Red Dead Redemption 3's young Arthur leaves fans divided

It’s been a while since Red Dead Redemption 2 was released and fans are, understandably, wanting more from the Wild West franchise from Rockstar Games.

While we have no concrete information on Red Dead Redemption 3, you can’t help but think Rockstar Games will return to the franchise once the dust settles on GTA VI.

PC players were recently treated to the original Red Dead Redemption and its stellar DLC.

While we wait, conversation about the protagonist for a third game has been happening over on Reddit, with one user posing a simple question.

“Would you like it if Red Dead Redemption 3 took place in the past, and you played as Arthur again, but this time in his younger version?”

Arthur is a fan favourite and while some would love to see him again, it seems as if the community is against treading over old ground.

“No. New characters. New time,” says DragonDon1.

Another fan comments that they’d rather not see a prequel to a prequel, “Making a prequel to a prequel squeezes the narrative choices into such a small bottleneck.”

There are other ideas from players, like this one from Witty-Ad5743, who said, “If we're going that route with it, let's make it interesting and have Dutch or Hosea be the player character. Show us how the gang got where it did.”

Enthusiasm for the idea is slim throughout the discussion, with one fan pointing out that “a lot of people don’t get RDR2 IS the backstory.”

While it’s always nice to pine after your favourite character and want to see more of them, it could end up hurting the franchise, or indeed the character’s arc.

As this user puts it, “Yeah, to be honest I think the gang’s story is done. There’s a lot more potential with a new story.”

This isn’t to say that fans wouldn’t enjoy a small cameo, perhaps running into Arthur for one mission, if indeed the times overlap.

But, we’ll have to wait on Rockstar Games to see if they even return to the Wild West.