Rockstar went too far with the realism in the open world? An experiment in Red Dead Redemption 2 revealed a shocking level of detail

The population census in Red Dead Redemption 2 has reignited the discussion about whether Rockstar went overboard with realism in its hit western.

The third installment of the Red Dead series is undoubtedly a very successful title that has gained recognition from both players and reviewers. Nevertheless, even this title didn't escape criticism, not only due to the crunch. Ironically, one of the things people complained about was actually what made the game famous: the crazy level of detail in the world of RDR 2.

A virtual survey for virtual residents

YouTuber Any Austin decided to examine the "realism" of the game from a slightly different angle than shown in many previous materials. He conducted an in-depth investigation into the residents of the fictional Valentine (their age, status, place of employment, income, health status, etc.) and compared his findings with data on real American frontier towns from 1907.

It wasn't an easy task because, in most cases, gathering info for this census wasn't as "simple" as just asking a few questions. It's difficult to do a census when many residents don't even have names, so the only clues are their appearance and behavior. Even age—seemingly the most trivial information—had to be reduced by the YouTuber to three heavily simplified categories, hoping that no resident had aged prematurely.

The main problem is the partial randomness of the RDR2 population. Although some characters are fixed (for example, the sheriff or the banker, at least until they are killed), many of them are simply strangers generated by the game.

To address the RNG problem, Any Austin first counted all the residents to determine the approximate population living in Valentine (about one hundred people). Moreover, he divided the Valentine map into 54 sectors and assigned them specific hours during which he did his "survey" in each of them (time-location sampling, used for hard-to-reach populations).

Some of these "stats" are pretty much just guesses, but there are also some solid reasons to think that, for example, the health situation isn't great. The YouTuber discovered that every named character has their own set of teeth (and cavities in them). In fact, even among the randomly generated residents of Valentine, more than 10 unique types of dentition can be found. This includes details in the characters' clothing or locations that reveal their profession.

What surprised Any Austin the most was that his data was very close to how life actually looked on the American frontier. There are some clear differences, like the absence of kids (Rockstar usually skips including them in their games for pretty obvious reasons known to more than just this studio), but things like job locations (especially farming) and unemployment rates (even if just estimated) were pretty close to what you would expect.

But let's be clear: this is more of a fun fact than proof of Valentine town's "realism," especially since there are some criticisms of the game here and there (even about the teeth, as pointed out in a comment under the video). Another matter is that the very initiation of such an investigation shows how much RDR 2 is known for its absurd attention to detail—for better or worse.

Some people jokingly blame the YouTuber again for delaying Grand Theft Auto 6 by at least a few months due to his discoveries. Well, in that case, Any Austin would have time for another survey in a different virtual location.

Red Dead Redemption 2

October 26, 2018

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