Red Dead Online: Should I Choose Harriet or Gus?
We show you what happens if you choose to work for either Harriet Davenport or Gus MacMillan, and what happens if you upset Harriet in the process.
Even before you start playing as the Naturalist role in Red Dead Online, it'll be clear that you'll have to make a choice between Harriet or Gus, the scholar and the hunter respectively. We'll take you through that choice below, as well as the consequences of favoring one over the other, not to mention what happens when you kill too many animals for Harriet to ignore.
On this page:
- Should I Choose Harriet or Gus in Red Dead Online?
- Working for Harriet Davenport
- Working for Gus MacMillan
- What Happens if You Upset Harriet?
Should I Choose Harriet or Gus in Red Dead Online?
Whether you should choose Harriet of Gus in Red Dead Online isn't quite as complex a decision as it sounds, as in reality the majority of time spent in the Naturalist role is spent working with Harriet, and she'll simply penalize you for working with Gus.
Contrarily, Gus has no objection to you working for Harriet, and will not penalize you for doing so, aside from the occasionally wry comment in dialogue.
Working for Harriet Davenport
Most of the work you'll do for Harriet is either structured missions, similar to this in the main campaign, or searching for rare animals to sedate, a process we've explained here. She'll also give you means to find legendary animals for bigger rewards, and special equipment that bolsters your skills and abilities.
There's no shortage of Red Dead guides to help you master the Wild West here at USG, whether it's in the single player campaign or online mode. You can find them all here at our Red Dead Guides Hub.
Working for Gus MacMillan
Gus offers far fewer pieces of actual equipment, and deals more in special cosmetics as a reward for bringing him the pelts of legendary animals, similar to trappers in the single player campaign.
What Happens if You Upset Harriet?
Though Gus has no problems with you playing both sides, certain actions you take can upset Harriet. Killing animals for any reason is the main way to do this, even those that are trying to hurt you (such as wolves or bears). Selling pelts to Gus or dealing with him will also compound that anger. There's no way to measure how upset she is precisely, but approaching one of her camps will prompt some dialogue that reflects how she feels about you at that moment. Bringing her pictures and samples from sedated animals also appears to pacify her somewhat and cancel out her anger, though we're still testing this.
If you upset Harriet too much, she will refuse to work with you for a certain period of time, usually around ten minutes, and it will take very little to retrigger this event. Spend that time collecting samples and photos for when she will consent to work with you again.
Nobody could object to you enjoying some USG quality content. Check out Nadia's thoughts on how Red Dead uses Herr Strauss to examine prejudice, or take a look at Mike's study of how the Red Dead PC port made Arthur Morgan into a bumbling, sharpshooting immortal.