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The secrets in New Hanover explained

For as long as anyone can remember, Rockstar has always loved placing obscure, mysterious, and sometimes downright creepy Easter eggs throughout its open worlds. And as the studio's most ambitious open-world game to date, Red Dead Redemption 2 was obviously no exception to this. Across Red Dead 2's five states, secrets are hidden in the wilderness, ranging from humorous Easter eggs to downright spooky mysteries that may or may not be solved.




Although it is not the official starting region of the game, most players have their earliest memories of it Red Dead Redemption 2 in New Hanover State. New Hanover is home to the now iconic little village of Valentine and the beginning of the free-roam gameplay proper. It's the quintessential Great Plains region where cowboys can do whatever they want in the last great American frontier. As a result, there are many unexplained mysteries in the state's wild regions.

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Serial killers for Valentine's Day

Red Dead Redemption 2: The Serial Killer's Cabin


The first mystery in New Hanover is the serial killer Valentine. This might be the most disturbing and creepy Easter egg in the game, if only because it will likely end up being open-ended and unresolved for most players. The first clue that a murderer is prowling the Wild West is a body lined up under a train track near Valentine. This is easy to spot on your first playthrough, as the corpse's location is very far between the first camp and Valentine. This is the start of the “Look at My Works” side quest.

Players can pursue additional clues in Scarlett Meadows and Big Valley to determine the murderer's final location. a run-down, run-down shack west of Valentine. The serial killer's lair, located in the basement of the destroyed house, is a grisly scene with blood, guts and skulls encrusting the walls and floors; It's more like a horror game than a cowboy adventure. If all quest requirements are met upon entering the hut, the killer will strike and let the players complete the quest. However, if the cabin is found before the quest requirements are met, the location only serves as a confusing, spooky vignette in the player's time wandering the wilderness.


New shark attack in Hanover

Red Dead Redemption Shark Trinket

Far to the east of New Hanover, along the coast, players can find a washed-up ship that has been almost completely destroyed. There are no obvious clues as to what led to such a devastating accident, but examining a locker that washed up on the beach nearby may provide clues as to what caused this ship to meet such a violent end.

The box in question contains a single item: a shark tooth trinket. It is a unique item that permanently increases the player's horse bonding experience by 10%. While this is certainly an excellent result with minimal effort, the gem seems to suggest that the hapless crew may have made something of a mistake Jaw moment before they meet their untimely end. And judging by the size of the wreck, it appears there is a gigantic shark roaming the waters of New Hanover. A larger boat may not be enough.


Don't play with fire

Red Dead Redemption 2 Volatile Fire Bottle Brochure

Another fun/useful Easter egg provides access to a new recipe for a new type of throwable. After exploring the Heartlands, players will notice a conspicuous patch of burned-out forest, with trees and grass surrounding it completely scorched; All telltale signs of a forest fire so devastating it would give Smokey the Bear a heart attack.

And there was definitely a forest fire, but not the natural type you would expect in one of the drier regions of the country. As they venture into the burned-out wilderness, players find the remains of a campsite. The only thing of note in the campsite is a locker that contains a booklet for the Volatile Fire Bottle, among other randomly generated supplies. It's safe to say that the poor soul who came up with this brochure needed to do more fire safety.


UFO sightings and tragedies in the real world

Red Dead Redemption 2 Alien Easter Egg

UFOs and aliens have long been a staple of Rockstar games Red Dead Redemption 2 keeps the tradition alive. There is a cabin north of Emerald Ranch and south of Moonstone Pond with the remains of an occult ritual. By looting the corpses, players can find a note with instructions to watch the sky “under half moon for the second hour.” Of course, such a detailed game has its own lunar cycles. If you return to the scene at 2:00 a.m. when the half-full moon is in the sky, you have a chance of seeing a UFO flying high above.


This macabre Easter egg is a very haunting allusion to the real-life mass suicide of the Heaven's Gate movement in 1997. The group believed their souls were clinging to the passing comet Hale-Bopp and living in the afterlife with extraterrestrial beings. Certainly a dark real-life reference, but that Red Dead The series is no stranger to darker themes.

Artificial mutant

Red Dead Redemption 2 Mutant

One of the most bizarre Easter eggs in the game lies in a villa west of Van Horn. In this overgrown and dilapidated dwelling, players may encounter a strange and disturbing scientific experiment whose owner is unknown. Although it's not particularly gory or gruesome, the scene is quite scary in its own way; The project in question was a mad scientist's attempt to fuse a bear, a human, a boar, and a vulture. The result is a lifeless, stitched-together hybrid that would make even Mary Shelley blush.


While this is one of the strangest things you can find while wandering the game's open world, in context this mystery is a little more cheeky than you'd expect. The human-bear-boar fusion is an obvious homage to the now legendary South Park Follow with the fictional cryptid ManBearPig. But even if the origins of this Easter egg are purely comical in nature, that doesn't change the fact that it's still a pretty scary thing to stumble upon unprepared, even if the player is in on the joke. What's even scarier is that data miners have found code in the game that suggests this abomination was supposed to be in development at some point and actually be alive, although this was discarded before release.

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