Red Dead Redemption 2 Walkthrough: Complete Story Mission List and 100% Guide

How Red Dead Redemption 2 missions work

Arthur Morgan’s story moves through six named chapters: Colter, Horseshoe Overlook, Clemens Point, Shady Belle, Guarma, and Beaver Hollow. After Arthur’s story, the game continues with John Marston in Epilogue Part 1: Pronghorn Ranch and Epilogue Part 2: Beecher’s Hope.

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Within a chapter, several missions can be tackled in different orders. New markers may appear after a camp conversation, letter, earlier objective, or another character’s mission. Chapter-ending missions are the important exceptions: they move the gang to a new location and can close, change, or delay other content. Before starting a mission that appears to be a major operation or chapter transition, make a manual save.

• Yellow mission markers: the principal story and character missions. The entries below use these named missions as the backbone of the walkthrough.
• White question marks and Stranger markers: optional multi-part strands. They are not simply extra yellow missions and often unlock only after time or chapter progression.
• Bounty posters: settlement-based bounty missions. They contribute to completion, but 100% requires five bounty missions rather than every available bounty.
• Camp requests, honor missions, and encounters: optional activities that can affect honor, rewards, availability, or the way a character strand concludes.

Mission totals are easy to misread. One reference counts 109 narrative missions as 94 story missions plus 15 honor missions, while another reports 107 main missions. Those totals use different conventions for multi-part strands, optional honor missions, cutscenes, and branch alternatives. Treat the mission names and the in-game Progress menu as more useful than an unexplained single number. The mission reference documents the differing classifications, while the official Piggyback guide announcement describes the guide’s at-a-glance walkthrough and mission coverage.

Main story mission checklist

Use the chapter base as your broad location guide: Colter, Horseshoe Overlook, Clemens Point, Shady Belle, Guarma, Beaver Hollow, Pronghorn Ranch, and Beecher’s Hope. The game’s markers and conversations determine when a particular entry becomes available. Multi-part strands are kept together with Roman numerals, and missions that overlap with optional content are identified in the notes.

Chapter 1 — Colter

Opening location: Colter. This is the tightly scripted snowbound opening, and Eastward Bound ends the chapter by moving the gang into the more open world around Horseshoe Overlook.

1. Outlaws from the West
2. Enter, Pursued by a Memory
3. Old Friends
4. The Aftermath of Genesis
5. Who the Hell is Leviticus Cornwall?
6. Eastward Bound — chapter-ending transition to Horseshoe Overlook

Chapter 2 — Horseshoe Overlook

Chapter base: Horseshoe Overlook, with missions spreading into Valentine and the surrounding region. The chapter opens the campaign’s flexible mission structure. Some missions become available from camp conversations, letters, or earlier objectives rather than immediately appearing as a simple queue.

1. Polite Society, Valentine Style
2. Americans at Rest
3. Exit Pursued by a Bruised Ego
4. Paying a Social Call
5. Money Lending and Other Sins
6. A Quiet Time
7. We Loved Once and True
8. The Spines of America
9. Who Is Not Without Sin
10. The First Shall Be Last
11. Blessed Are the Meek?
12. Pouring Forth Oil
13. A Fisher of Men
14. Hunting Requests
15. The American Inferno, Burnt Out — also treated as Stranger content
16. American Dreams — optional multi-part content, also treated as Stranger content
17. An American Pastoral Scene
18. The Sheep and the Goats
19. A Strange Kindness — chapter-ending transition

Structure notes: Money Lending and Other Sins is a recurring debt-collection strand with later parts. Pouring Forth Oil is divided into stages, so seeing one entry does not mean the entire strand is finished. The American Inferno, Burnt Out and American Dreams do not behave like ordinary linear yellow-icon missions and are cross-listed below rather than counted as purely main-story content.

Chapter 3 — Clemens Point

Chapter base: Clemens Point. The story expands toward Rhodes and develops several multi-part character strands. The flexible middle of the chapter eventually gives way to the move to Shady Belle.

1. The New South
2. Further Questions of Female Suffrage
3. American Distillation
4. An Honest Mistake
5. The Course of True Love I–III
6. Advertising, the New American Art I–II
7. Preaching Forgiveness as He Went
8. The Fine Joys of Tobacco
9. Sodom? Back to Gomorrah
10. Magicians for Sport
11. Horse Flesh for Dinner
12. Blessed Are the Peacemakers
13. Friends in Very Low Places
14. A Short Walk in a Pretty Town
15. Blood Feuds, Ancient and Modern
16. The Battle of Shady Belle — chapter-closing transition

The Course of True Love and Advertising, the New American Art are multi-part strands. Keep track of their Roman-numeral parts instead of assuming that the first marker completes the storyline.

Chapter 4 — Shady Belle

Chapter base: Shady Belle, with the campaign increasingly centered on Saint Denis. This chapter contains several missions whose availability depends on earlier gang and character developments.

1. The Joys of Civilization
2. Angelo Bronte, a Man of Honor
3. Gilded Cage
4. No, No and Thrice, No
5. A Fine Night of Debauchery
6. American Fathers I–II
7. Horsemen, Apocalypses
8. Urban Pleasures
9. Country Pursuits
10. Revenge Is a Dish Best Eaten
11. Banking, the Old American Art — chapter-ending bank operation

American Fathers is a multi-part strand. As with every apparent chapter finale, consider completing available time-sensitive camp or honor content and creating a manual save before beginning Banking, the Old American Art.

Chapter 5 — Guarma

Important spoiler section: Guarma is a comparatively linear interruption to the mainland campaign. Some references place A Fork in the Road or That’s Murfree Country at the boundary between Chapters 5 and 6. The list below preserves the practical story sequence while acknowledging that guide labels can differ at this transition.

1. Welcome to the New World
2. Savagery Unleashed
3. A Kind and Benevolent Despot
4. Hell Hath No Fury
5. Paradise Mercifully Departed
6. Dear Uncle Tacitus
7. Fleeting Joy
8. A Fork in the Road — sometimes treated as the Chapter 5/6 boundary
9. That’s Murfree Country — sometimes grouped with the return to Chapter 6

Do not use the Guarma list as a normal free-roam checklist. This portion acts as a contained story section, and the mainland campaign resumes afterward.

Chapter 6 — Beaver Hollow

Major spoiler warning: This chapter contains the final Arthur Morgan storyline. Several entries below are optional, conditional, or honor-sensitive. A choice during Archeology for Beginners can lead to Honor, Amongst Thieves, and The Course of True Love IV–V continues a strand that began in Chapter 3.

1. Icarus and Friends
2. Visiting Hours
3. Just a Social Call
4. A Rage Unleashed
5. The Delights of Van Horn
6. Archeology for Beginners
7. Honor, Amongst Thieves — conditional or honor-sensitive follow-up
8. The Fine Art of Conversation
9. Goodbye, Dear Friend
10. Mrs. Sadie Adler, Widow I–II
11. Favored Sons
12. The Bridge to Nowhere
13. The Course of True Love IV–V
14. The King’s Son
15. My Last Boy
16. Our Best Selves
17. Red Dead Redemption — principal end-of-Arthur story mission

Do not rush the end of this chapter. If you want Arthur’s remaining camp requests, honor-sensitive strands, or optional character content, work through the available markers before committing to the final run of missions. The exact availability of optional content varies by strand and progression; not every white marker is automatically permanently missable.

Epilogue Part 1 — Pronghorn Ranch

Protagonist change: The epilogue shifts control to John Marston. The opening section follows John’s attempt to work under the name Jim Milton before the story moves toward his new home.

1. The Wheel
2. Simple Pleasures
3. Farming, for Beginners
4. Fatherhood, for Beginners
5. Old Habits
6. Jim Milton Rides, Again?
7. Fatherhood, for Idiots
8. Motherhood
9. Home of the Gentry?
10. Gainful Employment

Epilogue Part 2 — Beecher’s Hope

Final campaign section: The Beecher’s Hope missions establish John’s life after Pronghorn Ranch and build toward the concluding major story mission.

1. Bare Knuckle Friendships
2. Home Improvement for Beginners
3. An Honest Day’s Labors
4. The Tool Box
5. A New Jerusalem
6. A Quick Favor for an Old Friend
7. Uncle’s Bad Day
8. Trying Again
9. A Really Big Bastard
10. A New Future Imagined
11. American Venom — final named major campaign mission

Some references place Trying Again and A Really Big Bastard in the opposite order because this portion allows limited sequencing variation. American Venom is the final major campaign spoiler and should be treated as the endpoint of the story checklist.

Stranger missions and optional honor content

Stranger missions usually appear as white question-mark icons or named Stranger markers. They often unfold over multiple meetings, unlock after time or chapter progression, and may be unavailable after a particular story transition. A broad reference count identifies 31 Stranger strands or groupings, but only 10 Stranger strands are required for the in-game 100% checklist. Therefore, complete all Stranger missions and complete the 10 Stranger strands required for 100% are different goals.

Major Stranger strands

• The Noblest of Men, and a Woman
• The Smell of the Grease Paint
• All That Glitters
• American Dreams
• Arcadia for Amateurs
• A Better World, a New Friend
• A Fine Night for It
• A Fisher of Fish
• A Test of Faith
• Duchesses and Other Animals
• Fundraiser
• Geology for Beginners
• He’s British, of Course
• Idealism and Pragmatism for Beginners
• No Good Deed
• Oh, Brother
• Smoking and Other Hobbies
• The American Inferno, Burnt Out
• The Artist’s Way
• The Iniquities of History
• The Mercies of Knowledge
• The Ties That Bind Us
• The Veteran
• The Wisdom of the Elders
• To the Ends of the Earth
• The Widow of Willard’s Rest

Honor and overlapping optional strands

Classification varies between references. The following are often grouped with honor missions, optional missions, camp content, or overlapping Stranger content rather than placed in one exclusive category:

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• Brothers and Sisters, One and All
• Do Not Seek Absolution
• Help a Brother Out
• Money Lending and Other Sins
• Of Men and Angels
• Fatherhood and Other Dreams
• We Loved Once and True

That overlap explains some of the disagreement between mission-count guides. It also explains why a checklist that labels every item as either main story or Stranger content can be misleading. If the goal is narrative completeness, follow every available strand. If the goal is only the game’s 100% statistic, use Pause menu > Progress > Total Completion as the authoritative tracker.

Bounty hunting checklist

Bounty hunting begins with wanted posters in settlements. Bounties are separate from the yellow story missions, although they contribute to the broader completion system and provide additional character-focused encounters.

A location-based reference groups bounty missions around Valentine, Strawberry, Saint Denis, Rhodes, Blackwater, and Tumbleweed. Named examples include:

• Good, Honest, Snake Oil
• Ellie Anne Swan
• Joshua Brown
• Lindsey Wofford
• Anthony Foreman
• Mark Johnson
• Robbie Laidlaw
• Elias Green
• Otis Skinner
• Joaquin Arroyo
• Esteban Cortez

Unless a particular bounty specifies otherwise, the target can generally be delivered alive or dead. Read the individual poster and mission objective carefully before deciding: a live capture is required when the mission explicitly says so, and bringing a target in alive is usually the safer choice when you are unsure.

For 100% completion, you need five bounty missions. That is a checklist requirement, not a recommendation to ignore the rest. Completing every available bounty is a separate completion goal.

For a fuller location-by-location bounty list, consult the bounty-hunting mission reference.

Missable content and safe sequencing

Red Dead Redemption 2 does not make every optional activity permanently missable, and it is inaccurate to claim that every white-icon activity must be completed before leaving Chapter 2. Availability depends on the particular strand, chapter transition, honor level, and story progress. The safest approach is to preserve flexibility rather than follow an unnecessarily rigid rule.

Use this practical safety checklist

1. Keep rotating manual saves. Make a new manual save before a chapter-ending mission, a major operation, or any mission that appears to move the gang to a new camp.
2. Check camp conversations and requests regularly. Optional requests and honor content can be offered during particular stretches of the story. If a request appears, record it and complete it before pushing into a major transition when possible.
3. Finish active character strands when they are available. This is especially important for multi-part Stranger and honor missions, because later parts may unlock only after time, travel, or story progress.
4. Watch honor-sensitive content. Some optional missions and outcomes depend on Arthur’s honor or on a decision within the mission. Archeology for Beginners can affect access to Honor, Amongst Thieves; do not assume every branch is simultaneously available.
5. Give Charlotte Balfour’s strand priority when it appears. Her content is specifically associated with chapter and epilogue timing in missable-content references. If you want to see the complete strand, make a save before advancing through nearby major story gates and return while it is available.
6. Do not rely on the post-story switch for Arthur-only content. Once Arthur’s story ends, John becomes the playable protagonist. Some Arthur-specific activities, rewards, camp requests, and honor material can disappear or change.

The most reliable wording is can become unavailable or may be locked out, not every side mission is permanently missable. The missable-content reference is useful for checking a specific strand, but you should still make a manual save before an irreversible-looking transition.

What is required for 100% completion?

The 100% statistic is narrower than a total-completion playthrough. It does not require every mission, every Stranger strand, or every available bounty. The in-game checklist is the final authority because it shows the categories and progress for the current save.

Mission and event requirements

• Complete every main-story mission.
• Complete 10 Stranger mission strands.
• Complete five bounty missions.
• Participate in 25 Chance Encounters.

Other categories shown by the game

• Required challenges
• Equipment categories
• Animals
• Plants
• Fish
• Collectibles
• Locations

To check your exact status, open Pause menu > Progress > Total Completion. Use that screen to identify what remains instead of assuming that finishing the story means the save is at 100%. A player pursuing a broader personal goal—such as every Stranger strand, every bounty, all Gold Medals, or a complete compendium—should keep a separate checklist because those goals exceed the in-game 100% requirement.

How to replay missions

Completed campaign missions can be replayed from the game’s Progress menu. Open the completed-story entries, select the mission you want to revisit, and review its objectives before starting if you are pursuing a Gold Medal. This is useful for seeing alternate mission outcomes, practicing a combat section, or cleaning up a Gold requirement without restarting the entire save.

The replay system is primarily for campaign missions. Side missions generally cannot be replayed through the same menu in the way main-story missions can, which is another reason to keep a manual save before time-sensitive optional content. Replay a mission when you need its Gold objectives, but use the live save and your own checklist for Stranger strands, camp requests, bounties, and encounters.

A sensible order for a first playthrough

1. Start with the available yellow missions, but do not feel compelled to complete them in the exact order displayed if the chapter offers several markers.
2. Do nearby white-icon content between major story beats. This reduces backtracking and gives multi-part strands time to unlock naturally.
3. Check camp frequently. Conversations, letters, and requests can reveal content that is not visible as a permanent mission queue.
4. Before a chapter finale, inspect the map and camp. Complete the optional content you care about and create a manual save.
5. Do not confuse 100% with Gold Medal completion. The 100% screen has its own categories; Gold objectives are a separate replay-oriented pursuit.
6. Continue through both epilogue parts. The story is not finished when Arthur’s chapter ends, and American Venom is the final named major campaign mission.

Why walkthroughs list different missions

If two guides disagree about the total, compare their definitions before assuming one is wrong. A multi-part strand may be listed as one storyline or several missions. Optional honor missions may be included in one total and excluded from another. Cutscenes, branch alternatives, and missions that overlap with Stranger content can also be classified differently. The practical checklist in this article preserves the named entries and marks the overlap instead of forcing every mission into an artificial category.

For a second chapter-by-chapter reference, see the storyline quest list. For the broader mission classification, see the mission index. Neither replaces the game’s own Progress > Total Completion screen for determining what your save still needs.