Is John Marston Red Dead Redemption 2’s main playable character?

Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 is getting closer and closer to release and fans all want to know whether John Marston will make a return in the glorious open-world adventure prequel.

No title has made the splendour and savagery of America’s Old West come to life like Rockstar’s Red Dead series.

The slowly shifting skies and dusty mesas have been as important to the gameplay satisfaction as the richly told stories which populate the series with big, believable characters. None more so than John Marston, the lead character in the original Red Dead Redemption.

With a lot of energy tied up in Marston’s story, fans of the series all want to know whether the former outlaw will return in the new game. So can we expect to see him again and is he the main character?

Is John Marston in Red Dead Redemption 2?

CREDIT: ROCKSTAR GAMES

We know from the game’s previews and early reviews that John Marston does feature in the game, however, he is not the main protagonist for the Story Mode.

Players will instead take control of Arthur Morgan, right hand man to Dutch van der Linde, leader of the notorious Van der Linde Gang.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in September, the series’ art director Josh Bass established that Marston – a former member of the Van der Linde Gang – would make an appearance.

“In Red Dead Redemption 2 you get to see [the Van der Linde Gang], including Marston, at the peak of their notoriety and at the very moment things begin to fall apart,” Bass said.

However, it is Morgan who will be the main focus for the story and not Marston. Players will get a chance to learn more about the back-story of all the former gang members who were so memorably tracked down by John Marston in the first Red Dead Redemption.