Five years on, Red Dead Online remarkably feels like less of a dying west than RDR2

I don’t see him hit the ground, but I definitely hear it.

By the time I turn back, the mysterious figure that’s just rode past me as we both galloped through one of New Austin’s many sandy gullies is already back on his feet. As I bemusedly watch him pick up the carcass of a small animal and reattach it to the saddle of his horse – half-expecting him to shoot me – I wonder whether it was my fault that he somehow ended up crashing his horse and being flung headlong into the dust, as has happened to every Red Dead Redemption 2 player at some point. Did my passing him on the narrow trail push him into the path of a rock that tripped up his mare?

I’ll never know if it did, because he rides off at breakneck pace without saying a word. Regardless, like all of the silent cowboys I’ve encountered during my return to Red Dead Online, I’m glad to have met him.