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New Austin

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New Austin: the last real outlaw country. Where the old ways still hold true.
John Marston

New Austin is one of the two American states in Red Dead Redemption and is also the largest. It is also known as the Frontier. In Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, it is one of the five American states.

Description[]

A map showing the shape and the borders of New Austin

A map showing the shape and the borders of New Austin

This state is characterized as a largely rugged and arid desert in the process of westward expansion. As such, there is an expected presence of wild animals and outlaws. Armadillo and Tumbleweed are the main settlements of the territory, although it is generally fairly rural; by the time of Redemption 2, it is the second only to Ambarino as the most sparsely populated region.

Major industries in New Austin include farming, ranching, oil, and transportation. The State has attracted some immigrants (domestic and foreign) to work on the railways and other developments occurring. New Austin also acts as a key region between US and Mexico trade. There are hints of the territory's previous Spanish/Mexican heritage, in terms of place names and architecture.

By the start of the 20th century, the region is going through some hard times, as Armadillo has been hit by a cholera outbreak, and the Del Lobo Gang run frequent and terrorize civilians indiscriminately, with law enforcement and government being quite weak in responding to the crisis in the territory. Tumbleweed is the region's major settlement by this time, competing with Armadillo for a key railway connection.

By 1911, however, New Austin has stabilized somewhat, as Armadillo recovers from the outbreak and expands, winning the key railway connection and becoming a major hub of commerce and settlement in the area. However, Tumbleweed becomes abandoned and is overrun by more hostile gangs, and while law enforcement is somewhat stronger, they still struggle to cope with the many outlaws that still inhabit the region.

The name of the region and its largest town as well as its border location, prominent fort, mines, and oil derricks all show a strong Texas influence. The lack of large settlements, as well as a sparse population and untouched landscape is broadly reflective of the Southwestern United States (especially Arizona and New Mexico) during the turn of the century.

Geography[]

RDR2 NewAustin

Map of the Southwestern US as shown in-game, with New Austin highlighted in red.

New Austin lies between Nuevo Paraíso to the south and West Elizabeth to the northeast. It comprises four regions: Cholla Springs, Gaptooth Ridge, Hennigan's Stead, and Río Bravo.

South of New Austin is the San Luis River, which acts as a natural border to Nuevo Paraíso. New Austin is also bordered to the east by Flat Iron Lake, which leads to the Lannahechee River and gives New Austin key water links to the rest of the United States. New Austin is bordered to the north by the Redemption Mountains, while the Sea of Coronado and more mountains border it to the west, giving the region a greater feel of isolation and remoteness.

The terrain of New Austin resembles aspects of several real Southwestern U.S. states:

  • Cholla Springs resembles the Sonoran Desert region of Arizona, including saguaro cactus, desert scrub, and prickly pears.
  • The scrub desert of Río Bravo is strongly reminiscent of the Chihuahua Desert regions of New Mexico, but also bears a resemblance to the cliffs within the Diablo Canyon Recreational Area park in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
  • Gaptooth Ridge is mostly based on the transitional area between the Sonoran and Mojave Desert regions of western Arizona with its Joshua trees, tan rocks, saguaro cactus, and rugged formations, and Arizona is the only American state where both Joshua trees and saguaro cacti naturally occur. This area also has light influences from southern California and Nevada.
  • Hennigan's Stead resembles many parts of Texas; the central area is based on many areas in Central Texas such as Hill Country, with its dry plains, oak trees, and small hills; the bordering area with Cholla Springs is heavily based on Big Bend Country, which is more desert-like and has many canyons and ridges. Finally, the areas east of Stillwater Creek are bayous, and are based on the Gulf Coast region of Texas.

Geographically, New Austin seems to correspond with Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas; from an in-game geography perspective, as well as clues from the terrain in out-of-bounds areas, it seems that areas representing central and eastern Texas exist in between New Austin (and its Mexican neighbor, Nuevo Paraiso) and Lemoyne.

Locations in New Austin[]

The following is an alphabetical list of the 46 locations found in New Austin:

Hennigan's Stead[]

400px-New Austin hennigan'sstead

Click to enlarge

Cholla Springs[]

400px-New Austin chollasprings

Click to enlarge

Gaptooth Ridge[]

400px-New Austin gaptoothridge

Click to enlarge

Río Bravo[]

400px-New Austin riobravo

Click to enlarge

Trivia[]

General[]

  • In both games, the player can exit New Austin's defined boundaries into unmarked territory, without the game preventing them from doing so.
    • In Red Dead Redemption, there is an area north of MacFarlane's Ranch which is covered in snow; the in-game map shows that it is in-bounds, but seems to be outside of New Austin's political boundaries. This area was not included in the prequel.
    • In Red Dead Redemption 2, the player can cross the Sea of Coronado to its western side, and can pass through two ravines and once again go outside of New Austin's defined boundaries on the map. This area has been used to glitch through into Mexico.
  • While New Austin is intentionally designed to be analogous to Texas in terms of location and geography, the real life state of Texas is confirmed to exist in the Redemption universe according to a newspaper article.[1]
  • New Austin became a state in 1845, which is also the same year that Texas was admitted to the Union.[citation needed]
  • On June 7th, 2016 a new buyer for the player's warehouse was added in the Further Adventures in Finance and Felony update in Grand Theft Auto Online. The company's name, New Austin Capital, is derived from the state of New Austin; however the use of the name doesn't mean that it's based in New Austin itself, the name is simply derived from it.
    • This Easter Egg could have been a subtle hint towards the release of Red Dead Redemption 2's first official trailer the 20th of October, 4 months later. Worth noting that 4 days before the trailer was released, Rockstar themselves posted a Tweet in which they also teased their upcoming title.

Red Dead Redemption[]

  • The railroad tunnel between Hennigan's Stead and Cholla Springs and the snow capped canyon in north Hennigan's Stead are some of the few places in the game where the player is, technically, off the map.
  • The racing track in Gaptooth Ridge is the westernmost point in the game.
  • As with the boundary between New Austin and West Elizabeth, the transition of the music when the player moves between New Austin and Nuevo Paraíso can take some time to register.

Red Dead Redemption 2[]

  • New Austin cannot be explored legitimately until the epilogue, but it can be entered early using a glitch.[2]
    • This glitch no longer works as of Version 1.7.2.
  • After the events of the Blackwater Massacre, all of West Elizabeth south of the Upper Montana River was put under lockdown by the Pinkertons. Although this was a device put in the game to prevent the player from straying to New Austin early, it is possible to evade the Pinkerton patrols long enough to reach New Austin, where one can see on the game map that New Austin was also put under the same lockdown with all of southern West Elizabeth as well.
  • Arthur Morgan has his own unique dialogue and journal drawings in New Austin despite being unable to visit the state at any point during the game's narrative. This suggests that Arthur was originally intended to visit New Austin, but this was cut from the game.
    • Related, the game files include both 1899 and 1907 variants for most shopkeepers on the region, but the game only uses one of these models for each shopkeeper in both time periods. In addition to this, in 1907 none of the graves found in the region ever have a date-of-death beyond 1899. This suggests that there were originally meant to be more differences between the 1899 version and the 1907 version, but in the final game it's an unchanging combination of both, which would explain why there was so much change between 1907 and 1911.
  • Despite New Austin being the largest territory in the game, only one story mission in Red Dead Redemption 2 is set in the state, "An Honest Day's Labors".
  • New Austin is the only American state in the game that does not share a border with New Hanover.
  • The cholera epidemic which plagues Armadillo in 1907 has caused many residents from both the town and neighboring settlements to flee in fear, including the MacFarlane family and much of MacFarlane's Ranch.
  • Testament to the region's lack of modernity compared to eastern states, much of New Austin is underdeveloped and sparsely populated. The settlements of MacFarlane's Ranch, Thieves Landing, and Rathskeller Fork lack amenities such as a safehouse, general store, gunsmith, etc. By 1911, the once-prosperous town of Tumbleweed was completely abandoned as a result of the railroad being built to nearby Armadillo instead.
  • New Austin is the only American state in the game that lacks an official state flag, but considering the flags of West Elizabeth, New Hanover and Ambarino weren't revealed until a later update of Red Dead Online, it is possible this may change with a future update.
  • Unlike every other town in the game, the three major settlements in this region don't have a visible outline on the map, even if placed under lockdown.
  • North of Greenhollow there is an abandoned homestead which is not present in Red Dead Redemption. This homestead is a moonshine shack for the Moonshiner role in Red Dead Online. This is the only Moonshine shack to appear in Story Mode; all others in Tall Trees, Bayou Nwa, The Heartlands and Grizzlies West are not present in Story Mode. This may be due to a developer oversight as New Austin was created late into development.
  • On the map, there's a house slightly southeast from Rathskeller Fork, which belongs to the alchemist mentioned in the newspapers whose very house explodes the very moment John Marston discovers it while free-roaming during the epilogue. After exploring the remains and looting a lockbox containing the Explosive Slug Pamphlet, the ruins, including the lockbox will disappear if the player leaves the area and will no longer appear during the rest of the game, despite the house location still being marked in the map. Also, despite being already marked on the map by 1898 and its destruction only happening in 1907, the house is nowhere to be seen during the events of Red Dead Online.

External Links[]

References[]

  1. They Have Fled
  2. How to get to New Austin EARLY in Red Dead Redemption 2 (After Patch RDR2 1.05): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOjaUmTskqs

Gallery[]

Achievements/Trophies[]

The discovery of locations in New Austin counts towards the following Trophies/Achievements:

Onthetrail
10 gamerscoregamerscore
Bronze bronzebronze
Uncover every location on the map in Single Player.

Austinoverpowered
25 gamerscoregamerscore
Silver silversilver
Complete Twin Rocks, Pike's Basin, and Gaptooth Breach hideouts in Single Player.

Instintoasesino1
25 gamerscoregamerscore
Silver silversilver
Complete Fort Mercer and Nosalida hideouts in singleplayer.

Evilspirits1
25 gamerscoregamerscore
Silver silversilver
Complete Tumbleweed and Tesoro Azul hideouts in singleplayer.

Redeemed
100 gamerscoregamerscore
Gold goldgold
Attain 100% List in the singleplayer game completion list.


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