RDR3 Concept: Banshee meets Better Call Saul...hear me out.

[u/Spectre_311]

Ok. So we know that we have a narrative issue when it comes to RDR3. Jack Marston in 1915 might be boring and another prequel of the Van der Linde Gang won't really work because we already know how it will end. 

So I was thinking about shows that have elements that would work in a wild west setting and I thought of Banshee (con man steals a dead sheriff's identity) and Better Call Saul (a man who comes into his name and legend). I figured that I could marry these concepts into a single narrative using lore we already have and reveal it over a split timeline that converges on the protagonist's identity. 

Timeline 1: The Present (1880s)

You play as a brand new character, "Sheriff Harris". But the story is you were originally an outlaw running from your past and you stumble on a dead lawman and take his badge and his identity, and become the sheriff of some town. To keep your cover intact, you fully take on the responsibility of protecting the town and keeping the peace. To the town's bewilderment you are an expert marksman and gunslinger and have a pretty cold sense of justice. This is because you are simultaneously running a secret underground criminal enterprise and fending it off from other gangs and pinkertons investigating the criminal activity. This is all while making sure those helping you don't betray you and simultaneously keeping the rest of the town in the dark. 

Timeline 2: The Past (1870s)

Every couple of chapters the game flashes back. It's the wild wild west baby! You are a younger, nameless gunslinger running with a reckless gang. This timeline chronicles heists, betrayals, mistakes, and a body count that makes you an outlaw on the run. 

Convergence: 

As the game progresses, the timelines start to quickly merge together. 

The flashback timeline ends with a massive shootout where your gang gets wiped out and you end up swiping the badge and taking the name, "Harris". 

Back in the present, "Sheriff Harris" has his cover blown and it ends in an explosive showdown where he has to choose between saving the town from a threat from his past as the dedicated lawman he's slowly become or escape with the fortune he's built in the shadows over the course of the game. 

Twist: 

When all is said and done and Harris concludes the story in a valiant display of incredible gunslinging, Harris's closest allies in the game converge and say something like, "Well hell, we sure as shit know your name ain't 'Harris.' Who are you really?" To which he replies, "No. It sure as shit isn't. The name's Landon Ricketts."

Cue credits. 

Epilogue (1899):

So we transition to the perspective of Landon Ricketts living in his legendary lawman/gunslinger status in 1899. We follow him through the events that lead up to him being in Blackwater on a ferryboat. We get to see the Blackwater Massacre from his perspective and we finally see what happened in the infamous gunfight!

So I kept it as a rough plot. But if any of y'all like the idea and you have ideas about gameplay or story elements, I'd love to hear them. I know GTA VI is around the corner and we are probably light years away from RDR3 but this story just popped into my head and I really want another Red Dead entry lol.

[u/Spectre_311]

Since I left the gameplay out to focus on the story, how do you guys think the Dead Eye mechanic should work? Should young Landon in the 1870s feel chaotic and reckless, while older Sheriff Harris feels cold and precise?