| “ | It's over, Abigail. It's all over. | „ |
| —John Marston |
American Venom is the final mission of the epilogue and concludes the main storyline in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Mission Overview[]
Sadie Adler hears that Micah Bell is alive somewhere. With the whereabouts of Cleet known in Strawberry, the gang saddles up looking for revenge.
Story[]
Sadie shows up at the ranch with information that Cleet has been seen drinking Strawberry and knows where Micah can be found, and asks Charles and John to join her. Charles immediately agrees. Abigail tries to decline on John's behalf, but he also agrees. Abigail follows John inside as he gears up, pleading with him not to go, but he insists that the farm and everything they have wouldn't have been possible without Arthur, Sadie, and the many members of the gang that died along the way, and that he has no choice but to pursue Micah. Sadie, Charles, and John ride from Beecher's Hope to Strawberry, where they find Cleet. After capturing him, the trio beat him, but he claims to not know where Micah is. Sadie decides they should hang him, and they drag him to the nearby gallows and threaten to hang him if he doesn't reveal Micah's whereabouts, while townfolk gather around to watch the specticle. In the end, Cleet reveals that Micah and his gang are at Mount Hagen. John can then choose to hang Cleet or, if John decides to spare him, Cleet will be shot dead by Sadie.
The three travel to Mount Hagen, but as they begin to ascend the mountain, Charles is shot in the shoulder by a sniper and wounded. Sadie and John take cover and fight their way up the mountain with Charles in tow. At some point during the journey up the mountain, a group of Micah's men ambush them, and Sadie is stabbed in the torso before getting saved when her attacker is shot by Charles. Afterwards, she tells John that she isn’t dying and merely needs to rest, prompting him to keep going. Almost immediately, John is confronted by Joe and two other members of Micah's Gang but, in a single moment, Joe and his allies are gunned down by Marston, allowing the latter to continue.
Marston finally reaches Micah and engages him in a gunfight after a short conversation. While the two men are in a deadlock with neither able to gain the upper hand, Sadie manages to flank Micah from behind and holds him at gunpoint, forcing him to surrender. Before anything else can happen, Dutch suddenly walks out of Micah's cabin with his guns drawn. Sadie, surprised by the appearance of Dutch, lets her guard down and is taken hostage by Micah, who holds her by the neck and points his gun at John. Dutch also points one of his guns at John, who variously points his back at Micah and Dutch. John begs Dutch to help him, saying that he always did his best for him in the gang, even though Dutch accuses John of treachery during the gang’s final days. Dutch eventually turns and shoots Micah in the chest before holstering his revolvers. Shocked but impressed, Micah then tries to shoot John and Dutch, but John is quicker and shoots Micah multiple times, sealing his fate. Micah staggers for a few steps before collapsing dead in the snow, after which Dutch leaves, ignoring John's attempts to thank him. John and Sadie then find a fortune of money and gold inside the cabin, with most of it presumably being from the Blackwater ferry robbery that took place eight years prior.
John, Sadie, and Charles ride back to the ranch, where they return to Abigail and Jack. John tells her that it’s done, and the two are later finally married. Charles and Sadie eventually depart and are never seen again, with Charles saying he'll head north to Canada and try to start a family, and Sadie suggesting she might head to South America.
Mission Dialogues[]
- Main article: American Venom/dialogues
Gold Medal Objectives[]
- Help Sadie catch Cleet within 35 seconds.
- Headshot the sniper who shoots Charles.
- Complete with at least 85% accuracy.
- Complete the mission without taking any health items.
Tips[]
- Cleet will run up the stairs opposite the post office, taking a left at the top and then running through a narrow alley beside the general store. Simply chase him to meet the gold medal objective.
- The player will not have any long arms equipped at the start of the Strawberry sequence, due to dismounting within town. Weapon selection made at any point after dismounting will carry over through the start of the sniper sequence on the mountain. Long arms can be selected after dismounting before finding Cleet, after Cleet has been killed before riding up the mountain, or immediately after reaching the mountain and before Charles gets shot (which will force the player to dismount and spook their horse away).
- During the sniper sequence, peeking out from cover and trying to kill the sniper before prompted to will result in a one-hit kill to John. If restarted from checkpoint, John will already be in cover behind the first rock, and will have only a single long-arm equipped, a repeater, making headshotting the sniper much more difficult. The sniper cannot be killed until the game actually prompts the player to kill him about halfway up the mountain slope.
- When initially running to the first cover rock, if the player runs such that Sadie's horse ends up between the sniper and the player, it might be shot and killed by the sniper and instantly fail the mission. It is recommended to stay to the left initially after dismounting your horse, as Sadie's horse will run to the right.
- During the trip up the mountain, enemies will commonly show up on ledges or rocks a decent distance away, making having a at least one longer-range weapon desirable. This also makes the gold achievement for headshotting the sniper easier to complete.
- Also during the trip up the mountain, there are several points where groups of enemies will appear behind John and chase him up the mountain.
Mission Failure[]
The mission will fail if the player:
- Assaults, kills, or abandons Sadie or Charles;
- Allows Sadie or Charles to die;
- Kills Cleet prematurely;
- Alerts the law;
- Kills Micah before his planned death.
- Leaves Strawberry;
- Kills or abandons their horse;
- Dies.
Deaths[]
- Cleet - Either hanged by John or shot in the head by Sadie, after revealing Micah's whereabouts.
- Joe - Killed by John Marston while attempting to impede his journey to Micah's location.
- Micah Bell - Jointly killed by Dutch van der Linde and John Marston, in revenge for betraying the original gang and ultimately causing Arthur's death.
- Various members of Micah's gang - Killed by John, Sadie, and Charles.
Background Music Played in the Mission[]
- "American Venom" - Plays during John's final confrontation with Micah.
- "American Reprise" - Played when John, Sadie and Charles return home after killing Micah.
Background Music Played During the End Credits[]
- "Red"
- "Cruel World (Joshua Homme)"
- "Mountain Hymn"
- "Table Top"
- "Love Come Back"
- "Dulcimer Campfire"[1]
- "Mountain Banjo"
- "Oh My Lovely"
- "Moonlight Nola"[1]
- "Gospel Redemption"[1]
Trivia[]
- The dialogue when John, Charles, and Sadie are riding will change depending on Arthur's honor. If Arthur had high honor, Charles will ask, "You think Arthur cared about revenge? I'm not so sure... especially not at the end"; if Arthur had low honor, or replay the mission , Charles will say, "Revenge is something Arthur would have stood behind."
- However, Charles' claim that Arthur would have approved of their revenge if he was Low Honor is incorrect, as Arthur still advises John to never look back in "Red Dead Redemption".
- At the start of the mission Jack can be heard reading a fantasy book to John, Abigail and Uncle, but the actual book he is reading is a Frank Heck dime novel.
- Choosing to spare Cleet will result in a slight boost of Honor. Choosing to hang him, however, will not lose honor.
- If Arthur previously slashed Micah's eye with a knife in the mission "Red Dead Redemption" as a result of having high Honor and going back for the money, Micah can be seen with a scar covering his eye when John confronts him. Micah still calls him "scarface", a retort that John throws back at him.
- Sadie rides a Dark Bay Turkoman in this mission instead of her Mustang horse, Hera.
- The "Endless Summer" achievement/trophy, earned upon completion of the main storyline, is a reference to the endgame chapter of another Rockstar game, Bully.
- In the credits that play after the mission, during the sequences of John and Abigail's official wedding, John is seen wearing the Elegant Suit, which was a popular outfit from the first game.
- After the mission is over, John and Abigail are seen conversing on the hill looking over the ranch; this hill is where John and Abigail's wedding took place, and is also where John, Abigail, and Uncle are buried years later.
- Once John reaches the base of the mountain, he will change into the Winter Cowboy outfit, including Arthur's hat, suggesting John consciously chose to wear it for the confrontation. The player can still change their outfit by equipping one from their horse, however.
- The music that plays during the final shooting section of this mission is a remix of the original main theme from the soundtrack of Red Dead Redemption.
- In the credits that play after this mission, during the sequences that feature Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham, one can notice that they are both wearing Pinkerton badges even though an in-game newspaper that can be read before this mission confirms Ross was recently appointed to the Bureau of Investigation[2] and would therefore no longer be a part of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. This is likely a developer oversight.
- In the end credits, it's revealed that Edgar Ross found John due to Micah's body. This is proven by Ross investigating the body and then spying on Beecher's Hope. This also creates a cruel irony that if John had "not looked back" like Arthur told him to before his death, the events of Red Dead Redemption wouldn't have happened, and John would've never been betrayed, shot and killed in "The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed".
- When the player approaches Micah's cabin, a rat can be seen scurrying out.
- A single mark with Dead Eye is enough to kill Micah and trigger the cutscene. Multiple shots may be required if firing manually without marking.
- Although it is impossible to see without the use of camera mods, Micah does not appear to reload his revolvers once during the showdown.[3]
- Dutch tells John that he had been at Micah's hideout for the "same reason", strongly suggesting that his decision to kill Micah was premeditated and that he finally realized Micah's treachery from eight years ago.
- In a unique scenario that cannot be seen under normal circumstances, if John has invincibility (with the use of mods) and kills Dutch, Micah will respond with "Always was slow..", then throws Sadie to the ground and executes her, resulting in mission failure. Should John instead kill Micah, Dutch will shoot him and say "Oh... son...". If the latter happens, Sadie will just fall over and die after Micah does instead of being executed, again resulting in mission failure. These cannot be seen in a normal version of the game because killing either Dutch or Micah will result in the other immediately killing John.[4]
- Also, if the player has invincibility mode activated and does not shoot Micah at the end of the mission, Micah will kill Dutch, shoot John and then kill Sadie before heading back inside the cabin[5]. This results in softlock, and the player will have to either restart the mission or use mods to load from checkpoint.
- If done correctly, the player can shoot Micah's hat off during the final showdown on the mountain.
- John and Dutch would encounter each other again four years later in 1911. Their final confrontation also happens in a snowy setting like here.
Gallery[]
Video Walkthroughs[]
Trophies/Achievements[]
Completing this mission, chapter and storyline contributes toward the following Trophies/Achievements:
 |
20
 Gold
 Complete the Epilogue
|
|---|
 |
50
Silver
 Earn 70 Gold Medals in Story missions.
|
|---|
 |
100
Gold
Attain 100% Completion.
|
|---|
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Not included in The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2: Original Soundtrack.
- ↑ Bureau of Investigation Founded
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz3bWUH2Hvs
- ↑ Needs a new source, video is no longer available.
- ↑ The unique outcome can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acoTI_TFc3U