American Venom

Player notes

Screenshots from American Venom, mirrored from Red Dead Wiki.

• ◆Before the player starts the mission, Jack can be heard reading a fantasy book to Abigail and Uncle. However, the book he is reading is actually a Frank Heck dime novel.
• ◆The story Jack reads parallels John's own character arc. The knight, Sir Galsworthy, abandons his sword and takes up farming, mirroring John's decision to leave his life of crime behind and put down his "gun" in favor of becoming a rancher. After becoming the greatest apple farmer in the kingdom, Sir Galsworthy begins to miss his dragon-slaying days despite the nightmares they caused him. This reflects John's internal conflict between leaving his outlaw past behind and pursuing vengeance against Micah. Unlike Sir Galsworthy, John ultimately returns to his former life, a decision that contributes to the events of "The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed".
• ◆The dialogue when John, Charles, and Sadie are riding will change depending on Arthur's honor. If Arthur had high honor, Charles will ask, "You think Arthur cared about revenge? I'm not so sure... especially not at the end"; if Arthur had low honor, or you replay the mission, Charles will say, "Revenge is something Arthur would have stood behind."
• ◆However, Charles's claim that Arthur would have approved of their revenge if he was Low Honor is incorrect, as Arthur still advises John to never look back in "Red Dead Redemption".
• ◆Choosing to spare Cleet will result in a slight boost of Honor. Choosing to hang him, however, will not lose honor.
• ◆If Arthur previously slashed Micah's eye with a knife in the mission "Red Dead Redemption" as a result of having high Honor and going back for the money, Micah can be seen with a scar covering his eye when John confronts him. Micah still calls him "scarface", a retort that John throws back at him.
• ◆Sadie rides a Dark Bay Turkoman in this mission instead of her Mustang horse, Hera.
• ◆The "Endless Summer" achievement/trophy, earned upon completion of the main storyline, is a reference to the endgame chapter of another Rockstar game, Bully.
• ◆After the mission is over, John and Abigail are seen conversing on the hill looking over the ranch; this hill is where John and Abigail's wedding took place, and is also where John, Abigail, and Uncle are buried years later.
• ◆Once John reaches the base of the mountain, he will change into the Winter Cowboy outfit, including Arthur's hat, suggesting John consciously chose to wear it for the confrontation. The player can still change their outfit by equipping one from their horse, however.
• ◆The music that plays during the final shooting section of this mission is a remix of the original main theme from the soundtrack of Red Dead Redemption.
• ◆When the player approaches Micah's cabin, a rat can be seen scurrying out.
• ◆A single mark with Dead Eye is enough to kill Micah and trigger the cutscene. Multiple shots may be required if firing manually without marking.
• ◆Although it is impossible to see without the use of camera mods, Micah does not appear to reload his revolvers once during the showdown.
• ◆In a unique scenario that cannot be seen under normal circumstances, if John has invincibility (with the use of mods) and kills Dutch, Micah will respond with "Always was slow..", then throws Sadie to the ground and executes her, resulting in mission failure. Should John instead kill Micah, Dutch will shoot him and say "Oh... son...". If the latter happens, Sadie will just fall over and die after Micah does instead of being executed, again resulting in mission failure. These cannot be seen in a normal version of the game because killing either Dutch or Micah will result in the other immediately killing John.
• ◆Also, if the player has invincibility mode activated and does not shoot Micah at the end of the mission, Micah will kill Dutch, shoot John and then kill Sadie before heading back inside the cabin . This results in a softlock, and the player will have to either restart the mission or use mods to load from checkpoint.
• ◆If done correctly, the player can shoot Micah's hat off during the final showdown on the mountain.
• ◆Sadie says "I'm almost always killing old friends", and asks "Ain't that right, John?", to which he replies "Seems that way". This exchange is the exact plot of Red Dead Redemption.
• ◆As John and Sadie threaten Cleet with hanging, Charles can be heard speaking to the residents of Strawberry, telling them that "My boss is a licensed bounty hunter. She can do what she wants." and "This guy? Rides with Micah Bell." The residents can also be heard calling for Cleet's hanging.
• ◆During the final standoff, John swings his gun between Micah and Dutch a total of 9 times whenever he's speaking to them. This was likely done purely for cinematic effect, as it provides Micah ample opportunity to shoot John; it also makes little sense for John to point his gun at Dutch while trying to reason with him.