What's up with New Austin in RDR2?

[cant remember]

I'm curious what the deal is with New Austin in RDR2. I understand it's one of the states in RDR1, but not having played that one and it being a relatively old game now it feels a bit curious to me that the entire New Austin is included and is mostly entirely unused.

 

I guess it surprised me because I had done every mission and marked side quest in the game, and didn't know there's such a vast and richly detailed territory and several towns that were still hidden on the map. There's just one mission near the end that sort of takes you in there and it's strange you only discover the (fully functional with stores) towns if you take the time to freely explore by yourself in the epilogues. The only theory I can think of is that this area is meant to act as a bridge between RDR2 and RDR1.

[cp1dell]

It was 100% a last minute addition. The leaked map from 2016(?) only had the West Elizabeth area mapped out, and there is a clear designation that the map boundary was going to be the Lower Montana River.

[stag3coach2]

I wonder what passed through rockstar heads when thinking of adding this bootleg New Austin that clearly does not match the quality of the rest of the map. I would have preferred a revamped version of Great Plains that was larger and with a more polished Blackwater city.

[olivier8472]

9 hours ago, stag3coach2 said:

I wonder what passed through rockstar heads when thinking of adding this bootleg New Austin that clearly does not match the quality of the rest of the map. I would have preferred a revamped version of Great Plains that was larger and with a more polished Blackwater city.

Or a full Guarma island instead of what we got …