pause, wait for the animation, then select the map? Clicking the same button twice is about as simple as it gets to select the map, but that extra animation and button press does take time and adds up over the hours and days you’ll be playing. Just hold the pause button to jump straight to the map. Easy.
Fire a warning shot
Next up, when you’re in situations where you’re chasing someone down, four example a witness who has seeing you commit a crime, or maybe a bounty, or anybody who’s running away from you because you are just so dam intimidating, you could attack them with your gun or throwing weapons, or you could lasso them, but there is another option – you could try firing a warning shot into the air to get their attention and try to stop them. To fire a warning shot, while aiming, hold up on your D-pad before you fire. This will point your gun in the air before you take the shot. I can’t say have had much luck with this having an effect on anybody but, the option is there and it’s worth a try. And hey, if you don’t know about it, you can’t use it, right?
Horse manoeuvres
Now I’m going to show you a couple of cool horse manoeuvres that you unlock as you’re bonding level with your horse increases. The game does explain these to you on-screen when there unlocked, but they don’t hang around for long so you may have easily missed these pointers.
Horse bonding level 2: Rearing up
First up, your horse will rear up when it feels really distressed and may even throw you off before running away, for example in the presence of a predator. But when you unlock horse bonding level 2 you can manually rear your horse when stationery by holding RB+X / R1+square. This is really nice if you’re trying to capture a cinematic vista at the top of a cliff or mountain… It just looks really cool.
Horse bonding level 3: Skid stops and turns
When you unlock level three, you can perform skid stops and skid turns on your horse which are not only quicker but also look great too. While galloping, press RB+A / R1+X in a straight line to perform the skid stop, and the same buttons while turning to pull off a skid turn. If you really want, you can use the same buttons while stationary to simply turn your horse on the spot. I guess that could be handy if you’re trying to precision park at a hitching post or something.
Horse bonding level 4: Drifting and sidestepping
The level 4 manoeuvre is supposed to drift while galloping, but is not nearly is cool or as useful as the other manoeuvrers unless you like to get your horse to square dance, but you can get your horse to sidestep (or drift) by holding X / square and using left and right. These manoeuvrers are also all summarised in the help section of the game (under Horse, where you’d expect to find them).
Resize the mini-map
Did you know that little mini map in the bottom left corner of the screen can be changed and made bigger? Hold down on your D-pad and you can switch the mini-map off altogether, keep the normal sized mini-map, or a larger mini-map? The large mini-map isn’t just larger for the sake of it, it also shows more area around you, There’s also the option to just show a compass instead of a mini-map, and it’s worth knowing that if you go hardcore and turn the mini-map off you can tap down on the D-pad to show it briefly. I love rocking that larger mini-map, it feels so much better.
Setting up camp
Now, when you’re you’re away from your main camp setting up a little fire, cooking some of your catches and doing basic crafting is really handy, but man does it take time. Let’s speed things up a little bit – For starters you can hold Y / triangle to rest instead of selecting it from your action wheel.
Cook/craft quickly
Then if you fancy doing some cooking – which is often well worthwhile because cooking up your raw meat with some herbal recipes and taking that meat with you can help refill your health, stamina and dead-eye without using up other foods you’ve scavenged. But repetitive cooking is so slow. When Arthur begins cooking something, try holding A / X to speed it up. This way, you’ll find you get a lot more recipes cooked in a much shorter time and you can be on your way again.
Descending ladders
Another thing you can speed up which you may think “who cares?” is climbing ladders. Or more specifically, using gravity to your advantage when climbing down ladders. You’ll come across some pretty long ladders at certain points in the game, so being able to get down them more rapidly is another nice little time saver. After you start the climb down a ladder, press A / X to slide down it in no time. Nice!
Quick gun cleaning
Finally, a little gun maintenance can go a long way in Red Dead Redemption 2, and the more guns you carry the more maintenance is required. But it doesn’t matter how worn a gun is, the amount of time it takes to clean and polish it is always the same… ages. Thankfully, there is a shortcut to speed this up as well, and it makes things quite a bit quicker. When Arthur begins to clean a gun hold X / square and it’ll be done in no time.
So those are the time saving shortcuts and handy little things I’ve discovered in the game so far. How about giving this video a thumbs up if you’ve learned something new, and leave a comment if there’s anything cool or time saving you’ve discovered in the game.
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