able content sometimes alludes to the next game in a franchise or where a story might continue in a direct sequel, but GTA 5's Trevor is considered a demon by fans partly for killing Johnny when the protagonist is introduced, similar to Victor Vance's demise in GTA: Vice City.
The Lost Motorcycle Club Johnny came from operates primarily in Alderney State throughout GTA 4 and was initially formed after the Vietnam War by eight marines who had a thirst for drugs. Red Dead Redemption 2 takes a different approach and shows the downfall of the Van der Linde Gang and how it starts to corrode under the guidance of Hosea and Dutch, building upon the crew their interpersonal conflicts as they evade the law, with protagonist Arthur Morgan at the center. Unfortunately for fans of either franchise, GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption. However, a clear comparison between the two shows that Rockstar's storytelling has evolved, but hasn't truly changed.
As both stories begin, TLAD and RDR2 introduce the right-hand man and a gang struggling to survive, but the GTA 4 episode shows the collapse of The Lost in the form of speed-running RDR2. While the Wild West story eases players into the gang before its sudden collapse, TLAD thrusts players into a story where the gang leader Billy Grey is already putting The Lost on a path toward self-destruction as the gang splits into civil war and several well-known are killed one-by-one. Multiple in both gangs are carbon copies, with Johnny and Arthur as the hard-working right-hand man, while Brian and Micah are dishonest and cowardly, caring only for themselves. Billy, the leader of The Lost, has a hatred for a rival gang and acts like RDR2's Dutch, who descends into evil and betrays his gang after repeated assurances that there is a plan in place to leave the outlaw lifestyle behind.
GTA 4's First DLC Told An Abbreviated RDR2 Story
Johnny Klebitz, much like Arthur Morgan, spends the entire game following awful plans from his leader and being forced to clean up their messes. Thematically speaking, TLAD introduces players to a gang roughly halfway through the story of Red Dead Redemption 2, only showing how far the gang will fall as its leader is hyper-focused on their rival, similar to Dutch's obsession with one-upping the O'Driscolls. The remnants of The Lost part ways and burn their headquarters to the ground, similar to the ending of RDR2, where Marston kills Micah and betrays the rest of the Van der Linde survivors in Red Dead Redemption. Billy and Dutch's obsession with success sends them over the edge as their gangs make enemy after enemy, forcing the crews to disband and give up the group they dedicated themselves to.
The tragedy of the Van der Linde Gang is one of Rockstar's most outstanding pieces of storytelling, with Dutch falling into madness, Micah's constant betrayals, and Arthur's attempts to keep the gang afloat and everyone happy. Were The Lost's story to be retold and expanded, it's possible Rockstar would tell it like a modern Van der Linde Gang, giving players more time to get associated with characters before the inevitable collapse. With what Rockstar learned from RDR2 being applied to GTA 6, it's no surprise that games from their most popular franchises, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Red Dead Redemption 2, carry similar stories in separate eras.
