Rockstar has always loved putting obscure, mysterious, and sometimes downright creepy Easter eggs in its open worlds. As the most ambitious open world game the studio has created to date,Red Dead Redemption 2was obviously no exception to this. Spread allacrossRed Dead Redemption 2’s five statesare mysteries hidden throughout the wilderness that range from humorous Easter eggs to downright bone-chilling mysteries that may or may not get any sort of resolution.
Ambarino may be the most overlooked of all five states inRed Dead Redemption 2. It serves as the setting for the game’s entire first chapter, but it’s a very on-rails tutorial style chapter; the properRed Dead Redemptionexperience doesn’t really kick in until the gang moves south to New Hanover, after which Ambarino doesn’t get much love from the rest of the story. That’s a shame because it’s one of richest, most exploration-friendly regions in the entire game. There are plenty of secrets, mysteries, and Easter eggs hidden in them there mountains.
In Memoriam
The originalRed Dead Redemptioncame out in 2010, leaving a massive eight-year gap between it and its sequel. That’s a long time, and sadly, a number of people involved in the original game weren’t around to see the sequel. Among them were voice actors Ross Hagen and John O’Creagh who portrayed Landon Rickets and Uncle, respectively. Both men have sadly passed away, but their legacies live on in the West.
Ambarino is home to two different locations named in memory of these two:Mount Hagen and O’Creagh’s Run. Both beautifully scenic locations are easily found via Arthur’s map. It’s a nice gesture from Rockstar to honor the memories of some of the folks who helped create these wonderful games that have brought so many people so much joy.
Witches Cauldron
In the eastern reaches of the Grizzlies ofRDR2lies a little hovelmade of sticks, branches, and various pieces of forest detritus. A rickety table sits to the side covered completely in bottles, chemicals and all manner of strange concoctions. Animal skulls serve as some macabre decoratIons lining the makeshift wooden walls. An ominously quiet raven watches Arthur’s every move from its perch on high. Human remains sit in the corner, shackled down with iron chains. And at the center of it all a bubbling cauldron with an unknown, but positively revolting soup cooking inside it. There’s no further information available about the inhabitant of this cabin, but drinking from the cauldron knocks the player out and refills all their cores, so maybe the witch isn’t entirely evil after all.
Clawson’s Rest
If the player takesJohn or Arthur to a cabin at Clawson’s Rest, they’ll be in for one of the more tragic finds of the game. Inside the humble house are the desiccated bodies of two young boys, with pools of splattered blood nearby. Dead kids are an upsetting sight regardless of context, but a note from their mother on the table opens up a whole new level of tragedy and mystery.
On a nearby kitchen table is a note explaining that the family who occupied this cabin was robbed and that the matriarch set off to retrieve a valuable family heirloom. She left her sons with enough provisions to sustain them for a few days, but it’s pretty clear that, for one reason or another, she never made it back home. While this note might make Clawson’s Rest look like an open-and-shut case of starvation, it does little to explain the bloody mess left behind. A tragedy definitely happened here, but the exact nature of it is probably going togo down as one ofRed Dead Redemption 2’s unsolved mysteries.
Desiree LaFlamme
Everyone’s heard those old stories about daredevils trying to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a simple wooden barrel. Turns outRockstar has heard them too, as there’s a darkly funny reference to these types of adrenaline junkies found in-game.
At the bottom of Donner Falls, players can find the shattered remains of a wooden barrel and the unfortunate soul who tried her hand at the death defying feat. While no further context is given at the scene, posters in various train stations around the world, like at Annesburg and Emerald Ranch, give her some further backstory.Her name was Desiree LaFlamme, and while she didn’t quite make it over the falls in one piece, her real life counterpart, Annie Edison Taylor, did. At 63 years old, Taylor survived a trip over Niagara Falls with nothing but a small cut to her head.
Giant in a Cave
This Easter egg requires a fair bit of legwork to see. After studying and documenting 30 species of animals in Arthur’s journal, players can head east of Fairvale Shanty in the eastern Grizzlies to find a cave blocked by a massive boulder. This cave is home to one of the game’s most mysterious (and friendliest) NPCs. The unseen character claims to be agiant that’s hidden himself away from the worldafter facing ridicule for his stature. Additional dialogue with him can be triggered after three in-game days, or if the player returns as John.
Details around the exact nature of the giant are sketchy, and it seems as though there may have been bigger plans for him, no pun intended. Dataminers have found that, despitenever physically appearing inRDR2, he does have two unique models; both before and after the timeskip. Additionally, unused audio files indicate that he was a circus performer before choosing to live in isolation.
Mount Hagen Conquistador
This one is for all those dedicated hat collectors out there.Climbing up Mount Hagen is a treacherous and time consuming venture. The snow makes navigation more difficult than perhaps anywhere else on the map, and one false move can send Arthur hurtling down to a swift and icy death. But clearly, the risks were great enough for the subject of this little Easter egg.
To the south of Lake Isabella and west of Beartooth Beck arethe remains of a Spanish conquistador. He’s been perfectly preserved by ice and snow, and Arthur/John can take his feathered helmet for themselves after finding him. As the conquistadors typically explored down south in Central America, how one of them made his way up to the northern reaches of Ambarino is anyone’s guess.
Strange Statues Puzzle
East of Donner Falls (Just under the “I” in Ambarino on the map) is an ominous cave with seven humanoid statues in it. Positioned in a circle, these shapes give offserious creepy cult vibes, of which there are already plenty of in the world ofRed Dead Redemption 2. But outside of being creepy set dressing, there is a short puzzle players can solve here that gives a hefty reward of three gold bars.
Outside its function as a puzzle for the gold bars, there’s not much more information out there on what these statues are meant to represent. There’s definitely a connection between the statues and the paintings at Window Rock, and it’s likely the two pieces of artwork were created by the same faction/individual. Whatever the statues are meant to be, they, and the cave they inhabit, are carved out of granite, and working with such a difficult material in 1899 was no small feat. There was serious dedication behind this bizarre display, which makes it all the more mysterious.
Felix Hawley’s Biggest Hater
Located at the northernmost point of Barrow Lagoon is a simple cabin with a freshly exhumed grave next to it. The coffin is pried open, revealing a corpse with one leg. The headstone, which identifies the deceased as one Felix Hawley, has been defaced with graffiti angrily reading “NO ICE IN HELL.”
Evidence inside the cabin paints a better picture of this story.Felix Hawley was a noted ice skater of the timebefore an accident (presumably involving losing his leg) ended his time on the ice. At some point in his forced retirement, Hawley moved up north to his cabin, where he eventually died. While the story explains the unusual state of Hawley’s remains, the desecration of the grave itself remains a total unknown. Whoever would do such a thing must have had a seriously unhealthy hatred for Hawley in life, and might have even been responsible for the accident that ended his skating career.
Red Dead Redemption 2
WHERE TO PLAY
America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him. From the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America at the dawn of the modern age.
