This page summarizes the story of Red Dead Redemption 2 (1899 and 1907) and Red Dead Redemption (1911 and 1914) in story order. Each summary gives the setting, the camp and the main events of the chapter. Where mission pages exist, the chapter's missions are listed in order, each with its own page. Until then, the chapter links to its full guide.

This page contains story spoilers.

Red Dead Redemption 2

  1. 1899
  2. Chapter 1

    Colter

    May 1899. After the failed Blackwater ferry robbery, the Van der Linde gang shelters in Colter, an abandoned mining town under snow in the Grizzlies West of Ambarino. The gang takes in the widow Sadie Adler after a fight with the O'Driscolls, finds John Marston on a mountain ledge, captures Kieran Duffy and robs the train of Leviticus Cornwall. The chapter has six story missions and ends with the move to Horseshoe Overlook.

    The 6 missions of Chapter 1
    1. 1Outlaws from the West
    2. 2Enter, Pursued by a Memory
    3. 3The Aftermath of GenesisPlayable before or after Old Friends
    4. 4Old FriendsPlayable before or after The Aftermath of Genesis
    5. 5Who the Hell is Leviticus Cornwall?
    6. 6Eastward Bound
  3. Chapter 2

    Horseshoe Overlook

    1899. The gang camps at Horseshoe Overlook, above the Dakota River near Valentine, in the Heartlands of New Hanover. Collecting a debt for Leopold Strauss, Arthur Morgan is exposed to tuberculosis by the farmer Thomas Downes. Sean MacGuire is rescued, Arthur breaks Micah Bell out of jail in Strawberry, and the Pinkertons make contact in "A Fisher of Men". A shootout with Cornwall's men in Valentine forces the gang to move. The chapter has 24 missions, optional ones included.

    The 21 missions of Chapter 2
    1. 1Who is Not Without SinAvailable from the start of Chapter 2; can be played in a different order
    2. 2Exit Pursued by a Bruised EgoAvailable after Who is Not Without Sin, Polite Society, Valentine Style or Americans at Rest
    3. 3Polite Society, Valentine StyleAvailable from the start of Chapter 2; can be played in a different order
    4. 4Americans at RestAvailable from the start of Chapter 2; can be played in a different order
    5. 5The Spines of AmericaAvailable after Exit Pursued by a Bruised Ego; can be played in a different order
    6. 6Good, Honest, Snake OilOptional; available after Polite Society, Valentine Style
    7. 7The First Shall Be LastAvailable after Americans at Rest; can be played in a different order
    8. 8Paying a Social CallAvailable after Americans at Rest; can be played in a different order
    9. 9Money Lending and Other Sins IAvailable after Americans at Rest; can be played in a different order
    10. 10Money Lending and Other Sins IIAvailable after Money Lending and Other Sins I; the three debts can be collected in any order
    11. 11A Quiet TimeAvailable after Money Lending and Other Sins II and Paying a Social Call; can be played in a different order
    12. 12We Loved Once and True IAvailable after Paying a Social Call and Money Lending and Other Sins I and II; can be played in a different order
    13. 13Pouring Forth Oil IAvailable after Polite Society, Valentine Style, The First Shall Be Last and We Loved Once and True I; can be played in a different order
    14. 14Pouring Forth Oil IIOptional; available after Pouring Forth Oil I; skipped if four in-game hours pass while it is active or if it is the only mission available
    15. 15Pouring Forth Oil IIIAvailable after Pouring Forth Oil II, or after Pouring Forth Oil I if part II is skipped; can be played in a different order
    16. 16Pouring Forth Oil IVAvailable one in-game hour after Pouring Forth Oil III; can be played in a different order
    17. 17A Fisher of MenAvailable after Pouring Forth Oil III and A Quiet Time; can be played in a different order
    18. 18We Loved Once and True IIAvailable after We Loved Once and True I; can be played in a different order
    19. 19We Loved Once and True IIIOptional; available after We Loved Once and True II, if Arthur agrees to help Mary; can be played in a different order
    20. 20Money Lending and Other Sins IIIAvailable once a first debt of Money Lending and Other Sins II is in the camp box; can be played in a different order
    21. 21Blessed are the Meek?Available after A Quiet Time; can be played in a different order

    Full guide to Chapter 2

  4. Chapter 3

    Clemens Point

    1899. The gang moves south to Clemens Point, on Flat Iron Lake near Rhodes, in Lemoyne. Dutch tries to play two feuding families, the Grays and the Braithwaites, against each other. The Grays ambush the gang in Rhodes and Sean MacGuire is killed. The Braithwaites kidnap Jack Marston; after the gang burns their manor, Catherine Braithwaite reveals that her sons gave him to Angelo Bronte, in Saint Denis.

    Full guide to Chapter 3

  5. Chapter 4

    Saint Denis

    1899. The gang camps at Shady Belle, an abandoned plantation house in the Bayou Nwa outside Saint Denis. Angelo Bronte returns Jack to the gang, then Dutch kills him in "Revenge is a Dish Best Eaten". The O'Driscolls kill Kieran Duffy. The bank robbery in "Banking, The Old American Art" is a Pinkerton trap: Lenny Summers and Hosea Matthews are killed, John is arrested, and Arthur, Dutch, Micah, Bill and Javier flee by ship and are wrecked at sea. The chapter has 16 missions, four of them optional.

    Full guide to Chapter 4

  6. Chapter 5

    Guarma

    1899. Arthur, Dutch, Micah, Bill and Javier wash up on Guarma, a Caribbean sugar island ruled by Colonel Alberto Fussar. The five men join the rebels of Hercule Fontaine in exchange for passage home. Arthur kills Fussar during the attack on Aguasdulces, and the group sails back to America. They rejoin the rest of the gang at Lakay, in the bayou, where the Pinkertons attack the camp in "Fleeting Joy".

    Full guide to Chapter 5

  7. Chapter 6

    Beaver Hollow

    1899. After the Lakay raid, the gang takes the Beaver Hollow caves, in Roanoke Ridge, New Hanover, from the Murfree Brood. Arthur is diagnosed with tuberculosis and, with Sadie, frees John from Sisika Penitentiary. Dutch kills Leviticus Cornwall at Annesburg. Agent Andrew Milton reveals that Micah has informed for the Pinkertons since they picked him up on the gang's return from Guarma, and the gang breaks apart. The chapter has 14 story missions and four versions of its final scene, in which Arthur dies.

    Full guide to Chapter 6

  8. 1907
  9. Epilogue I

    Pronghorn Ranch

    1907, eight years after Chapter 6. The player now controls John Marston, who works at Pronghorn Ranch, in Big Valley, West Elizabeth, under the name Jim Milton, while Abigail and Jack live near Strawberry. Sadie Adler returns and brings him into bounty work. John takes a bank loan from Ansel Atherton to buy the Beecher's Hope ranch, and Uncle joins the family. This part has 11 story missions.

    Full guide to Epilogue Part 1

  10. Epilogue II

    Beecher's Hope

    1907. John builds the Beecher's Hope ranch house with Charles Smith and Uncle, pays down his bank debt through bounty work with Sadie, and proposes to Abigail. In "American Venom", John, Sadie and Charles track Micah Bell to Mount Hagen; Dutch shoots Micah first and John kills him. Agents Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham then watch the ranch, which sets up Red Dead Redemption. This part has 12 story missions, followed by the end credits.

    Full guide to Epilogue Part 2

Red Dead Redemption

  1. 1911
  2. Act I

    New Austin

    1911. Bureau of Investigation agents Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham hold Abigail and Jack, and send John after Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella and Dutch van der Linde. John is shot at Fort Mercer, in Rio Bravo, and recovers at the ranch of Bonnie MacFarlane. Helped by Nigel West Dickens, Seth Briars, Irish and Marshal Leigh Johnson, he takes the fort, but Bill has already fled to Mexico.

    Full guide to Act I

  3. Act II

    Nuevo Paraíso

    1911. John crosses the San Luis River into Nuevo Paraíso, a Mexican province at war. He works both for the army of Colonel Agustin Allende and Captain Vincente de Santa and for the rebels of Abraham Reyes, until De Santa betrays him in Chuparosa. Landon Ricketts, a retired gunslinger, trains him. John kills or captures Javier at El Presidio; at Escalera, Luisa Fortuna is killed, then Allende and Bill are shot on the road by John or by Reyes.

    Full guide to Act II

  4. Act III

    West Elizabeth

    1911 and 1914. From Blackwater, with Professor Harold MacDougal and the informant Nastas, John tracks Dutch to Cochinay, in Tall Trees, where Dutch steps off a cliff. John returns to Beecher's Hope. Soldiers and Bureau agents attack the ranch: Uncle is killed and John is shot down outside his barn. In 1914, Jack Marston kills Edgar Ross in a duel.

    Full guide to Act III