The Case for Red Dead Redemption 3 to Reinvent its Gunplay

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home March 26, 2025 19 Views 7 Min Read
The Case for Red Dead Redemption 3 to Reinvent its Gunplay



The Red Dead Redemption franchise will likely be on hiatus for quite some time yet. Rockstar is going to be focused on GTA 6 for the foreseeable future, and if the company’s release strategy in the 2010s is anything to go off, it’s extremely probable that audiences won’t see a follow-up to Red Dead Redemption 2 until the 2030s, if at all.

But nevertheless, the Red Dead Redemption series is ripe with unrealized potential. Rockstar’s best-in-class environment design and narrative crafting have been out in full force in the first two Red Dead Redemption games, turning the duology into an undeniable modern classic. For all the games’ strengths, though, there are plenty of shortcomings, with moment-to-moment gameplay perhaps being chief among them. Indeed, while Rockstar tends to favor strong writing over gameplay in all its releases, the Red Dead games feel particularly stiff and slow, making follow-up playthroughs something of a slog. If there ever is a Red Dead Redemption 3, then gameplay, specifically with respect to the combat sandbox, ought to be front-of-mind.

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Third-Person Shooters Red Dead Redemption 3 Could Learn From

Rockstar is certainly a trailblazer, but if it ever wanted for inspiration come Red Dead Redemption 3‘s development, there are a host of relevant third-person shooters that could serve as wellsprings. Relatively grounded shooters that RDR3 could borrow from include:

  • The Max Payne franchise
  • Resident Evil 4 Remake
  • Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
  • The Last of Us Part 2
  • Uncharted 4

There are loads of great third-person shooters on the market, but the above are the most appropriate due to the conservative nature of their shooting mechanics; games like Space Marine 2 are great, but hardly relevant when discussing Red Dead Redemption 3. Take Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us 2, for instance: these games feature cat-and-mouse stealth systems and meaty, brutal animations that drive home the intensity of every shootout. Metal Gear Solid 5 is another good choice in this regard, its tactical stealth and unparalleled character controls sorely missing from contemporary gaming.

In terms of overall gamefeel, Resident Evil 4 Remake might just be the best third-person shooter around. Leon’s smooth but weighty movements tie a titanium string between player and game, making for an intuitive, immersive, and deep experience. Red Dead Redemption 3 could learn from these strengths, making for a far more comfortable and nuanced wild-west shooting sim. Finally, there’s Max Payne, which is perhaps the most mechanically similar to Red Dead Redemption thanks to their shared penchant for bullet-time mechanics. But the Max Payne games feature a far more rewarding and expressive bullet-time experience than the Deadeye feature, allowing players to jump, slide, and dive while dispatching enemies in slo-mo. This focus on momentum could be an obvious area for Red Dead Redemption 3 to double-down on.

Red Dead Redemption 3 Needs To Hone In On Certain Gunplay Design Pillars

The above comparisons are helpful from a conceptual standpoint, but even if Rockstar rejects all other third-person shooter mechanics as inspiration, there are still key pain points the developer should target come RDR3. More and better options for engaging enemies might be the most important one: in RDR2, players are generally forced to either shoot from behind cover or rush into a hail of bullets, hoping for the best. Diverse options that reward strategy and creative thinking would allow Red Dead Redemption 3 to be more fun and expressive without necessarily sacrificing realism. The other broad-strokes shortcoming RDR3 could focus on is character movement, as Arthur and John have a tendency to move more like bathtubs on wheels than fit, capable outlaws.

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