Games
Red Dead Redemption 2: The Gang Across a Fictional America
Red Dead Redemption 2 follows the Van der Linde gang through 1899 across five invented U.S. states. Most of the map has no named real model, but Saint Denis was built on New Orleans.
This route follows the main story from Blackwater to Saint Denis and an island beyond. Pins mark only places the sources name; the rest stay unpinned and keep their place in the sequence.
Contains major story spoilers.
Timeline & locations
What do the location labels mean?
- Fictional
- The place exists only in the story; any pin marks a real-world stand-in or inspiration.
The story opens after a botched ferry heist in 1899, when the Van der Linde gang flees Blackwater and has to abandon its substantial money stash. Blackwater is a prosperous port town in West Elizabeth, and in this game it is still under development. The loss of that stash drives the plot: the gang decides it needs enough money to escape the law and retire.
Not pinned on the mapVisitability not confirmedLocation precision: Blackwater and West Elizabeth are invented; no source names a real model, so this stop is unpinned.
Sources
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Locator:
- Setting; Plot
- Red Dead Redemption 2
New Hanover is a sweeping valley of woody foothills and plains, and its livestock town of Valentine is the setting for the gang's clash with its pursuers. After a shootout with Cornwall's men in Valentine, the gang relocates to Lemoyne. Valentine is a made-up town in a made-up state, and the sources name no real place it was modelled on.
Not pinned on the mapVisitability not confirmedLocation precision: New Hanover is fictional and no source names a real model, so this stop is unpinned.
Sources
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Locator:
- Setting; Plot
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Lemoyne is composed of bayous and plantations resembling the Deep South, and its Southern town of Rhodes is where the gang works for two feuding families at once, the Grays and the Braithwaites, trying to turn them against each other. The plan collapses when the Grays kill Sean in an ambush in Rhodes. The sources say the region resembles the Deep South, not which real state it copies.
Not pinned on the mapVisitability not confirmedLocation precision: Lemoyne is fictional and only described as resembling the Deep South, so this stop is unpinned.
Sources
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Locator:
- Setting; Plot
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Saint Denis is the game's big city, a former French colony that the developers modelled on New Orleans; its original name, New Bordeaux, was changed after it was used in Mafia III. Here the gang robs a bank, planning to escape to Tahiti, but the Pinkertons step in, killing Hosea and arresting John. The pin marks New Orleans, the city the developers named as the model, not a real building.
Real-world stand-in inGoogle MapsApple MapsOrganic MapsOpenStreetMap29.97610, -90.07830Visitability not confirmedLocation precision: Saint Denis is fictional; the pin marks the city centre of New Orleans, which the developers modelled it on.
Sources
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Locator:
- Setting; Plot
- Development of Red Dead Redemption 2
- Locator:
- Design
- Red Dead Redemption 2
After the Saint Denis robbery, Dutch, Arthur, Bill, Javier and Micah flee on a ship bound for Cuba. A storm sinks it and they wash ashore on the island of Guarma, where they join a war between the tyrannical sugar plantation owner Fussar and the enslaved locals. Fussar is described as a Cuban governor. The sources do not say Guarma copies a real island, so the pin marks only the ship's stated destination.
Real-world stand-in inGoogle MapsApple MapsOrganic MapsOpenStreetMap22.00000, -80.00000Visitability not confirmedLocation precision: Guarma is fictional; the pin marks Cuba, where the ship was headed, not a real model of the island.
Sources
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Locator:
- Setting; Plot
- Red Dead Redemption 2
