We Ranked Every Red Dead Redemption 2 Town from WORST to BEST

We Ranked Every Red Dead Redemption 2 Town from WORST to BEST

[someguyik]

Strawberry can never be number 1 for two reasons: dry town and no strawberries to be found anywhere.

[admiralversio]

I think this video is great but I also feel you lost some of the depth of what the town was SUPPOSED to portray like saint Denis wasn’t supposed to be western it was supposed to tell the player this is it we have been pushed to the modern society we despise

[CrowBandit]

In my opinion, when the gang came to valentine, everything was great! No gang deaths besides Davis, the other guy, and Lenny’s girl. Their camp looked the best when they were near Valentine and like the missions was great! Even the part where you travel from the mountains to the camp next to Valentine is so great like it’s a sunny day, the wheel breaks, you have your first saloon fight, you meet Trelawny for the first time, you get used to weapons and towns as you’re new to the game at that point and it’s just overall a very good looking place with good memories that you remember.

[succanegg]

The reason why Tumbleweed ends up as a "ghost town", is due to the railroads not being built near the town. Armadillo ends up becoming the main hub for social activity because it has train access and pretty much you can assume all of Tumbleweed become bankrupt. A few npcs in RDR2 foreshadow this.

[katefrosty]

valentine is just the armadillo of red dead 2

[MonsieurEldritch]

Van horn is a really fun town to me because you can get in gun fights without waves of cops

[marcheskitv]

I’m a bit late to the party, but here’s my rankings:

1: Valentine - As the video said, it really is the heart of the game. We were introduced to it early on and I’ve always had a soft spot for it. It’s very western feeling with everything you need. There’s a great saloon, general store, hotel, doctor’s, and more! I always go through Valentine when I have the chance.

2: Rhodes - Rhodes is also a great town, with beautiful buildings and an interesting background (curses, feuds, and whatnot). There’s a general store with Pearson, a gunsmith with a secret, Alden & the post office, and I can’t not mention the beautiful saloon. It has to be my favorite saloon in the game, it’s just so pretty. There’s a lot to do in Rhodes, and it has a fence as well. It’s close enough to everywhere and quite convenient.

3: Saint Denis - Saint Denis is the only city in RDR2, and it has a lot to offer, with beautiful manors, avenues, and more. As a gunslinging Arthur, I didn’t like it too much as it was so urbanized and you’d get wanted for the littlest things, but I’ve grown to it. The saloon’s pretty, so is the plaza, and there’s a lot of stranger missions and things to do. My biggest gripe is that you can’t ride fast without running over some innocent soul, but otherwise SD is great. And also, it has the Theatre Raleur, which is among my favorite locations.

4: Blackwater. It’s a shame it was only unlockable by the epilogue, but Blackwater’s a great town. It’s like Saint Denis, but smaller and less crowded. I’ve put it behind Saint Denis because of its accessibility and amenities; there’s no gunsmith nor doctor’s office. The Main Street of Blackwater is beautiful and picturesque with a backdrop of the town hall. The saloon’s okay, but I must commend the beautiful hotel room in the saloon. Blackwater is a great town, but it lacks some key things.

5: Strawberry- Strawberry is probably the most picturesque town in RDR2, but it does lack some things. Strawberry has no saloon or gunsmith. Strawberry’s also kind of small, especially after massacring the entire town with Micah. The architecture, specifically the bridge, is beautiful. Overall, Strawberry’s beautiful but not that efficient.

6: Annesburg- Annesburg is an okay town. I really didn’t go there often unless the story forced me. Annesburg is a smoky and quite ugly town, specializing in the mining industry. There is a post office and a gunsmith with a hotel, but otherwise there isn’t much. There’s no saloon or general store, and the aroma all around Annesburg is polluted. The surrounding Murfree Brood make the trek to Annesburg treacherous and the surrounding areas hostile.

7: Tumbleweed- Tumbleweed is also okay, being really the only habitable settlement in New Austin during RDRII (Armadillo’s pretty much abandoned). The saloon’s decent and there’s also a gunsmith, but the sheriff is the defining feature of this town. He has an iron grip on the town and may have been a nail in the coffin leading to Tumbleweed’s downfall in RDR1. It’s depicted as a diminishing town in RDR2, so there isn’t much to do.

8: Emerald Ranch- I like to call this town my favorite pit stop. I don’t spend too much time here, but I use it a lot when traveling to other places. The fence is here, and Seamus is a chad. There’s a couple of missions here, so there isn’t absolutely nothing to do. There’s also a lot of horses nearby and hunting grounds. There’s an abandoned saloon and no other big amenities, but Emerald Ranch is okay.

9: Van Horn Trading Post- I don’t really like Van Horn. Most of the time, it’s very foggy and hostile. The saloon is ugly and everyone is out to kill you. There is a fence and general store, but once again, everyone is out to kill you. There is no law in Van Horn, but people ain’t afraid to fight back. The buildings are ugly and Van Horn is definitely past its prime.

10: Armadillo- Poor Armadillo, it was like the Valentine of RDR1. Cholera and other diseases have made the town abandoned, and turned the wild-west haven into a wild-west shitshack. There’s a rundown saloon and a general store, and that’s about it. The law doesn’t run here, so you can easily rampage the town. But there isn’t much to do besides committing mass genocides. There’s no missions there, besides that one time you looked at it with Sadie. Really what Armadillo has going for it is the mystery regarding the Strange Man.

11: Lagras- Lagras doesn’t have much to do, and is kind of a remote settlement in the middle of the bayous. The people are friendly, but there’s like a thousand gators per square foot. It’s the only town with a bait shop, but that’s really all Lagras has. Most of the time, I only go through Lagras to get to other places.

12: Butcher Creek- Butcher Creek is an ugly, hostile, and remote town in the middle of Murfree Country. There’s really nothing to do besides that one stranger mission. I only went through the town as I left Beaver Hollow back in chapter 6. The most interesting part of the town has to relate with the Braithwaite mystery regarding Gertrude; the Strange Man channel made a video about it, but the outhouses in BC form a pentagram. This town has to be haunted, but there is pretty much nothing to do.

[krispykream]

1. Rhodes - Best looking town, crucial to story, plenty of lore, fence and loads of stores.
2. Valentine - Similar to Rhodes. Has a nice hotel, gunsmith, doctor, store, stable, the best saloon, and great location.
3. Saint Denis - Biggest and has everything you need. I prefer being in the smaller towns but feels wrong outside the top three.
4. Strawberry - Didn't spend much time here and didn't feel purposeful. No saloon and boring stores. Good looking though and has trappers nearby.
5. Annesburg - Unique and cool aesthetic. Has a mine and is the largest town in the northern section of the map.
6. Van Horn - Travelled through here a lot and often used the fence. Unique aesthetic but depressing.
7. Blackwater - Only usable in the epilogue and not crucial to the story. Boring aesthetic.
8. Tumbleweed - Barely went here but looks cool I guess.
9. Lagras - Bait shop and night folk? If it wasn't on a main road no one would go here.
10. Armadillo - Empty and depressing.

[zomboxsniper]

The game explains that people were pushed out of Tumbleweed because of the ruthless law there and the final straw was that the railroad was never built by Tumbleweed

[andrewlowden]

1st - Tumbleweed failed / became a ghost town bc of lack of direct access to the railroad. You read about it in the paper in RDR1 and there is an article from RDR2 to points to that happening
2nd - towns
Sadly the new austin / great plains towns all lack for 2 reasons: 1st in that you explore them just as John. The epilogue is sooo solitary. the others all have connections to multiple sidequests or
missions wit the gang. Yeah Uncle and Sadie touch on Blackwater but youre not running a scam with 3 or 4 other mates; just John. This leaves Bwater/Dillo/TWeed with a lonely feel. (honestly I have done 4 playthroughs and usually quit to restart after we build Johns house. Too depressing)
Lagras (luh GRAW) is vastly underrated. You have this whole teeny town of folk that have a community that is a safe haven from the swamp night craziness. I frequently go there to just to say howdy to every one. On RDO I am there a LOT.
Rhodes has grown on me over the past 4 years. I really dont like most of chapter 3 bc the stupid hick rivalry and their dumb missions but the town itself, along with Scarlet meadows are really something I like a lot and I often have my camp in SM in RDO. I spend a lot of time at the Saloon/Parlour. At any given day it would rotate the #1 spot to me along with V and SB.
If they doubled the size of Strawberry and added a saloon it would be the 1.01 for sure. Reminds me of Truckee CA. I really wish we could visit the buildings north of the post office. RDO has code for a place available in Strawberry and if they ever did unlock it I would absolutely get a place there. (Im level 400+ w 1600 GB and over $100k for this purpose)
Best thing in Blackwater is the little blue shack/house in the southwest corner as you leave town has a bloodhound at night!
You are correct about San Denis: definitely not with a western feel. There are things to explore in it but I usually peace out pretty quickly after I get there.

3rd - Campsites
(update saw your chapter rankings, so this is close. Id still say to rank them specific to the actual camps, interactions, what's there and what access you have). You should rank the campsites. Yeah there are only, what like 9 (incudes Lakay and epilogue places) throughout the game, but itd be interesting to hear your take. I have a 10/10 1.01 for sure but wont prejudice you with it here! Unlike...

4th - General Places in the game
My top pick is DEFINITELY Heartlands overflow / Emerald Station area. Gorgeous views, peaceful. In RDO there is a chance for your camp to be set up in the middle of the overflow, in the water, and its perfect. Id legit pay R* so that every time I login in my camp was there. Its where I show my friends and family when I want to showoff the game! Curious as to your thoughts!

Lastly
Favorite Missions - ok we all know the 1.01 YA LENNY!!!) but still which ones stand out to you?

[cookiescream]

The conversation at 6:45 the answer to why Tumbleweed became a ghost town and not Armadillo is due to the railway being built through Armadillo meaning people would stop there and settle down more than tumbleweed, and it’s implied that another reason was the Sheriff was such a fucking dick that everyone left. Old clues in RDR 1 that pointed to Tumbleweed being haunted are now pointing to people blaming the sherif for tumbleweed. Like the old writing in tumble weed about "The Devil was in that man" was geared toward the sheriff

[orebrotribune]

You explain and justify your choices well. However, I would have Saint Denis, Rhodes and Valentine in the top 3. When you have played through the main story, you spend the most time between the three places as there is the most to do. Even online, these places are the most visited.

[superpumpkin]

Tumbleweed went empty because the railroad favored Armadillo. You can find this in the Saint Denis Times No. 47

[swervedriver]

This was a really good idea ranking the towns. RDR2 vids always gets my click.

[SlickestoftheRicks]

i felt like tumbleweed becoming a ghost town was properly foreshadowed in 2. the del lobo gang was clearly primed to massacre/push out the entire town at any moment

[Michaelengelmann]

Strawberry is a beautiful town. I could see myself living in a place like that🤷🏽‍♂️ waking up & taking a deep breath of fresh mountain air 😊

[senorbolainas]

06:20 they actually explain it. you can read a newspaper that says that the railroad route bypassed Tumbleweed in favour of Armadillo. That's why armadillo flourished in comerce while Tumbleweed decayed and was abanoned. we can also assume that the town begun to loose relevance as Gaptooth Breach, the gold mine close from the town was abandoned

[GunnyHemiPlymouth]

Colter isn't an active town, but I love it a lot, I love the big barn that i store my horse in, the food processing station in the lean-to attached to the barn, the big for the time and area, farm house where you sleep at is great, as well as the church that's there. Just a very cool aesthetic with the snow. That and the Jeremiah Johnson easter egg house thats up there. A cool area to play as a mountain man. But my favorite actual town is Rhodes, the red clay roads, and the southern style is cool, checking out the mill thats there, and IMO the best place to play black jack. I spend a lot of time between those two areas as Arthur and John

[ruski]

My top 3 would definitely be Blackwater (my favorite aesthetic, most memories in RDO happened here) Saint Denis (such a contrast to the rest of the game, loved the story, love the cultural differences, and also in RDO it’s often just a battleground, also POKER) and Valentine (perfect example of a classic Wild West town, center-set in the map and has everything you need like SD)

[slaviclad]

I dont understand why everyone love valentine so much, its so muddy and dirty, st denis and blackwater are so much better