Red Dead Redemption 2 — Achievement Walkthrough

Bond by riding, feeding, brushing, patting, and calming your horse. Keep ONE horse and use it constantly; feed it regularly, brush it when dirty, calm it after scares, and it'll climb to Bond Level 4. A quick boost: feed it favourite foods and pat it often while riding. Bond 4 unlocks extra maneuvers + this achievement.

At any Gunsmith, pick one weapon and buy every upgrade it offers (barrel, grip, sight, etc.) plus customizations that count as components. Pick a cheaper weapon to save money. Once every available component slot for that single gun is upgraded, it unlocks. Make sure it's a gun with the full range of components (a revolver or repeater works).

Roughly a third of the list (Breakout, Notorious/Rank 50, crafting, posse, butcher, herbs, series, MVP, etc.) is earned in Red Dead Online, not the story. If you're going for 100% of achievements you'll need to play RDO: level up to Rank 50 (Notorious is the long pole), form a persistent posse (team up), and grind the crafting/butcher/herb tasks which come naturally while leveling. Do the quick ones (Intro, own 5 horses, 5 camp improvements) early, then grind rank.

Pick a direction. Max honor: help strangers, greet people, pay bounties, hunt cleanly. Min honor: rob, kill innocents/animals needlessly, loot bodies. The fastest is usually LOW honor — repeatedly rob/kill in a remote area, or wipe out a homestead. Either extreme end of the meter unlocks it; low is quicker to farm.

Big fish come from the right spots + bait. Use special lake lures or bait (Special Lake Lure for lake fish) at a large lake (e.g., Flat Iron Lake). Legendary fish are 16lb+ but you can also land a large regular Largemouth Bass / Muskie / Lake Sturgeon. Cast into deep water, be patient for a big bite, and reel carefully (release tension when it pulls). One 16lb+ catch does it.

Homestead robberies are specific ranch/farm locations with a hidden stash. Clear the residents, then find and loot the stash (often in the house, cellar, or a lockbox — search thoroughly). Do 4 different homesteads. Some are revealed by Strangers or exploration; a location guide points you to the 4 easiest. Loot the actual stash, not just the till.

Craft at campfires (tonics, provisions, ammo variants) and via the trapper/tailor (unique gear counts). 30 DISTINCT recipes. Cook different meats, brew different tonics, craft various special ammo, and make trapper items. Keep crafting new recipes as you unlock ingredients; 30 uniques accumulate naturally with a little deliberate variety.

Stranger missions are the white/off-white markers (question marks until discovered). A 'strand' is a full questline (often multiple parts). Ten completed strands — track them in Progress. Some strands are chapter- or epilogue-locked, so keep doing Stranger markers throughout and into the epilogue. A checklist helps ensure you finish full strands (not just first parts).

Certain story missions are optional and marked (often the higher-honor 'help someone' missions, and the yellow optional-mission markers at camp/in towns). Do every optional mission as it appears — some are only available in a specific chapter, so don't skip camp/town mission markers. Use a checklist to confirm you didn't miss a chapter-locked one.

Complete the 'A Bright Bouncing Boy' Stranger strand for the inventor Marko Dragic (west of Annesburg / near Doverhill). After finishing his experiments, RETURN to the lab location later (a day+ after completing the strand) to find the eerie conclusion — that return visit is what unlocks it. Don't forget to go back after the initial questline ends.

You must skin at least one of every skinnable species. Use an animal-location map/checklist (species are region-specific and some are legendary or seasonal). Kill cleanly (right weapon for a quality pelt isn't required for the skin count, just for perfect pelts). Track which species you've skinned in the Compendium. Pairs naturally with Zoologist (studying) — study then kill+skin each species as you travel.

Studying = aim at an animal and hold the study prompt (or use binoculars) until it's logged in the Compendium. You need every species studied. Use a Compendium checklist to see gaps; some species only appear in specific regions/weather/time. Study is easier than skinning (no kill needed), so sweep each region studying everything you see. Do this alongside Skin Deep.

100% is tracked in Pause → Progress → Total Completion. It needs: all story missions, most Stranger mission strands, 10 gold-medal-tracked activities, several challenges (not all), skinning/collecting sets, etc. — NOT every single collectible in the game, just the specific checklist categories. Note: you only need the '100% checklist' items, so use a checklist guide to see exactly which tasks count. Some are missable per chapter, so consult the list before finishing Chapter 6. Reaching 100% unlocks a special item at Dutch's/your camp and this achievement.

Each story mission has optional gold-medal objectives (accuracy %, headshots, complete within a time, no damage, etc.). You can replay any completed mission from Progress → Story and the objectives are shown before you start. Tips: use Dead Eye for the accuracy/headshot ones, and note 'complete with X% accuracy' counts your whole-mission shots so don't fire wildly. Replaying with the checklist visible makes 70 very doable — do the easy-objective missions first.

You need a $250+ bounty in EVERY state, held for 3 in-game days without paying it off. Rack up bounties by committing crimes in each state (kill lawmen, rob) until each state's bounty hits $250. Best done in the epilogue when you roam freely; avoid capture by staying in the wilderness and let 3 days pass. Some states (New Austin, Guarma is excluded) — get all accessible states to $250. Don't pay any off.

You must get hit by a bear and then kill it — 18 times. Find bear territory (the forests around O'Creans/Grizzlies East, north of Annesburg). Let the bear swipe you (survive with high health/Dead Eye), then kill it. Bring strong tonics, a rifle, and Dead Eye. Repeat across bear spawns; it's cumulative so you can do a few per session. Save first in case you die.