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In Defense of Red Dead Redemption 2’s Guarma Chapter

By 5 Mins Read

Highlights

  • Guarma divides Red Dead Redemption 2 fans due to its pacing and on-rail missions.
  • Despite criticism, Guarma offers character development and foreshadows Dutch’s fall from grace.
  • Guarma’s inclusion provides insight into the gang’s isolation and downfall, making it a valuable part of the story.



Red Dead Redemption 2 is largely considered to be a masterpiece of gaming. Its story is an emotional thrill ride that pushed the boundaries of the medium and the world Rockstar created is still one of the most immersive and lifelike video game worlds to date. Despite this, there is one chapter of the game’s story that still divides fans six years later: Guarma.

Fans have criticized the fifth chapter of Red Dead Redemption 2’s story for breaking up the flow of the game. The player is whisked away to the island after the botched Saint Denis bank job and stripped of their hard-earned gear, weapons, horses, and outfits while completing very on-rail missions. It’s easy to see how and why most fans power through the chapter to get back to the mainland as fast as they can. But there are nuggets of gold hidden in the Guarma chapter and the rest of the game would be worse off without its inclusion.


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Why Guarma is Important to Red Dead Redemption 2’s Story

The Saint Denis bank job is a crucial turning point in the story. The failed robbery sees the Van Der Linde gang take their first major loss to the Pinkertons. The lawmen don’t just put a stop to the score; they apprehend John and kill Lenny and Hosea, two of the moral centers of the Van Der Linde gang. The final mission of Chapter Four is heavy stuff and a lot to take in on a first playthrough.

While some would argue Guarma creates a pacing problem, it’s actually a wonderfully paced segment of the game. The massive slowdown in Chapter Five lets the player really soak in and absorb the events of the previous mission. Rockstar gives a full chapter for the player to stop and languish in the gang’s failure; a full chapter dedicated to grasping how the once unstoppable Van Der Linde gang had been laid so low.


Guarma is Foreshadowing Dutch’s Fall from Grace

In terms of the story, Guarma is a major shift in the gang’s fortunes, but it also is an excellent piece of character-building for Dutch’s slow descent into madness. Guarma was the first time Dutch was really and truly backed into a corner. In high-stress moments like this, people show their true colors and Dutch didn’t disappoint. Most concerning is his immediate desire to jump into the rebel conflict on the island. He frames it as a positive thing; that the rebels’ values are in line with the gang’s and that they’re in the right to help them. But in reality, he’s escalating a conflict he knows little about to further his own selfish goals, in this case getting off the island.


Almost immediately after getting back to the mainland, Dutch starts his largely one-sided relationship with the Wapiti, which, of course, ends in tragedy for the tribe. Guarma serves as an ominous bit of foreshadowing for what Dutch will become in the next chapter and later in the original Red Dead Redemption. Even if Dutch talks himself up with noble, idealistic language, he ultimately becomes everything he claims to have hated.

Common Arguments Against The Guarma Missions

In subsequent playthroughs, the Guarma sections do become a bit of a chore to slog through. But Chapter Five is one of the shortest in Red Dead Redemption 2, topped only by Chapter One’s tutorial-focused missions. What’s more, is that Chapter Five doesn’t even stay in Guarma very long. Four missions are all it takes to get off the island and back to the meat of the game that take less than an hour of gameplay.


Speaking in a strictly pragmatic sense, Guarma does not need to be in the game. There are plenty of other instances in the story where the Van Der Linde gang has to evade the law, and they do so without fleeing the country. But from a narrative/writing standpoint, the time spent in Guarma works flawlessly to convey the isolation and aimlessness the gang is feeling after starting their eventual downfall. The Red Dead series has some of the deepest, most well-written characters the medium has to offer, and any time spent with them to gain some more insight into their internal worlds and motivations is time well spent.

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