As everyone eagerly awaits Grand Theft Auto 6, many Read Dead Redemption 2 superfans are feeling a bit left out in the cold. There doesn’t even feel like a slim chance of more DLC being added to RDR2 at this point, and Rockstar confirmed in July that Red Dead Online won’t receive any more “major” updates, either. Development-wise, the grand cowboy adventure feels like a ghost town.
Modders haven’t given up, though, and if you’re looking for a new activity in RDR2 singleplayer, I’ve got some boozy news for you. The moonshiner role from Red Dead Online has been recreated in a mod for singleplayer RDR2, so you can put Arthur Morgan to work on a new career as a bootlegger.
While the Moonshiner Role mod (opens in new tab) doesn’t carry over all the features of the online version, there’s still a surprising amount to do with the role in singleplayer. Your enterprise begins by busting a moonshine cook named Clint out of jail in Valentine, and then picking a spot on the map to set up a camp (which will cost $100). Unfortunately there’s no moonshiner cabin like there is in the online version, but the camp still lets you brew up various types of ‘shine, and includes a wagon so you can make deliveries.
Brewing sounds like it works similarly to the activity in Red Dead Online. You choose the type of moonshine you want to cook, with the more potent (and valuable) kinds taking longer. There are different flavors of mash to choose from, which will give you a list of ingredients to buy at stores or gather around the map. And then there’s the all-important and harrowing task of carefully driving your wagon filled with fragile bottles of booze on narrow, bumpy roads to deliver and sell a batch to a customer. The more deliveries you make the more you’ll earn, but your profile as a moonshiner will also grow, leading to intervention from old-timey lawmen on the trails.
You’ll also need to keep an eye out for rival moonshiner gangs, who will attack you during deliveries or even raid your camp. But you’re Arthur Flippin’ Morgan and you don’t need to take that lying down: You’ll get missions to sabotage (murder) your bootlegging rivals, too. Wipe out a competing gang and wreck their equipment—I suggest bringing dynamite—and it’ll decrease the odds your own camp will be raided for a while.
I really enjoyed the moonshine missions in Red Dead Online, and this mod sounds like it does a great job of replicating that fun in singleplayer. You’ll find it here at Nexus Mods (opens in new tab). It’s the work of two modders, who you can find and support on Patreon if you’d like: Shtivi (opens in new tab) and bolmin70 (opens in new tab).
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