‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ Trailer Rumor: Detailed Leaked Map From Last Year Accurate After All

The release of a brand new trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 has many going back to a leak from last year that shows the entire map of the highly-anticipated game in detail.

Back in April 2016, Tech Radar got their hands on what was claimed to be a version of the art direction map for the title. It was originally posted on NeoGAF but was quickly deleted.

Before it was taken down, many users already managed to save copies of it—many of which have been emerging here and there as gamers scrutinize it inch by inch following the Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer release.

During the time the leak found its way online, many were skeptical about its authenticity, but now, the majority of the gaming community is convinced that it was the real deal after all since a fan map cannot be this detailed and spot on. This means that gamers could actually be looking at what Red Dead Redemption 2 has to offer as far as exploration and location go.

As known Grand Theft Auto tipster Spider-Vice stated in the GTA Forums, the leaked map from last year featured references to Cornwall, which is a location only just confirmed in the recently released Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer.

There were also places like the Oil Fields Rail Station and Horseshoe Overlook in the clip, which were also in the leaked map—the inclusion of which would otherwise be deemed too specific for something that’s fan-made.

A GTA Forums member JeyM put together a gif image pointing which exactly on the map the locales featured in the trailer sit. Another member named DuPz0r made his own mapping based on the leak and what has been shown in the trailer so players can get a simplified overview.

Many members of the forums have also been trying to pinpoint the exact location of some of the places in the trailer mentioned on the leaked Red Dead Redemption 2 map such as Paintes Sky and Downes Ranch. There is a waterfall by these two areas that gamers now believe is called the Cumberland Falls.

GTA Forums members alz and Nem_Wan, on other hand, did a landmass comparison and discovered that Red Dead Redemption 2 will have a larger playable space than the first game. The original was approximately 5.8 sq. miles while the upcoming title is at 8.8 sq. miles.

The source of the 2016 map claimed at the time of the leak that the upcoming game will be a prequel backed by the fact that it showed no sign of the railroads, which the first Red Dead Redemption game had a lot of.

It is all but confirmed by Rockstar Games that Red Dead Redemption 2 will be a prequel with the story following Arthur Morgan, one of the members of the Dutch’s Gang, a band of outlaws in which the original game’s protagonist John Marston was also a part of.

Since in the first game, the group was already disbanded, the fact that the trailer for the upcoming installment shows them during the earlier years of their operations shows it is set before the original.

Also, if the leaked map is anything to go by, fans could be looking at a possible crossover between the game and Mafia, another franchise by Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two Interactive, thanks to the inclusion of New Bordeaux, a location featured in Mafia 3.

Red Dead Redemption 2 will be out spring 2018.

[Featured Image by Rockstar Games]