New Austin — reddead

“	New Austin: the last real outlaw country. Where the old ways still hold true.	„
	—John Marston

New Austin is one of the two American states in Red Dead Redemption and is also the largest. It is also known as the Frontier. In Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, it is one of the five American states.

Description

This state is characterized as a largely rugged and arid desert in the process of westward expansion. As such, there is an expected presence of wild animals and outlaws. Armadillo and Tumbleweed are the main settlements of the territory, although it is generally fairly rural; by the time of Redemption 2, it is second only to Ambarino as being the most sparsely populated region.

Major industries in New Austin include farming, ranching, oil, and transportation. The State has attracted some immigrants (domestic and foreign) to work on the railways and other developments occurring. New Austin also acts as a key region between US and Mexico trade. There are hints of the territory's previous Spanish/Mexican heritage, in terms of place names and architecture.

By the start of the 20th century, the region is going through some hard times, as Armadillo has been hit by a cholera outbreak, and the Del Lobo Gang run frequent and terrorize its remaining civilians indiscriminately, with local law enforcement being totally ineffective in responding to the crisis in their jurisdiction. Tumbleweed is the region's major settlement at this time and appears to be in the middle of an economic and population boom, competing with Armadillo in a bid for a key railway connection.

By 1911, however, New Austin has stabilized to a certain degree, as Armadillo recovers from the devastating cholera outbreak and rapidly expands in terms of both population and economy, ultimately gaining the key railway connection and becoming the most vital hub of commerce and settlement within the state. However, as a result of losing the bid for the railway connection and thus being bypassed by the railroad entirely, Tumbleweed quickly becomes abandoned and is turned into a "ghost town" that's become overrun by other hostile gangs, and while law enforcement is now a bit stronger than they were in the past, they still struggle to cope with the many gangs and outlaws that continue inhabiting the region, as it remains one of the final areas in the nation deemed as being "the frontier" or "outlaw country".

The name of the region and its largest town as well as its border location, prominent fort, mines, and oil derricks all show a strong Texas influence. The lack of large settlements, as well as a sparse population and untouched landscape is broadly reflective of the Southwestern United States (especially Arizona and New Mexico) during the turn of the century.

Geography

Map of the Southwestern US as shown in-game, with New Austin highlighted in red.

New Austin lies between Nuevo Paraíso to the south and West Elizabeth to the northeast. It comprises four regions: Cholla Springs, Gaptooth Ridge, Hennigan's Stead, and Río Bravo.

South of New Austin is the San Luis River, which acts as a natural border to Nuevo Paraíso. New Austin is also bordered to the east by Flat Iron Lake, which leads to the Lannahechee River and gives New Austin key water links to the rest of the United States. New Austin is bordered to the north by the Redemption Mountains, while the Sea of Coronado and more mountains border it to the west, giving the region a greater feel of isolation and remoteness.

The terrain of New Austin resembles aspects of several real Southwestern U.S. states:

Cholla Springs resembles the Sonoran Desert region of Arizona, including saguaro cactus, desert scrub, and prickly pears.
The scrub desert of Río Bravo is strongly reminiscent of the Chihuahua Desert regions of New Mexico, but also bears a resemblance to the cliffs within the Diablo Canyon Recreational Area Park in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Gaptooth Ridge is mostly based on the transitional area between the Sonoran and Mojave Desert regions of western Arizona with its Joshua trees, tan rocks, saguaro cactus, and rugged formations, and Arizona is the only American state where both Joshua trees and saguaro cacti naturally occur. This area also has light influences from southern California and Nevada.
Hennigan's Stead resembles many parts of Texas; the central area is based on many areas in Central Texas such as Hill Country, with its dry plains, oak trees, and small hills; the bordering area with Cholla Springs is heavily based on Big Bend Country, which is more desert-like and has many canyons and ridges. Finally, the areas east of Stillwater Creek are bayous and are based on the Gulf Coast region of Texas.
Most glaringly, the state's namesake is based on Austin, the capital city of Texas in the aforementioned Central Texas region.

Geographically, New Austin seems to correspond with Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas; from an in-game geography perspective, as well as clues from the terrain in out-of-bounds areas, it seems that areas representing central and eastern Texas exist in between New Austin (and its Mexican neighbor, Nuevo Paraiso) and Lemoyne.

Locations in New Austin

The following is an alphabetical list of the 46 locations found in New Austin:

Hennigan's Stead

Cholla Springs

Armadillo
Coot's Chapel
Critchley's Ranch (RDR only)
Crashed Airship
Donkey Lady
Hamlin's Passing
The Hanging Rock
Jorge's Gap
Lake Don Julio
Mercer Station
Odd Fellow's Rest (stylized as Oddfellow's Rest in RDR 2)
Pleasance House
Rattlesnake Hollow
Ridgewood Farm
Río del Lobo
Riley's Charge
Twin Rocks
Two Crows
Venter's Place

Gaptooth Ridge

Río Bravo

Benedict Pass
Del Lobo Rock (stylized as Río del Lobo Rock in RDR2)
Fort Mercer
Frontera Bridge (RDR only)
Plainview
Repentance Rock (stylized as Repentance in RDR2)
Ramita de la Baya (RDR2 only)

Interactive Map

Red Dead Redemption

To be added.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Trivia

General

In both games, the player can exit New Austin's defined boundaries into unmarked territory, without the game preventing them from doing so.
- In Red Dead Redemption, there is an area north of MacFarlane's Ranch which is covered in snow; the in-game map shows that it is in-bounds but seems to be outside of New Austin's political boundaries. This area was not included in the prequel.
- In Red Dead Redemption 2, the player can cross the Sea of Coronado to its western side and can pass through two ravines and once again go outside of New Austin's defined boundaries on the map. This area has been used to glitch through into Mexico.
While New Austin is intentionally designed to be analogous to Texas in terms of location and geography, the real-life state of Texas is confirmed to exist in the Redemption universe according to a newspaper article.^[1]
New Austin became a state in 1845, which is also the same year that Texas was admitted to the Union.^{[citation needed]}
On June 7th, 2016, a new buyer for the player's warehouse was added in the Further Adventures in Finance and Felony update in Grand Theft Auto Online. The company's name, New Austin Capital, is derived from the state of New Austin; however, the use of the name doesn't mean that it's based in New Austin itself, the name is simply derived from it.
- This easter egg could have been a subtle hint towards the release of Red Dead Redemption 2's first official trailer on the 20th of October, 4 months later. It is worth noting that 4 days before the trailer was released, Rockstar themselves posted a Tweet in which they also teased their upcoming title.
New Austin has the most constituent regions of any state, having 4 in total.
Compared to other states' regions, Cholla Springs and Gaptooth Ridge are the lowest constituent regions in elevation on the American side in the series.

Red Dead Redemption

The railroad tunnel between Hennigan's Stead and Cholla Springs and the snowcapped canyon in north Hennigan's Stead are some of the few places in the game where the player is, technically, off the map.
The racing track in Gaptooth Ridge is the westernmost point in the game.
As with the boundary between New Austin and West Elizabeth, the transition of the music when the player moves between New Austin and Nuevo Paraíso can take some time to register.

Red Dead Redemption 2

New Austin cannot be explored legitimately until the epilogue, but it can be entered early using a glitch.^[2]
- This glitch no longer works as of Version 1.7.2.
After the events of the Blackwater Massacre, all of West Elizabeth south of the Upper Montana River was put under lockdown by the Pinkertons. Although this was a device put in the game to prevent the player from straying to New Austin early, it is possible to evade the Pinkerton patrols long enough to reach New Austin, where one can see on the game map that New Austin was also put under the same lockdown with all of southern West Elizabeth as well.
Due to an invisible sniper, Arthur Morgan cannot explore New Austin even if he manages to escape Pinkerton patrols. However, the mission ''Angelo Bronte, A Man of Honor'' offers the player a glitch to explore the state as Arthur:
- When escaping the cemetery with John, make sure that the policemen spot you. Instead of returning to Dutch once you safely escaped the law, travel directly to southern West Elizabeth; the Pinkertons are completely absent. The player can cross New Austin's boundaries this time as the invisible sniper will be disabled.
- In both Armadillo and Tumbleweed, the saloon is open but the player cannot buy food or drinks. However, the general store, butcher and gunsmith are accessible and the player can buy just like he was outside of mission.
- The time will be stuck to nighttime, the weather will always be foggy, and few people will spawn through the map outside of lawmen if alerted. Few animals will also spawn.
Arthur Morgan has his own unique dialogue and journal drawings in New Austin despite being unable to visit the state at any point during the game's narrative. This suggests that Arthur was originally intended to visit New Austin, but this was cut from the game.
- Related to this, the game files include both 1899 and 1907 variants for most shopkeepers on the region, but the game only uses one of these models for each shopkeeper in both time periods. In addition to this, in 1907, none of the graves found in the region ever have a date-of-death beyond 1899. This suggests that there were originally meant to be more differences between the 1899 version and the 1907 version, but in the final game, it's an unchanging combination of both, which would explain why there was so much change between 1907 and 1911.
Despite New Austin being the largest territory in the game, only one story mission in Red Dead Redemption 2 is set in the state, "An Honest Day's Labors".
New Austin is the only American state in the game that does not share a border with New Hanover.
The cholera epidemic which plagues Armadillo in 1907 has caused many residents from both the town and neighboring settlements to flee in fear, including the MacFarlane family and much of MacFarlane's Ranch.
A testament to the region's lack of modernity compared to eastern states, much of New Austin is underdeveloped and sparsely populated. The settlements of MacFarlane's Ranch, Thieves Landing, and Rathskeller Fork lack amenities such as a safehouse, general store, gunsmith, etc. By 1911, the once-prosperous town of Tumbleweed was completely abandoned as a result of the railroad being built through nearby Armadillo instead.
New Austin is the only American state in the game that lacks an official state flag, but considering the flags of West Elizabeth, New Hanover and Ambarino weren't revealed until a later update of Red Dead Online, it is possible this may change with a future update.
Unlike every other town in the game, the three major settlements in this region don't have a visible outline on the map, even if placed under lockdown.
North of Greenhollow, there is an abandoned homestead which is not present in Red Dead Redemption. This homestead is a moonshine shack for the Moonshiner role in Red Dead Online. This is one of several moonshine shacks; all others in Tall Trees, Bayou Nwa, The Heartlands and Grizzlies West are present in Story Mode but cannot be entered.
On the map, there's a house slightly southeast from Rathskeller Fork, which belongs to the alchemist mentioned in the newspapers whose very house explodes the very moment John Marston discovers it while free roaming during the epilogue. After exploring the remains and looting a lockbox containing the Explosive Slug Pamphlet, the ruins, including the lockbox, will disappear if the player leaves the area and will no longer appear during the rest of the game, despite the house location still being marked in the map. Also, despite already being marked on the map by 1898 and its destruction only happening in 1907, the house is nowhere to be seen during the events of Red Dead Online.
According to Hosea Matthews, the gang's plan was to flee south and lay low in safe spots they picked out in New Austin after carrying out the Blackwater ferry heist. But because the heist was a disaster, they were forced to flee north towards Ambarino instead and settled in the abandoned mining town of Colter.