Is The Last of Us composer Gustavo Santaolalla doing the music for Red Dead Redemption 2?
Red Dead Redemption 2's announcement trailer had a clue only now fans are beginning to unravel.
Gustavo Santaolalla, the incredibly talented composer who worked on films such as Babel, Brokeback Mountain, and others also composed the sublime soundtrack of The Last of Us.
The Argentinian musician is returning for The Last of Us: Part 2, but we may see his work in more than Naughty Dog's games.
Over the weekend, NeoGAF member Simo pointed out the similiarities between Santaolalla Apertura piece from The Motorcycle Diaries soundtrack, and the music used in the reveal trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2.
We've emended the trailer above and the track in question below, and you can definitely hear the association. The Red Dead Redemption 2 version uses piano in place of guitar, but the two are very similar that it's not likely to be a coincidence.
With that in mind, it's possible the Red Dead Redemption 2 version was simply inspired by Santaolalla's music, seeing as how his music usually carries similar themes to what you would hear in a Western.
It's worth noting that Rockstar is a big company and wouldn't just use any old track to accompany one of its trailers. The publisher has an extensive licensed music library, and has commissioned original music for all of its recent games, so there's certainly more to this story than meets the eye.
Rockstar has not yet revealed a single bit of detail about the game, but it's not outside the realm of possibilities for Santaolalla to be involved. Whether or not that ends up being the case here, though, will be revealed at launch.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is out this fall.