Killing Children In Red Dead Redemption?

Before you decide to lead an angry mob towards Rockstar’s doorstep let me inform you that the game does not normally allow for this to happen, but an uncovered exploit changes that.  Many have wondered when Rockstar would allow the realism and violence reach the young ones in game.  In GTA IV there was a stroller spotted out on some rock as a little easter egg to tease people who considered the idea.  It seems that Red Dead Redemption is the game that breaks the tradition and allows you to kill more than just grown ups.

SPOILERS

For those who haven’t progressed to about 70% or so the next few sentences will reveal certain plot points.  Read at your own risk.  If you’re still here, then I have an interesting discovery to share with you.  I reached the part in the story where John Marston is reuinited with his wife and son.  Everything was going great and I continued through the missions normally.  To proceed to the next mission I had to wait until morning for them to appear.  I walked back to the ranch when I noticed a man walking in the open.  I shot at him and his hat, along with a spurt of blood, flew into the air.  To my surprise he got up and ran.  I chased after him and realized he had the blue X over him meaning I could not shoot him.  It was the uncle who was watching the ranch.  I wondered if the blue X had failed to appear when I shot him originally, but I learned that if you have a shot gun, throwing knives, dynamite or molotovs then you can damage these NPCs.  You can do it with other weapons such as pistols if you can swing the cursor over the character faster than the game can register that they should not be harmed.  When using the shotgun all I had to do was aim to either side of the character and the gun’s spread tagged them.  I ended up killing the uncle which brought me to a screen reading “You have killed a member of your family. The game will now load from the last checkpoint.”  It was time to experiment.

I went into the ranch where John’s wife was laying in bed.  I pulled out the shotgun, aimed a little to the right of her and shot.  The same series of events unfolded and she died.  By killing friends or family that shouldn’t be harmed John goes into a random death animation compliments of the ragdoll physics and the game will reload your last checkpoint as the screen states.  Now at this point you’re probably wondering what all this has to do with a child’s death?  Upon exploring the house more I found John’s son, Jack.  I was able to harm Jack and the damage was visible on his body.  To make the whole thing a little more unusual, and slightly comedic, was that as I shot at Jack he said “Not again!”.  After he died I was taken to the same screen as usual and the game loaded up the checkpoint for me.  I was wondering if Rockstar let melee weapons harm these “invulnerable” NPCs so I walked back to Jack’s room and he was about to get into bed.  I swung but the knife went right through him without any effect.  I thought that was that…not exactly.  As he laid down I still had my knife drawn and I noticed a prompt to press circle appeared which read “Silent Kill”.  John proceeded to cover his son’s mouth and slit his throat.  As you’d expect this brought me to the “you killed your family” screen.

As far as I know this is the first game to allow player’s to expand their killing from adults to children.  I guess I shouldn’t really say “allow”.  The game was not made in hopes that you’d ruthlessly slaughter your wife and son, but due to some possible oversights (or trusting that gamers aren’t psychos) it can be done.  Take a look for yourself and leave some comments letting us know what you think.  As this story spreads out there I’m sure there will be tons of heated discussions.  Also, be sure to check back soon as our review of the game will be up (No, killing children will not make it into the HOTs”).

25 thoughts on “Killing Children In Red Dead Redemption?

  1. “As far as I know this is the first game to allow player’s to expand their killing from adults to children.”
    Wrong answer. Fallout already did it in 1997, and with no “game over” screens.

  2. wow you found a glitch that has never happen in a game before… this is bs making it sound like Rock Star make this the point of the game… this isn’t going to lead to stupid politicians talking crap and spew miss information. do you think a holier then thou politician will take the time to read this to the end or understand its just a glitch?

  3. There’s a reason I said “As far as I know…” in my post, but thanks for the correction.

  4. Hey you guize I hear SMG2 is out and it’s totally awesome and I’m not being paid to say that.

  5. Ummm… am I missing something? What about harvesting the kids in Bioshock? That was pretty messed up.

    Also, don’t forget the original top-down Postal. That actually changed the music while you were killing kids, as they were yelling for their parents.

    Awful stuff… but, at the end of the day, each game – Bioshock, Red Dead, Postal; allow the PLAYER to decide. No game makes it a requirement to shoot them.

    If there ever is a game that makes it a requirement, backlash would be justified… but freedom of speech/expression/creativity would still win, regardless of how morally bankrupt that decision is.

  6. To be honest, it’s just a game. Who cares if you can “kill” a video game AI controlled child.

    In Red Dead I just shoot everything. It’s only a game, and anyone who were to be influenced by games to kill people in real life would be those people who are mentally inclined to kill whatever media they see.

  7. Pixels aren’t people. If you were going to shoot pedestrians and cops after taking down a helicopter with a rocket launcher in real life, no damn video game made you do it. You were bent in the head to begin with.

  8. It’s not like Red Dead makes it easy. In fact, it even forces you to restart the game if you do. I don’t think there should be any controversy.

  9. The fact is you are the one who bent the game to allow you to kill children is somewhat concerning. It is in no way the intention of Rockstar to allow you to kill anyone without consequences.

    The honor system causes you to lose honor for killing innocent people.
    I’m so tired of glitchers and people with way to much time putting out articles with titles like “Killing Children in Red Dead Redemption”. I agree with some commenters that some ill informed conservative will pick this up and run with it.

    Also @ Bob: The most profitable game of all time Modern Warfare 2 does exactly what you say no game does. It forces you to kill innocent families in a crowded airport.

  10. the whole killing kids option in video games should be aloud, fully. yeah its totally an evil thing to, but come on. get over it. u ppl find it sick to kill kids in games, but not movies. and as far as glitchs, fallout 3 also had a glitch to kill kids but it was patched quickly, it had to do with the sandman perk, alowing you to kill silently while there are sleeping, like a siad, it was patched. personally, if i see someone in a game who i should just feel the urge to kill i will give it my all. kid or not..

  11. Best game I’ve played in a long time. Rockstar, why give the media the “ammo” to destroy your masterpiece?

  12. Finally! A game where I can kill those darn youngsters. I was growing tired of punching children in Fallout 3, anyway, and suicide bombing Little Lamplight with the Fat Man was only mildly amusing.

    We need a game where you can kill kids the same ways as regular characters. I’m talking about shooting half their heads off like Soldier of Fortune, or silent kill them like Ezio, or how about we snipe them from high above while they walk down the street with mommy? Wouldn’t you get a kick out of the old “grenade in the teddy bear” gag?

    I wont be satisfied until I can run into a nursery with a rusty chainsaw or a molotov in a game.

  13. “Also @ Bob: The most profitable game of all time Modern Warfare 2 does exactly what you say no game does. It forces you to kill innocent families in a crowded airport.”

    Right… but, completely wrong… we’re talking about kids.

    Good try,
    Bob

  14. Really, I don’t think Garibay has done anything wrong. It was a simple experiment. In RDR I just run around shooting… well, everything! And if you think this game is bad, take a look at Bioshock, where it is encouraged to kill the “little sisters,” for it results in you getting more Eve than if you save them!
    I know they are supposed to be evil, but there isn’t much controversey on the fact that if you found an evil kid in the street its fine to cut them open.
    But, as many have expressed, these are Pixels. Not real people. And if you find this such a massive problem you should go turn up at Rockstar’s door. xD

    Gemma<3

  15. This is all so fucking stupid, fucks sake you total bender it’s a fucking glitch get over it. What is the world coming to…

  16. Really, not real people, you have no probleme killing ANIMATED horses, other animals and adults why should ANIMATED kids be any different. Also are there other kids but your son? I don’t have the game yet but i’m getting it in a few days, I have deffenitly watched enough vids, seen loads of pics and read lots about it!

  17. Anonymous you’re an idiot. It gave you the OPTION. It did NOT force you so your argument is COMPLETELY invalid.

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