Gaming

‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ Lets You Kill The KKK

by Amanda Yeo  6 November 2018
The KKK in Red Dead Redemption 2

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I was riding to town to sell a deer pelt, which was riddled with holes because I am a terrible hunter. Passing a forest, I caught sight of a strange mass of glowing orange lights. So of course, like a moth, I was obligated to deviate from my mission and investigate.

As I approached, I began to make out the lights more clearly. The bright points were well above the ground, but not small or evenly spread enough to be string lights. They looked like flames. Almost like… torches.

“Oh no,” I thought.

“Oh yes,” replied Red Dead Redemption 2, parting the trees to reveal the Ku Klux Klan.

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Red Dead Redemption 2, a cowboy video game with surprisingly few cows, positions the player as Arthur Morgan, a gunslinging outlaw who appears perpetually grumpy no matter how many bars of chocolate you feed him.

Arthur’s morals are largely dependent upon player action and, considering how easy it is to accidentally run over people with your horse, it is much simpler to be an unmitigated butthole than a semi-decent man. I was still having a determined go of it, escorting lost travellers back to town and refusing to rob incredibly robbable carriage drivers, even when they yelled abuse at me on the road.

However, regardless of whether you’re roleplaying as a black hat or a white hat, the one joy that unites us all in love and harmony is killing the KKK.

Unlike other unprovoked killings in Red Dead Redemption 2, attacking the KKK has no negative impact upon your honour. The game’s honour system keeps track of your honourable and dishonourable actions, such as doing chores around camp or holding up a store. Very honourable characters get a significant discount in stores, while dishonourable characters will be able to loot more stuff from corpses.

While opening fire on a group of unsuspecting people would typically be seen as a dishonourable act, game developers Rockstar seem to have made an understandable exception for these pointy-hooded degenerates. In fact, you even gain honour for opening fire. As a result, even the squeakiest clean of outlaws can ventilate a Klansman’s head without worrying, provided you kill every last one so they don’t escape and report you for murder.

Though Red Dead Redemption 2 is set in 1899, a time when the KKK was as broken structurally as it is morally, clusters of these men in dollar store ghost costumes can be found throughout the game’s rendition of the American countryside, providing players with guilt-free subjects for target practice.

However, if you opt to simply watch the KKK’s gatherings without intervening, the problem will take care of itself. The Klansmen will inadvertently set themselves on fire or crush themselves under a heavy wooden cross, allowing you to sit quietly and enjoy the beautiful American wilderness by the warming glow of burning bed sheets.

The great outdoors. It’s truly a miraculous place.