The Mysterious Disappearance of Charles Smith in Red Dead Redemption 2

The Phenomenon of NPCs Despawning in Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a massive open world, providing plenty of activities to do with various NPCs. With Rockstar Games' open-world design, the characters living in the Wild West setting are subject to gameplay conditions. One such condition that comes to mind is the respawning capabilities of NPCs. Specifically speaking, if an NPC dies in the game, they won't return and will be replaced with another NPC. This has brought on the discussion of NPCs despawning in Red Dead Redemption 2, affecting the immersion in Rockstar Games' western game. With this in mind, a player has captured footage of a known NPC despawning right before them.

After speaking with Charles Smith in Red Dead Redemption 2, Reddit user intoner1 posted a video of the character disappearing somewhere. The exchange is brief: Charles has been tracking Arthur Morgan of the Van der Linde gang for a while, and the player promptly responds by dismissing Charles. Once that moment comes and goes, a wagon passes by at the end of the interaction, separating the two. However, once the wagon drives on through, Charles is no longer at the scene as if he left the area altogether. Intoner1 captioned the video, 'Coolest despawn I’ve ever seen.'

In the game, Van der Linde gang members can take on treks to look for Arthur Morgan if he's been away from camp for a lengthy period. Charles is one of the characters who can go out and locate Arthur (Bill Williamson and Javier Escuela are other members who can go out and travel to find Arthur). This can occur during Chapter 3, which intoner1 mentioned in one of the comments under their post.

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The post on Reddit

The Intriguing Disappearance of Charles Smith

Moreover, references to Batman and Jason Bourne were made in the comments when referring to Charles's disappearing act in the video. These characters exhibit similar behaviors, seemingly disappearing after interacting with others.

While killing NPCs in Red Dead Redemption 2 could lead to some issues, it's refreshing to see rare despawning moments like those in intoner1's video. It's a humorous interaction that doesn't play by the rules of realism in the game. The game is known for executing some problematic results regarding despawning characters, though players have noticed these issues before in single-player mode and Red Dead Online. Whether it's intentional by design or not, it's a possible moment that can be triggered in the game.