Red Dead Redemption’s zombie-focused Undead Nightmare expansion is widely regarded as one of the best examples of DLC to date, offering a wild new story set in the game’s world.
It can’t have escaped your attention that the world of Red Dead Redemption 2 is also full of strange, unexplained details, from aliens, to ghost trains, to Bigfoot himself.
All of these bizarre, seemingly paranormal details have given some fans cause to speculate that Rockstar might well be leaving subtle teases for some kind of single-player DLC in the same vein as Undead Nightmare, which I’m sure we can all agree would be incredible if true.
There seem to be three easter eggs or hints in particular that have fans excited for an Undead Nightmare 2. The first and most obvious is the presence mysterious (and deeply disturbing) “nite folk” who terrorise the bayou area.
These strange folk certainly look and act a hell of a lot like the zombies from Undead Nightmare, if a little more organised as they employ a number of traps and tricks to lure you into the swamps so they can murder you.
The lack of explanation towards what makes the Nite Folk act the way they do is what’s really giving fans cause to believe it could be some kind of zombie-related tease though. Sure, they could just be crazy swamp dwelling murders with pasty skin, but if you’ve met them you’ll know there’s something much creepier about them.
This leads us to the poor Braithwaite girl who can be found chained in a toilet on the outskirts of the manner, mumbling to herself and ready to lash out at you if you get too close.
Again, this could be a coincidence, but she certainly resembles the Nite Folk with her pale skin and aggressive mannerisms. It would make sense that this member of the Braithwaite family was locked away precisely because she has some of mysterious affliction.
Finally – and perhaps most interestingly – there are indeed a number of subtle references in the game to an outbreak of some kind. One player on Reddit has discovered a boarded up barn that warns of plague, which has led to others discussing the possibility of some kind of “infected” DLC.
In addition to this, there are numerous mentions in the in-game newspaper of an outbreak of bubonic plague, and a town in which everyone seemed to die on the same day (September 7).
If all of this isn’t enough to convince you (and I was certainly sceptical), then the most interesting mention of this mystery outbreak can be found in the Saint Denis Times No. 46, which specifically points out “”teeth marks like those of a dog or hyena” appearing on a recent plague victim.
While all of these could be unrelated red herrings, or Rockstar simply having some fun with us, there’s certainly a chance that something sinister is being alluded to.
While GTA V famously never had any single-player DLC, Undead Nightmare remains so iconic and beloved that it’d be a real missed opportunity for Rockstar not to include something similar in Red Dead Redemption 2.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.