In Red Dead Redemption 2 you play as gruff, grizzled, and highly recognizable outlaw Arthur Morgan, and you’ll probably be committing one form of crime or another at some point in the game. But if you go shooting up the local General Store or getting into a fist-fight in the neighborhood Saloon, everyone will recognize you and your honor will plummet. This is why Red Dead Redemption 2 Masks are so important.
In the following guide, we’ll run down everything you need to know about masks and bandanas in Red Dead Redemption 2. You’ll start off with a basic bandana mask, and eventually, you’ll gain access to more elaborate and creepy ones. But where and when do you get them? How do you use them properly? What masks are actually available? We’re here to help.
Where to Buy Red Dead Redemption 2 Masks
Since masks aren’t the sort of gear that law-abiding citizens should be interested in buying, you can’t get new masks in the same way you do other clothing, at the General Store. Instead, you’ll have to get new masks from one of three fences around the world. These fences specialize in items for the criminal element, and they’re also where you need to go to offload stolen goods.
As mentioned, there are three around the world, at these locations: Rhodes, Saint Denis, and the Van Horn Trading Post. These are all located on the east and south-eastern areas of the world map. Yes, it would be useful if there were fences in the west or north, too. Rhodes is probably the easiest to get to, as both stagecoaches and trains stop there. Wherever you go, head to the fence, and scroll through his catalog tabs until you find the page marked “Masks.” Then, buy whatever you like the sound of!
How to Equip Red Dead Redemption 2 Masks
You’ll be shown how to use your basic bandana mask, which is the default, in the train robbery story mission at the end of Chapter 1. Simply open up your inventory wheel by holding L1/LB, press R1/RB to move to the Items wheel, and select the mask in the bottom-left to have Morgan put it on.
It gets more complicated when you have several masks in your inventory. You can only equip one at a time, so you have to return to your horse, open up your Horse inventory, and you can use L2/R2 or LT/RT to choose which mask you want to select. Just remember, you’ll unequip your hat if you use a proper mask!
How to Use a Mask or Bandana Properly
Using masks properly is one of the hardest things to work out in Red Dead Redemption 2. Only NPCs are fooled by a mask, but lawmen see through it straight away. Make sure you never wear a mask in front of a lawman, and if you’re committing a crime, be gone from the area when they arrive.
Even with regular NPCs there are catches for using a mask to commit crimes, since NPCs are actually quite intelligent, annoyingly so in fact. If you wear a mask, rob or murder someone in a town like Rhodes or Valentine, and then ride off you may be fine. However, if a lawman spotted Morgan and you turn up later with the same horse and the same outfit, regular citizens will recognize you too. You’ll need to change both horse and outfit if any lawman noticed you on the way out from committing crimes.
What Red Dead Redemption 2 Masks are Available?
There are four masks that you can buy from fences around the world. These are the Executioner Hood, Canvas Sack Hood, Metal Skull Mask, and Psycho Mask. You can check them out in the picture above, including how much they cost. They’re not too expensive, with the Psycho Mask being the most costly at a still-reasonable $10.
However, there are a number of masks you can get that are hidden around the game world. These masks are based on animals: Pig, Ram skull, and Cat skull. The Pig mask is hanging off a post outside a butcher’s shop in Butcher Creek, north of Van Horn Trading Post. The Cat skull mask is in Lakay in the Bayou, north of Saint Denis, in a half-sunken shack there. The Ram skull mask is in the most northern part of the game at the Rathskeller Fork farm in New Austin, and it’s hanging in a sheep pen nearby.
