The main plot of Red Dead Redemption 2 is the game’s lifeblood, but it’s not the only storyline players can involve themselves in. Around the map are many “stranger” missions, where Arthur or John meet an eccentric individual and provide them with some assistance. They range from comical to deadly serious in tone, and while none are required to complete the game, players who ignore them are certainly missing out — for the most part.

Warning: The following article includes spoilers for Red Dead Redemption 2.

The best “stranger” missions can be fantastic, with fun characters and nice rewards, but others are hardly worth the time it takes to complete them. The five most worthwhile stranger missions in RDR2 should all be a part of virtually every playthrough, while the weakest five tend to be better off ignored.

The Mercies Of Knowledge Has Hardly Any Payoff

An Interesting But Ultimately Fruitless Quest

“The Mercies of Knowledge” can be started in the northern area of Saint Denis, where the player will run into Andrew Bell. Bell is a scientist building a new machine to execute criminals: the electric chair, claiming it will be a more humane way of terminating people condemned to die. The player performs a series of steps to help the professor, from bringing him a cart full of moonshine to capturing his first test subject, before the doctor publicly demonstrates his invention.

As players might have guessed, it doesn’t go well. Not only does the machine cause the detainee to suffer immensely before his death, shocking the crowd, but it also ends up killing Bell in the process. The quest is nothing too egregious, and it’s certainly more worthwhile than a select few dishonorable mentions, but it stands out thanks to its lack of a meaningful reward besides a blueprint of the chair itself. Most stranger missions at least offer something in the way of supplies or money, but this one exists purely for the sake of itself.

The Noblest Of Men, And A Woman Rewards Players With Some Unique Guns

A Story Line That Makes Arthur Feel Like A Real Gunslinger

“The Noblest of Men, and a Woman” starts early in the game, way back in a Valentine saloon, but its runtime extends well past the story’s halfway point. The quest follows Arthur as he hunts down four old gunslingers, all for the sake of aiding an aspiring writer to publish a book on their history. The quest takes Arthur from the mountains of Ambarino to the swamps outside Saint Denis as he squares off in duels against these legendary guns.

All but one of the gunslingers must be killed in the end, including Jim Boy Calloway, who wasn’t even an original target. Black Belle is the sole survivor as the only gunslinger who doesn’t try to kill Arthur.

Speaking of legendary guns, the quest rewards the player with four of them: unique models of the cattleman revolver, Schofield revolver, and Mauser pistol. These rewards are neat and make for fun and useful mementos from the mission. Not only that, but the quest gives Arthur ample opportunities to participate in dead-eye quickdraw combats, which go a long way toward making the character feel like a true outlaw.

Geology For Beginners Requires A Bit Too Much Searching

Fascinating Lore Around A Very Tedious Mission

A few of the stranger missions in RDR2 require the player to ride around the map, searching for various collectibles or locations, before reporting back to the people who gave them the job. “Geology for Beginners” is one such quest, provided by Francis Sinclair, an eccentric man in a cabin outside Strawberry. Many theorize that Francis is a time traveler attempting to return home, which is a fascinating premise. Unfortunately, the actual gameplay here doesn’t live up to it.

The mission requires the player to locate ten rock carvings in the Ambarino and West Elizabeth regions, which are pretty hard to find without a guide. The carvings themselves are neat, depicting futuristic technology, but the actual task of finding them is arduous and time-consuming. To make matters worse, there is little payoff for any of it, save for a unique pocket watch and a rocky statue.

Of Men And Angels Is Vital To Arthur’s Redemption Story

Three Important Questa Around The Same Stranger

Some of the stranger missions, particularly those in and around chapter 6, are very prescient to Arthur’s character. The game sees the outlaw caught between seeking redemption in his final days or committing to his brutal life style, and the missions “Brothers And Sisters, One And All” and “Of Men And Angels” see Arthur reflecting on his moral troubles. The missions center on Sister Calderon, a nun to whom Arthur can lend aid as she collects money and moves around the southern area of the map.

Notably, this quest also has no notable reward, though here it feels fitting. It’s kind of the point of the quest that Arthur receives nothing for his troubles, helping others solely for the sake of doing so. It’s the mission where he tearfully speaks about his fear of death in a heartbreaking moment where he comes to terms with his horrible past actions. These missions are optional, but anyone playing as an Arthur searching to better himself should definitely play through them.

To The Ends Of The Earth Doesn’t Have Much Going For It

Boring Mechanically And Story-Wise

The best thing about “To The Ends Of The Earth” is that it doesn’t take long to complete, but that’s hardly a compliment. The unobtrusive mission is terribly dull, as it simply sees the player collecting herbs and bringing them to a man named William. William can provide some exposition on the herbs’ uses and give Arthur a few small medicinal rewards, but there’s really no story to speak of.

Herbs show up in various places across the map, like animal species Arthur and John can hunt, but will not have any quest markers as far as this quest is concerned. As such, players must locate and bring back the herbs on their own, making an already dull mission more time-consuming.

Collecting herbs is already one of the more boring mechanical components of RDR2, to the point that most players never bother to do so. William appears a few times during the story, asking for herbs like Yarrow and Ginseng, but collecting them is nothing more than a quick fetch quest with a small payoff.

He’s British, Of Course Is Wacky And Rewarding

Highlighting The Silliness Of The Red Dead Series

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a silly game despite all of its serious character moments, and some stranger missions highlight this side of the equation. “He’s British, Of Course” does so well, following a circus performer named Margaret who has lost all of his “exotic animals.” The player is tasked with finding and bringing them back, and luckily, none of them have gotten far.

The quest reveals that most of these animals are fakes, with a painted mule acting as a zebra, a dog as a lion, and a panther as a tiger. It isn’t until the final quest that a real exotic animal shows up, an actual lion whose appearance will likely surprise the player after three run-ins with fake creatures. They must put down the lion before returning to Margaret, who will reward them with a large emerald. It’s a fake, of course, though it can still be sold for a tidy sum of 50 dollars. Alternatively, players can keep it as a reminder of this ridiculous side quest.

A Test Of Faith Is Another Exercise In Tedium

And You Thought Geology For Beginners Was Bad

Another elongated fetch quest, “A Test Of Faith“, is three times as bad as “Geology For Beginners“. That’s because, while there are ten large rock carvings to find for that mission, this one requires the player to locate thirty small dinosaur bones across the map. It’s nearly impossible to find all of their locations without a guide, especially for casual players, and there isn’t even anything unique to see, just more and more bones.

Completing the quest does provide a very cool unique knife, as well as a cutscene with a huge completed dinosaur skeleton, but it’s hard to justify completing this dreadful search for those rewards. The bones can be hard to see even when staring straight at them, and they are all over RDR2’s huge map, so finding them all takes a while. All in all, this is one that no one is likely to repeat on a second playthrough.

The Widow Of Willard’s Rest Is Narratively Important For A Redeemed Arthur

Making The Most Of This Outlaw’s Final Days

“The Widow Of Willard’s Rest” is another quest that is essential for players going through the game as a redeemed Arthur. It follows a widowed woman who moved into the mountains with her husband, only for him to die since neither of them came prepared with the proper survival skills. Arthur can give a few hunting lessons to the widow, Charlotte, to help her survive on her own. It’s a quest that has little in the way of mechanical rewards, but once again, it is rewarding in how it characterizes Arthur as someone making up for his mistakes.

This quest does have Arthur and Charlotte confronted by a pair of wolves, who will drop perfect pelts if killed in a single headshot, a nice reward players can go back for after the mission’s conclusion.

In a neat follow-up, John can visit in the epilogue to see that Charlotte is alive and well. Arthur’s lessons have turned her into a skilled hunter, and she is happily living off of the land years after his death. The two can speak about Arthur before John goes on his way, and it’s a nice moment that shows how Arthur’s kindness had long-reaching consequences in the end.

Smoking And Other Hobbies Is Hardly Even Worth Starting

This Quest Has Almost No Narrative Components

I’d argue that the worst stranger mission in Red Dead Redemption 2 is “Smoking And Other Hobbies“, and it’s by a long shot. It’s another mission with nearly nothing in the way of story, and it’s essentially a fetch quest that will last through the entire game into the epilogue. A man named Phineas offers to buy completed sets of cigarette cards if he is sent them in the mail, offering better pay than players could get for selling them individually.

There are 144 cigarette cards in the game, obtainable in various locations as well as coming in packs of premium cigarettes. There can be duplicates, and finding all twelve in a set will likely take hours of searching and frustration. It’s almost more convenient after a point to sell each card at a fence for one or two dollars each rather than saving the cards up across the entire game only to turn them in for slightly more money.

The Veteran Is The Perfect Quest To Cap Off Arthur’s Journey

Earning A Unique Horse With His Own Story

Finally, The Veteran is a stranger mission that perfectly balances between story and reward. It sees Arthur or John befriend an old war veteran who spends his time hunting and fishing in the mountains, two activities that the player also partakes in. The player can join Hamish on multiple occasions, finding valuable animals to sell and bonding with the lonely vet, before he eventually dies tragically during a boar hunt.

One could look at Hamish as a mirror of Arthur himself: someone who lived a violent life, knows he’s dying, and wants to pass on what he has to someone else. For Arthur, that someone is John. Hamish leaves his horse, Buell, to the player after he dies, an excellent reward since Buell is a unique and powerful mount. Every player should take the time to complete this stranger mission no matter how many times they have played through Red Dead Redemption 2.