Adding Mexico chapter in RDR2 would make no sense and is a horrible idea
With this post, I want to partly respond to a discussion taking place in another post on this sub.
My take: Adding Mexico to RDR2 story would go against everything the narrative set out to establish and would be a horrible idea.
Adding a chapter Nuevo Paraíso (or any other original part of Mexico for that matter) would fundamentally break the story, as RDR2 is a western game that is not set in the west. This is intentional and apparent to anyone who has played at least a few hours of story mode. Throughout the story, the Van Der Linde gang is getting pushed further east to civilization, opposite direction of where they want to end up. Adding rough Mexico at any point of the game would go against this theme.
Some have pointed out that Mexico would make up for a better chapter 5 than Guarma. As both locations appear like a brief trip to a foreign unknown environment, I can see where this idea comes from. But apart from my previous ramblings on how it would go against the overall story, you must take into consideration what Guarma brings to the table first.
I assume many of players' disregard for Guarma and favour of Mexico comes partly from the fact that Guarma is rushed, shit open world chapter and the majority of it's content were cut. Still however, it's mark on the story is irreplaceable.
By chapter 4, the gang is the furthest east they have ever been and completely out of their element, in a large city. Dutch keeps promising how he will be the one to leave the US with the gang and head for a tropical paradise. Guarma chapter kind of shows us, Dutch and the rest of the gang that there is no such thing as tropical paradise with a life free of government. It's this raw realization that makes Dutch more radical and crazy. We can see it in the gameplay too; even though chapter 5 takes max two hours to get trough, every mission involve large shootouts without much rest. It's tiring and frustrating. This frustration kind of adds to the story though, nor Arthur nor the player wants to be on that island because it's hell (that being said, I'm unsure if this was intentional or even a good idea to begin with, I digress)
Coming back to my previous thought, I doubt that the openness of Perdido or Diez Coronas would drive Dutch into such desperation.
Frankly, I don't think the inclusion of Mexico (or even New Austin for that matter; although NA isn't related the narrative except that one mission in the epilogue). I belive that story-wise, Guarma is quite strong chapter, it's the execution that I feel lacking.
TL;DR: Story-wise, a chapter in Mexico would make zero sense while Guarma takes into consideration the broader plot intentions and themes while still works as a change of pace and environment (I don't know what tl;dr means).
With this post, I want to partly respond to a discussion taking place in another post on this sub.
My take: Adding Mexico to RDR2 story would go against everything the narrative set out to establish and would be a horrible idea.
Adding a chapter Nuevo Paraíso (or any other original part of Mexico for that matter) would fundamentally break the story, as RDR2 is a western game that is not set in the west. This is intentional and apparent to anyone who has played at least a few hours of story mode. Throughout the story, the Van Der Linde gang is getting pushed further east to civilization, opposite direction of where they want to end up. Adding rough Mexico at any point of the game would go against this theme.
Some have pointed out that Mexico would make up for a better chapter 5 than Guarma. As both locations appear like a brief trip to a foreign unknown environment, I can see where this idea comes from. But apart from my previous ramblings on how it would go against the overall story, you must take into consideration what Guarma brings to the table first.
I assume many of players' disregard for Guarma and favour of Mexico comes partly from the fact that Guarma is rushed, shit open world chapter and the majority of it's content were cut. Still however, it's mark on the story is irreplaceable.
By chapter 4, the gang is the furthest east they have ever been and completely out of their element, in a large city. Dutch keeps promising how he will be the one to leave the US with the gang and head for a tropical paradise. Guarma chapter kind of shows us, Dutch and the rest of the gang that there is no such thing as tropical paradise with a life free of government. It's this raw realization that makes Dutch more radical and crazy. We can see it in the gameplay too; even though chapter 5 takes max two hours to get trough, every mission involve large shootouts without much rest. It's tiring and frustrating. This frustration kind of adds to the story though, nor Arthur nor the player wants to be on that island because it's hell (that being said, I'm unsure if this was intentional or even a good idea to begin with, I digress)
Coming back to my previous thought, I doubt that the openness of Perdido or Diez Coronas would drive Dutch into such desperation.
Frankly, I don't think the inclusion of Mexico (or even New Austin for that matter; although NA isn't related the narrative except that one mission in the epilogue). I belive that story-wise, Guarma is quite strong chapter, it's the execution that I feel lacking.
TL;DR: Story-wise, a chapter in Mexico would make zero sense while Guarma takes into consideration the broader plot intentions and themes while still works as a change of pace and environment (I don't know what tl;dr means).