The Most Fun Red Dead Redemption 2 Cheat Codes

You can enjoy Red Dead Redemption 2 like Rockstar intended. You can play it as a meandering, meditative exploration of the death of the American frontier, complete with a world so detailed and realistic that even horse testicles obey the laws of physics. Or you can say screw it. If you prefer your West truly wild, you can use cheat codes to up Red Dead Redemption 2's action and lower its tedium. We recommend that you do.

Some cheat codes need to be unlocked via progressing in the main campaign and purchasing the appropriate newspaper. Others are available right from the get-go, assuming that you know the right codes. Either way, once you've got a cheat ready to go, pause the game, open the "Settings" menu, and press the triangle or Y button. That'll bring up the cheat menu, where you can input the secret passphrase and get your cheat on. Playing with cheats on won't let you earn any trophies or achievements or save your game, but it won't matter. You'll be having so much fun that you won't even notice.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, your horse is very, very important. You'll need to travel via horseback if you want to travel across the game's massive map in anything resembling a decent time. All of your weapons are stored in your horse's saddle bags, meaning that you'll need to keep your steed nearby or backtrack to where you parked it if you want to take full advantage of your arsenal (the way that Red Dead Redemption 2 automatically changes your weapon loadout when you mount your horse or loot bodies makes this extra annoying). In order to bring animals back to camp, where Pearson will turn them into stew, you'll need to carry them on your horse. There's no other way.

As such, if you wander too far away from your horse or if the animal gets spooked and goes running, hiking back to them is both necessary and a huge pain. You can lessen the hurt by whistling for your horse (press up on your controller's D-pad), but if you've been playing for any length of time, you've probably noticed that your animal-summoning powers have a very, very short range. If your horse is too far away, you're still going to have to do quite a bit of travelling on foot to reach them.

The "Better than my dog" cheat fixes that by allowing you to call your horse from any distance. Is it realistic? Absolutely not. But Red Dead Redemption 2 is already a huge game, and if you're constantly hopping on and off your horse while exploring, this cheat will save you quite a bit of time. Use it, and use it liberally.

Like any outlaw worth his salt, Arthur Morgan is no stranger to the devil's water. Whiskey. Beer. Bourbon. Gin. Moonshine. Pirate rum. If it's got alcohol, Arthur will drink it. Sometimes, that leads to problems — Red Dead Redemption 2 has an entire mission dedicated to the highs and lows (well, mostly lows) that accompany a booze-filled night on the town — but it can also make the game much, much more interesting.

When Arthur is drunk, he'll stumble around, losing what little grace he has. In-game text prompts become garbled, reflecting Arthur's muddled state of mind. The camera starts wobbling, making him hard to control, and the graphics become blurry. Have too much to drink, and Arthur will pass out entirely. Red Dead Redemption 2 is already hard to control. Add alcohol to the mix, and it becomes nearly impossible.

Nearly impossible and hilarious, that is. If you want to make sure that Arthur is drunk all of the time, you don't need to spend a fortune at the saloon. Just use the "A fool on command" cheat code and watch the hilarity commence. Thankfully, you can toggle the cheat off when you want to get serious — a tipsy gunslinger isn't usually a very effective one — and turn it back on later, once the trouble has passed. Oh, and the absolute best part? No hangovers. Go wild.

If you've just started Red Dead Redemption 2, you may not realize it, but Arthur Morgan is a very stylish fellow — or, at the very least, he can be. Red Dead Redemption 2's shops peddle more than just firearms and cans of baked beans. Some also sell clothing, which you can use to give Arthur some extra flair. Towns aren't the only place you can find new outfits, either. By hunting beasts and offloading their skins on traders, Arthur can earn special legendary outfits, too.

Red Dead Redemption 2's clothing system is more than just cosmetic. If you're heading to a region with an extreme climate, you'd better make sure that Arthur is dressed appropriately. Otherwise, his health is going to suffer. As a result, you're going to want to make sure that you've got an outfit ready for every occasion. Filling Mr. Morgan's wardrobe can take quite a bit of time, but fortunately, Rockstar has given you a shortcut.

If you don't get much thrill from the chase, you can enter "Vanity. All is vanity" in Red Dead Redemption 2's cheat screen to unlock all of Arthur's clothing options at once. No more shopping. No more hunting. No more grisly skinning animations. It'll just be Arthur and whatever cool, practical, or ridiculous get-up you decide to put him in. If you prefer to play Red Dead Redemption 2 more like a Western-themed Animal Crossing, or if you just want to see what an outfit looks like before you track it down on your main save, "All is vanity" is the way to go.

If you want to add a war horse to your stable, you've got a couple of options. The easiest way is — or was — to buy Red Dead Redemption 2 early. Anyone who preordered Rockstar's latest open-world adventure received an in-game war horse, which trades acceleration for greater speed and stamina, free of charge, although you'll have to finish a brief mission early in Chapter 2 in order to unlock it.

Unfortunately, Red Dead Redemption 2 is already out, making its preorder bonuses a thing of the past. Once you get far enough in the game, you can buy a war horse using in-game cash, although they tend to be pretty expensive. Expect to pay anywhere between $100 and $400 to get one. If you prefer to find your stallions and mares in the wild, you can find a few types of Hungarian Half-bred wandering around the map, too (check northern Blackwater), although they can be pretty hard to come by.

Or, finally, you can just cheat and get one for free, using the code "You are a beast built for war." No muss, no fuss, and no strain on your wallet. There's just one catch: if you're going to get a war horse this way, you're going to need to be patient. The cheat only unlocks once you've finished Red Dead Redemption 2's main campaign and epilogue. That'll take the average player around 60 hours, so if you've waited that long, enjoy your new ride. You've certainly earned it.

Maybe Red Dead Redemption 2's lengthy travel segments are a little too slow for you. Maybe you want to see what life is like on the wrong side of the law, but you don't have the stomach to actually follow through on all of those dastardly deeds. Maybe — just maybe — you know that Rockstar's open-world games are at their best when the chaos meter is cranked up to 11. If any of those descriptions sound like you, then use the "You want punishment" cheat code to bump up your Wanted level, then sit back and watch the bullets fly.

See, if you're caught breaking the law, Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn't let you off scott-free. For minor offenses, you'll be assigned a low bounty, and might find yourself up against deputies and angry mobs when you wander into town. For worse offenses, you'll get tracked down by bounty hunters, outrun bloodhounds, and face off against federal marshals. It's wild.

On the other hand, if you find yourself running from the sheriff a little too often, you can lower your Wanted level using the "You want freedom" cheat code, but where's the fun in that? Fleeing the authorities is a time-honored Rockstar tradition, after all. In Red Dead Redemption 2, running from the law is a big part of the fun. Don't miss out.

We've got two words for you: "homing tomahawks."

Okay, okay. The "Death is silence" cheat code actually does a little more than give you a heat-seeking hatchet. It'll actually gift Arthur a full arsenal of stealth-based weapons, including a machete, an entire assortment of different knives, and some regular old tomahawks, too. If you're getting tired of heading into firefights guns blazing, "Death is silence" helps make stealth a much more viable option. It won't turn Red Dead Redemption 2 into Metal Gear Solid, but the game has many, many combat encounters, and a change of pace is always welcome.

If you don't want to use cheats, you can craft a homing tomahawk by buying a regular tomahawk from a fence, and then attaching an owl feather. You'll also need the homing tomahawk schematics, which you can find near Moonstone Pond. Look for the house that's been flattened by a tree. However, players report that finding owls can be difficult, making their feathers hard to come by. If you can't locate any feathered friends just use the "Death is silence" cheat to give the tomahawks a try. You'll be glad you did.

Red Dead Redemption 2 goes out of its way to make you love your horse. If you don't clean your horse regularly, it'll lose health. If you don't pet it enough, you'll never build the bond that lets you execute unique moves. Constantly riding your horse is the only way to boost its speed and its endurance. If a predator or gunshots spook the beast, it's up to you to give it a comforting pat on the snout and offer a soothing word.

Like real pets, Red Dead Redemption 2's furry friends can be very rewarding. Also like real pets, they can be a ton of work. Too much work, maybe, for those players who already have jobs, families, and real-life pets to take care of. That's where "My kingdom is a horse" comes in. This cheat code will increase the bond that you have with every single horse that you own, whether you're currently riding it or not.

That means, if you're feeling lonely, you can quickly give Arthur Morgan an entire stable full of new best friends. It also means that, once you collect a team of horses that'll handle every situation, you don't need to spend extra time riding them to level them up. They'll all love you instantly.

Aside from the Spaghetti Western-inspired setting, Red Dead Redemption 2 isn't much like Red Dead Revolver, the game that launched the Red Dead franchise. The former is an open-world game. The latter is a linear third-person shooter. Red Dead Revolver is about Red Harlow, the son of a prospector who's on a mission of revenge. Red Dead Redemption and its sequel focus on the members of the Van der Linde gang, who must fight against the law, each other, and the Wild West's general decline. They're pretty different.

Red Dead Revolver and Red Dead Redemption 2 do have one common element, however: the Matrix-esque Dead Eye mechanic. As time slows to a crawl, you can use Dead Eye to target specific body parts and weak spots, draw a bead on multiple enemies, and then unleash a hail of bullets that'll stop anything in its path. That's the idea, anyway. When Red Dead Redemption 2 begins, your Dead Eye abilities are limited. You can still go into slow-motion to pick off enemies, but that's it. All those cool extra options are off of the table.

Where's the fun in that? Red Dead Redemption 2 might move slow, but it's still a power fantasy, and many players are going to have more fun if Arthur Morgan is a top-tier gunslinger from the get-go. That's who "I seek and I find" is for. This cheat code boosts your Dead Eye abilities to their maximum level immediately. It'll create a bunch of unfair fights, but Arthur Morgan is an outlaw. Breaking the rules is kind of his whole thing, so don't worry about it. Just start shooting.

Let's face it. Red Dead Redemption 2 has a lot going for it, but it's hardly a perfect game. Take the game's health and stamina system, for example. Arthur has three meters that represent his health, his energy, and his Dead Eye ability. As Arthur runs, takes damage, uses Dead Eye, the meters drop. Stop doing those things, and they'll recharge.

So far, so good. Here's where things take a turn: the meters are just one half of the equation. The "cores," which are the icons in the middle, are the other. If a meter is empty, the core will be consumed. The lower that the core gets, the slower that associated the meter recharges. To refill them, you need to open Red Dead Redemption 2's cumbersome inventory window and consume the right food and drink. But substances that refill one core can damage the rest, Red Dead Redemption 2 calls the meters "bars" even though they're rings, and, oh yeah, the Dead Eye core works differently from the others. It's a mess.

You can see how Rockstar came up with all of this — real-life cowboys needed to eat and drink, so Arthur does too — but it's tedious and breaks immersion, and we'd rather not deal with it. So don't. The cheat code "You seek more than the world offers" will refill and fortify all of your bars, making them extra strong. Now, you can't unlock this cheat until Chapter 6, near the end of the campaign, and since you can't save when cheats are on, it won't help get you through the main story. If you're exploring Red Dead Redemption 2's post-game content, however, "You seek more than the world offers" will make everything a lot more enjoyable.

With all of the cattle rustlers, bounty hunters, and ne'er-do-wells out there, life on the range can be rough. Bring the people a little joy. By entering "Would you be happier as a clown?" you can spawn your very own circus wagon, guaranteed to bring smiles to the faces of men, women, and children across the frontier.

Okay, maybe that's overselling it just a little. The circus wagon isn't much more than a carriage with a cage built in, so it's not that useful in Red Dead Redemption 2's main campaign. It's fun anyway. He's British, Of Course, the sidequest that sees Arthur Morgan hunting down a menagerie of lost circus animals and that introduces the wagon, is one of the game's best and most memorable Stranger encounters. It's always nice to remember the good times.

If you're looking for a ride that's a little less flashy, "Keep your dreams simple" will spawn a simple one-horse wagon, while "The best of the old ways" creates a stagecoach. If you want pizzazz, on the other hand? The circus wagon is the only way to go.

Red Dead Redemption 2's honor system goes a little something like this: do good deeds and your honor goes up. Act like a villain and your honor goes down. It's that simple. If Arthur Morgan is honorable, other people will like him more, and they'll express their admiration via gifts, discounts, and other bonuses. A dishonorable Arthur, on the other hand, will be treated like a pariah. You don't make many friends when you're stealing people's horses, slaughtering their livestock, or robbing their stores.

But maybe honorable players want to see what life is like on the other side of the law, but don't have the stomach to commit such dastardly deeds. Maybe villains want to murder and steal their way across the Wild West, but can't handle the shame that comes along with it. If either of those sound like you, read on. While "Virtue unearned is not a virtue," which raises your honor, needs to be unlocked during Chapter 4, "You revel in your disgrace, I see," which sets your honor as low as it'll go, can be used at any time.

Both codes let you play Red Dead Redemption 2 the way that you want, consequences be damned. If you get tired of that, then we have some more good news: "Balance. All is balance" resets your honor to a neutral position. Make some poor decisions and want a second chance? Just balance out the scales and try again.

Red Dead Redemption 2 isn't a shooter. It's a Western simulator, and that means that you'll need to pay attention to your diet, your horses, and yes, your ammunition supply in addition to gunning down your fellow ne'er-do-wells.

Sometimes, though, you don't want to worry. Sometimes, you just want to shoot stuff. That's when "Abundance is the dullest desire" comes in handy. Ammunition isn't exactly hard to come by in Red Dead Redemption 2 — corpses almost always have a few bullets on 'em, and after a few upgrades, Arthur's tent contains almost all of the ammunition you need — but some of the game's lengthier combat challenges throw dozens and dozens of enemies at you in quick succession. During these encounters, you might find your favorite shotgun, rifle, or pistol running low on ammo. When that happens to you, enter the cheat code and let 'er rip.

Technically, you have to earn "Abundance is the dullest desire" by buying a newspaper, but unlike many of Red Dead Redemption 2's other cheats, this one unlocks early. By the time that your finish Chapter 1, you should have the newspaper that you need. As a result, you'll be able to drown your opponents in a sea of bullets from almost the very beginning. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and let 'em have it.

Face it: while Red Dead Redemption 2 is an ambitious artistic achievement and a technical marvel, it can be remarkably tedious. You've got guns to maintain, horses to care for, a camp to upgrade, outfits to buy, quests to complete, bounties to hunt, animals to track and skin, fossils to find, and much, much more.

That's a big problem when it comes to your stat bars, which grow slowly as the game progresses — and when we say slowly, we mean s-l-o-w-l-y. In order to extend your bars, you need to use their associated abilities. If you want Arthur to be able to run a little farther, you need to run all of the time. If you want him to have just a sliver of more health, he'll have to absorb countless bullets. To increase your deadeye meter, you have to land headshots, hunt animals, and perform other chores. In Red Dead Redemption 2, the grind is real.

Unless you enter "Seek all the bounty of this place" in the cheat menu, that is, which increases all of your bars instantly. No muss, no fuss, and no extra work. Like other cheats, you can't save your progress when you use "Seek all the bounty," so those upgrades are only temporary. If you're sick of Arthur only being able to sprint for a few feet before he gets winded, though, it's a godsend. The relief might be temporary, but while it lasts, it is very, very sweet indeed.

From a game design perspective, it's easy to see why Rockstar attached Arthur's deadeye ability to a meter. Red Dead Redemption 2's creators clearly wanted Mr. Morgan to feel like a world-class gunslinger, but they also didn't want his time-slowing powers to upend the game's difficulty curve.

From an in-universe perspective, however, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Did Wild Bill Hickok suddenly lose his aim after landing a couple of headshots? Do you think Wyatt Earp went from an ace to an oaf just because he was concentrating for a few minutes? Of course not. That's ridiculous. A skill isn't a finite resource. If you use it too much, you don't wear it out.

That's why we recommend using the "Be greedy only for foresight" cheat code, which gives you an infinite supply of deadeye to use. It's not about how satisfying it is to draw two pistols and lay waste to a whole battalion of enemies, or that Matrix-style gunfights in the Wild West happen to be some of the coolest things ever. We just want Red Dead Redemption 2 to be even more realistic. Yeah, that's it. There's no other reason. Nuh-uh. Not a one.