Before ‘Red Dead Redemption,’ There Was ‘Red Dead Revolver’

There's a mission about halfway through Red Dead Revolver that I have not forgotten even in the 22 years since I first played Rockstar's original Western. It's called "The Traitor." The player takes over the villainous General Javier Diego of the Mexican army in a flashback, as he attempts to take control of a bridge at the border between Mexico and the United States. Your goal in the mission is simple: Stay alive long enough to wipe out the U.S. Army soldiers and cannon artillery. There's nothing simple about the mission, though. The game just obliterates you with garbage: Your two NPC partners can't hold up against a stiff breeze, the American soldiers are everywhere, and the fucking cannons will not stop barraging you. The cannon shots don't kill you, but they do send you flying and make you watch in agony as the General takes approximately nine hours to stand back up. All the while, the soldiers are whittling your health down and oh another cannon is shooting at you. It's frustrating, it's unfair, it grinds the game's pace to a halt as you struggle for hours on end to complete "The Traitor" or just give up. I passed the mission on my own game back in 2004 relatively easily, but my best friend was so frustrated by it that he had me come over to beat it for him. I somehow lost all my skill on the walk to his place, and we couldn't beat it a second time; he never finished the game. "The Traitor" is everything that is brutal about video games, just a mess where you as the player fight the game as much as the gameplay. It also rocks. "The Traitor" feels truly epic as explosions go off around you while you dodge bullets, and the challenge becomes addicting; landing a perfect flare gun shot on a cannon while diving behind cover is a thrill not unlike those found in Bloodborne or Elden Ring. "The Traitor" is, without a doubt, one of the definitive video game experiences of my life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLYWlY2KeZE

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