Wildlife, Hunting and Fishing in Red Dead Redemption 2

31 days. That’s all we have to wait to get our hands on the long-awaited and highly anticipated upcoming game from Rockstar – Red Dead Redemption 2. As always when a release is almost upon us, Rockstar is starting to leak some more details about the game to keep the hype (and hopefully sales) high – first we saw the various locations revealed last week, then Sony released details on their Red Dead bundles and now Rockstar has released what’s in store for us in terms of wildlife.

Wildlife might not seem like the most thrilling thing to tease us with, but as with any Rockstar game, it’s the ‘details that matter’, especially in open world games like Red Dead Redemption 2 as it enhances the immersion and helps to bring the world to life.

Rockstar has said that there will be around 200 species of animals in the game including birds, fish and mammals and 19 different breeds of horse. That’s a lot considering you’ll only really be interacting with one type of animal (your horse), or will you?

Rockstar has also said that they’re not stupid animals either, meaning that they will respond to the environment in unique ways: “Deer, bison and pronghorn traverse the plains in large herds,” and “scavengers quickly sniff out carrion, sockeye salmon leap upstream, wolves attack in packs surrounding their prey, geese fly in fixed formations, possums play dead, rodents scamper into tree hollows, grizzly bears bluff charge when threatened, and birds of prey soar on thermals.” The environment will, in fact, be its own complex ecosystem designed to make you feel like it’s a real, living, breathing world.

The game will feature ‘hunting’ but be warned, it might not be as easy as it is in other games as Rockstar has said it “takes focus and patience; move carefully and watch the wind direction or you will alert your prey.” You will also be able to track animals via their blood if you were unlucky enough not to get a fatal shot initially, similar to Farcry 5.

You’ll also have to be sure to choose the right weapon for the job; using a weapon too big might not leave you too much to scavenge. Clean kills will also make an appearance, these are just like Far Cry’s clean kills for hunting – essentially meaning that if you don’t use a firearm you will be able to scavenge higher quality pelt and meat.

Once you have completed a successful hunt you can sell your loot by either skinning it, chopping it up for meat and selling it to the butcher or simply by strapping the whole corpse to your horse and taking it wherever you see fit. If you’d rather not sell it you can use the body parts yourself, either for food or for crafting items such as clothing and weapons.

As well as land animals there will be many species of fish, all of which will swim the various lakes around the map. Catching them for food or to sell is possible but Rockstar has said that: “selecting the right bait or lure is key to a successful day’s haul”.