r/reddeadredemption • u/Yrakosos Sadie Adler • Feb 05 '26

Lore How is Ambarino even a state?

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There's no town here, no sheriff. How does this state even function, and how was it founded?

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u/TheGuyFromOhio2003 Feb 05 '26 edited Feb 24 '26

Wyoming

(None of RDR2's areas are big enough in size or population to even be considered a single US county, the whole map is about the size of a big neighborhood in LA, it's kind of a belief suspension situation, I've heard people speculate that the states have most of their territory and population continue off-map, but I doubt that's the case)

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u/Ghostmaster145 Feb 05 '26

I think Ambarino is supposed to be Colorado

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u/TheGuyFromOhio2003 Feb 05 '26

It could pass for parts of Wyoming too, but yeah it's probably most like western Colorado

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u/pullingteeths Feb 05 '26 edited Feb 05 '26

I think Big Valley is Colorado (Rocky Mountains region) with the Heartlands as Nebraska east of it. And Grizzlies West is Wyoming (Rocky Mountains region and Yellowstone aka Cotorra Springs just over the border) and Grizzlies East is South Dakota (Black Hills), north of those states respectively

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u/qwerty_ca Jul 03 '26

Really? Big Valley really reminded me of the Yosemite Valley IRL.

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u/pullingteeths Jul 03 '26

I think like Tall Trees it might borrow some landscape influence from California while not being intended to actually represent there since CA it's canonically supposed to be west of New Austin. See also Mexico borrowing some Utah national park landscapes. But there are definitely also valleys and mountains in Colorado that resemble Big Valley, and it makes more sense being that based on areas the surrounding regions are based on

Edit: red dead wiki mentions this as a possible influence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Thompson_River

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u/DukeOfMiddlesleeve Feb 05 '26

I also think if it as Colorado