Red Dead Redemption 2 fans are already mapping the game

The Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer has just enough details to suggest last year’s leaked map is genuine.

Once again, I must tip my hat to the absolutely insane fans who can uncover huge volumes of information from the barest of details. While the young John Marston theories are speculative at best, apparently players have uncovered evidence to suggest to suggest last year’s leaked map is absolutely accurate.

In case you missed it, this map image was leaked to NeoGAF last year, and verified by an independent (but anonymous) source close to the game. Now fans within GTAForums have been taking screenshots of the trailer, making note of landmarks in the background, and using them to form a general layout of the game world.

This following images from the forums are a great example. Note the landmarks highlighted in red from the first image, which are reversed when facing the mountains from the opposite direction.

And sure, that could be a coincidence – but there are a great many coincidences. Considering each in-game cutscene has to be “filmed” from an in-game location, you’ll eventually cover every square inch of the map with enough footage.

Oh, and it gets better. If you go a step further and correlate trailer screenshots with height elevations from the leaked map, you get the following gif which matches visuals to map coordinates.

Now while I’m sure Rockstar could eventually turn the debate on its head with an official comment – or more trailer footage – there’s quite a bit of evidence suggesting these cartographers are completely right. Who knew video games could spark such an in-depth conversation on mapping and geography?

Red Dead Redemption 2 launches for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2018.

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