Dubbed by Metacritic as the best open-world game of the last five years, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an undeniable fan favorite. With outlaws, gunfights, and a huge map to explore—players can plug hours and hours into this game without batting an eyelid. The game may be heading into its third year of release, but it’s no secret that it keeps finding new and original fans coming back for more.
From characters with questionable moral standing to stunning backdrops and plenty of missions to keep players busy, it’s no wonder the game is such a success. Everyone knows that one of the fun things about games is the achievements and trophies available through the gameplay. Red Dead Redemption 2 is no different. With just over 50 trophies and achievements available throughout the game, it’s possible that one or two may have slipped through the cracks.
10 Grin And Bear It
To get this trophy, players must survive 18 individual bear attacks and round off every attack by killing the bear. Of course, the knee-jerk reaction when encountering a bear barreling towards you is, of course, to either run in the opposite direction or kill it outright–but to get this trophy, it’s important that players let the bear attack them first and then go in for the kill.
The best way to do this is to let the bear grab you, fight it off when prompted, until it pulls away, before going in for the kill with your gun. It’s important the bear is killed this way, specifically, or it won’t count towards the trophy. Now just rinse and repeat this process 18 times and the trophy’s in the bag.
9 Cowboy Builder
An achievement that is only available via the epilogue following on from the end of the game. Cowboy Builder comes at the end of the fifth mission in A New Jerusalem. John is attempting to win Abigail back over, despite his flaws and previous misgivings, and thus builds a house with the help of his Uncle and Charles Smith. It’s a part of the main story within the epilogue so this one isn’t all that hard to achieve, just make sure to continue with the story and follow the prompts.
8 Paying Respects
Through the course of RDR2’s story, there are, unfortunately, characters that do not make it until the end of the game. Perhaps the most poignant being Arthur Morgan whose character development saw him turn from notorious outlaw into one of the game’s main protagonists.
To achieve Paying Respects, players must visit every grave of a fallen comrade throughout the map. There are nine graves, including Arthur’s, that are dotted around the map, and only paying your respects at each one will add this reward to your collection.
7 Endless Summer
As with all games, there is an achievement waiting at the end once it’s completed in its entirety, and that’s exactly where players can hope to add Endless Summer to their collection. Red Dead Redemption 2’s epilogue is a further continuation of the game, and story, giving players several additional missions to complete.
Once those missions are finished and the game wraps up again, with numerous cut scenes in between the rolling credits, and the Endless Summer trophy or achievement will be rewarded.
6 It Was THIS Big
This one is relatively easy to get but can also be overlooked as it’s not part of the main storyline. That being said, players first need to complete a mission in chapter two called The Fisher Of Men in order to be able to fish at all. Once the fishing skill is acquired, in order to gain the trophy, players need to catch a fish that weighs at least 16 lbs.
The best way to do this is to make sure to visit the bait shop in the Bayou, where players can purchase special bait sure to lure a bigger fish. Of course, you can win this reward by chance when completing other missions such as A Fisher Of Fish but it’s entirely possible to catch it before then.
5 Third Time Lucky
Third Time Lucky can be won by completing the Goodbye, Dear Friend mission in chapter six of the main storyline. The task of this mission is to ensure that Colm O’Driscoll is hanged by preventing an attempt at his escape and rescue. There are plenty of dark and questionable things you can do in the game but Colm debatably deserves his fate, with the O’Driscoll clan clearly an enemy from the start. Players will need to scale a roof to take out a shooter and then aid Sadie and Dutch in killing as many O’Driscoll’s as possible in their escape and ensure that Colm meets his sticky end.
4 It’s Art
This achievement takes a lot of work. It’s advisable to wait until the Epilogue is completed but players can start this whenever they choose after chapter two. It’s a tricky one and requires a lot of patience and has several different parts to complete. The first of these is hunting down a selection of animals, ensuring not to skin or pluck them.
Once the animals are killed, there’ll be an invitation to visit a character named Mrs. Hobbs where players are rewarded with a squirrel ornament. Taking this back to Beaches Hope, it’s placed above the fireplace. Abigail is not a fan and every time players leave and return the squirrel will be in a different place; a few visits back are required and the squirrel must be located. After it’s picked up for the last time, the achievement will be awarded.
3 Just A Scratch
This can be earned early on in the game by simply completing a story mission—Enter, Pursued by a Memory—in Chapter 1. After saving Sadie, arguably one of the best characters in the game, the next mission is the one that will snag you this achievement. Arthur is tasked with riding out to find John Marston who has been missing for two days. He’s found on the side of a snowy mountain, wounded, and returning him to camp will complete the mission and award you the Just A Scratch trophy/achievement.
2 Lending A Hand
One of the most missable achievements in RDR2, Lending a Hand is another quest that takes a lot of commitment and has a lot of different parts to it. Getting this one requires that you complete all missions within the game that give Arthur the opportunity to behave honorably.
It makes it a tricky reward to get ahold of because the game needs to be played honorably from the start, and many of the tasks required are optional and so might be overlooked. Certain levels of honor are needed to unlock later missions and it’s only after all of them are complete that players will be get their hands on this honorable reward.
1 Friends With Benefits
Another missable achievement, Friends With Benefits, is given to players who complete companion missions in chapters two, three, and four. Again, these are optional side missions and so it is easy to overlook them or miss them. It isn’t compulsory to complete every companion mission in order to win this achievement but one needs to be played in every chapter during one run-through in order to add Friends With Benefits to your roster.
Companion activities can be located on the map by white icons and they usually include something along the lines of fishing, house robbery, or hunting. It’s important that these are completed prior to the end of chapter four as there will be no options after that to get this one complete!
NEXT: Red Dead Redemption 2: 10 Biggest Tragedies That Killed The Van Der Linde Gang
