By Dan Moren

October 18, 2016 6:22 AM PT

Rockstar Games officially announces Red Dead Redemption 2

Note: This story has not been updated for several years.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2
Coming Fall 2017#RDR2https://t.co/ZacUJ48wvE pic.twitter.com/lffZvn42pR

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) October 18, 2016

After a couple days of teasing Twitter followers with mysterious images, Rockstar Games has officially announced what everyone had come to expect: Red Dead Redemption 2, a sequel to its hit Western-themed title from way back in 2010 (which shall forever be known among my friends as “Grand Theft Horse”). A trailer is scheduled to launch this Thursday.

Details are so far sparse, though the announcement confirms that the new game follows in the footsteps of the original in being “an epic tale of life in America’s unforgiving heartland.” The first RDR game was…unforgiving, to say the least, in its portrayal of the dying days of the Wild West, and it earned Game of the Year accolades from several publications. Personally, it remains one of my favorite video game experiences to date–I spent countless hours just enjoying riding a horse through the scenery.¹

Rockstar also says the new game will feature “a brand new online multiplayer experience,” which will likely be music to the ears of those who played the original, which featured a somewhat limited and lackluster multiplayer experience that contrasted sharply with the single-player world. Certainly, the art so far used for RDR2, which features seven characters against a blood red backdrop, seems to point towards an experience that’s about a team–it’s hard not to draw a direct line to The Magnificent Seven. It’s worth noting, though, that none of the characters depicted in the initial image are women; Rockstar doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to the portrayal of women in its games. None of its popular Grand Theft Auto series have let you play as women, and its portrayal of female NPCs has often been reductive.

In an era where many franchises seem to pump out sequel after uninspired sequel every couple years, it’s kind of refreshing to see a company take its time–especially when it has such a tough act to follow. By the time RDR2 debuts in fall of next year, it’ll have been around seven years since the original game came out. Rockstar is known for taking time to develop its titles, and with a world as big and sprawling as RDR2 is likely to have, that’s important.

[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors. You can find him on Twitter at @dmoren or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. The latest novel in his Galactic Cold War series of sci-fi space adventures, The Nova Incident, is available now.]

If you appreciate articles like this one, support us by becoming a Six Colors subscriber. Subscribers get access to an exclusive podcast, members-only stories, and a special community.