Beta content for Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 1 has been found hidden among the game’s files by modder.
A modder who goes by the name of GuiCORLEONEx794 has discovered beta content for Red Dead Redemption 1 hidden among the game’s files. More specifically, they found character assets for an NPC internally named “blackwaterkid” hidden in the Undead Nightmare DLC files. Not only does this character resemble the character model used for 16 year old Jack Marston in the game’s final build, but it also uses the exact same textures.
The character model can be seen in the screenshots above. It’s easy to tell that that it is in an unfinished state, as it has some odd looking textures on the shoulder area. As pointed out by the modder, it’s clear that the final version of Jack reused these textures albeit with a few edits here and there as well as a lot of new elements added over it.
The modder has shared two theories regarding the presence of this unfinished character model in the Undead Nightmare game files. One of their theories is that this is not beta Jack, and is in fact a beta pedestrian that was initially cut from the game, but Rockstar later ended up reusing the model for John’s son, editing it and the texture work to best suit the character.
The other theory is that this is beta Jack, but under a different name. According to the modder, not all NPCs from Red Dead Redemption 1 were given obvious internal names. They give several examples, including that of Bill as “firstoldfriend”, Javier as “secondoldfriend”, Dutch as “nemesis”, npc Jack as “son”, Bonnie as “rancherdaughter” etc. It’s likely that Jack was initially given the internal name “blackwaterkid”, but was changed later on.
Previously, it was revealed that Rockstar may no longer be working on a remaster for Red Dead Redemtpion, based on a rumor. The information is claimed to have come from a reliable source with clear accuracy on Rockstar’s current and future plans.
