Destiny: The Last Laugh

The world was dying.

Years before, mankind had come to this cold, arid world in search of a strange entity. It had turned out to be a benevolent, wandering god, and had ushered in this age of wonders and prosperity. The dead world where humanity had met it had been colonized. Sprawling cities had grown on its surface, and one of the proudest was the city of Freehold. Its citizens knew that, even with the miracles performed to make the red planet viable, theirs was a taxing path, making a life for themselves here. But they had pushed back the rusty sands, and birthed miracles of their own. Freehold had become the Gem of Mars.

But all good things come to an end. No one was quite sure what was going on. There were hostile forces assaulting the Earth, Venus, and every other world that mankind had claimed. The system-wide communications network was in tatters. The Martian Defense Forces were scrambling to respond to the threat. Charlemagne was coordinating their efforts, but with every passing hour, more and more of the warmind's satellites were being shot out of orbit. The MDF were giving as good as they got, but the enemy seemed to have an unending supply of soldiers willing to march into the fury of their guns, as if willing to drown the defenders in a tide of dead bodies.

Gamr Drivl: "Red Dead Prohibition"

After writing my last video game-related entry, about How I'd Reboot "Freedom Fighters," I realized this would be a good platform for me to post similar ideas that bounce around in my head. Because, in case you haven't noticed, my brain likes to think creatively about a variety of subjects, all usually in the interest of finding good potential for storytelling.

So, here's another idea that's been riding around in my brain meats for a couple of years, that first came along while I was chatting at work with a colleague. We got to talking about a follow-up to Rockstar Games' 2010 acclaimed Western-themed sandbox game Red Dead Redemption, itself a spiritual follow-up to 2004's Red Dead Revolver. The Western gunslinging revenge story Revolver was something of a cult classic, but Redemption-- which followed the path of John Marston as he set out to take down his erstwhile outlaw partners at the behest of some corrupt government lawmen. Redemption's sprawling landscape took players through deserts, plains, forests, and mountains, while in the background there was the definite impression that the era of the "Wild West" was drawing to a close.

The ideas I set out below may seem slightly less relevant now that Red Dead Redemption 2, a prequel to Redemption, has been confirmed as dropping at some point in 2018, but hell, there are still ideas here that could be utilized for future entries in the franchise. Below the break, I'll talk about some basic story notions and gameplay mechanics that could be incorporated if Rockstar decides to do another follow-up at some point down the line.