Red Dead Redemption 2 actor says the hardest part about playing Arthur was the crouch-running: '3 days later my thighs were absolutely killing me'

Actor Roger Clark reveals the challenging motion capture process behind Red Dead Redemption 2's crouch-running animation, highlighting Rockstar Games' attention to detail.

The hardest thing about portraying Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, according to actor Roger Clark, was the process of motion capturing the crouch-running animation.

"People often ask me what was the hardest thing about Red Dead 2 and I'll tell them it was crouch running," Clark said in an interview with Gamology (timestamped here). "Because we crouch-ran for, I think, a couple of days. Because you gotta crouch run, walk, stealth, run with one gun, run with two guns, then you gotta crouch-run with a rifle. Like, three days later my thighs were absolutely killing me."

It's weirdly coincidental that I'm writing this story at this exact moment in time, six years from launch, because Red Dead Redemption 2 is my comfort game currently and I was just remarking internally how much I truly appreciate the crouch-running in this game, especially in stealthy scenarios. Basically, I'd just like to say your sacrifice has not been in vain, Clark.

The actor added, "Rockstar Games, they really pay a lot of attention to details. Not a lot of studios do it that way, but I was very, very grateful that Rockstar Games gave me so much ownership over Arthur, because Arthur walks like me. He rubs his nose like me. The immersion is so important. I feel really blessed."

When it comes to immersion, a lot of focus has been placed on Red Dead Redemption 2's ludicrously detailed open world over the past six years, but it's details like this that make you appreciate the literal and figurative smaller elements of the game.

Guess which open-world game set in the Wild West made our list of games like GTA to play while you wait for GTA 6.