Get straight to the Red Dead Redemption 2 action with these post-intro saves

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the biggest PC releases of the year, but it's also been out on consoles for a year, which means that a lot of people on the mouse-and-keyboard horse have actually already played it. They know what's going on, they know what they're doing, and they just want to cut straight to the good stuff, without having to first power through the drawn out introductory segment, which can easily eat up a couple of hours of playtime.

Enter Nexus Mods, which currently offers two saved games—Quickstart and RDR2 Intro Completed Save File—from immediately after the intro bit. They're not mods, but they will make the game experience better if you just want to get on with things. To use them, just download the file and copy the save into C:\Users\<name>\Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2\Profiles, then fire it up and load the game.

The saves shouldn't have any impact on your overall game state: You might have end up with slightly different honor than you'd have had if you played the full intro yourself, but no permanent decisions are made so you don't have to worry about being saddled with some kind of "bad ending" because you wanted to save some time.

And it probably goes without saying, but just in case, Quickstart creator Taurenhunter said it: "If this is your first time playing the game, I'd advise you to experience it completely from start to finish as it's one of the best games out right now."

Rockstar released an update to its launcher earlier today that it said should help correct some crash errors in the game, and we're maintaining a list of unofficial fixes and workaround that you can follow along with here.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.