The GTA 5 Easter Egg You May Have Missed In Red Dead Redemption 2
Rockstar Games loves to include Easter eggs in its titles, particularly Easter eggs that reference other games in the Rockstar catalog. 2018's Red Dead Redemption 2 is no exception. The game is chock full of nods to classic Rockstar video games.
For example: GTA 5's Michael De Santa falls out of the third hidden UFO in Red Dead Redemption 2. Calloway's Revolver is engraved with the words "Canis Canem Edit," a reference to Bully's original launch title in PAL regions. RDR2 even features a reference to a notorious donkey glitch from the first Red Dead Redemption, just to name a few.
But there's one GTA 5 Easter Egg hidden in Red Dead Redemption 2 that even the most devoted Rockstar fans might not have noticed. Actually, this "Easter Egg" is technically an entire questline. There's a good chance you played it without even noticing the connection, but it's yet another way these two games are tied together.
How to find Red Dead Redemption 2's GTA 5 Easter Egg
The Easter Egg is found during the "Geology for Beginners" Stranger mission. Head for a cabin in the hills northwest of Strawberry, where you'll find an eccentric man in a blue sweater vest named Francis Sinclair. He seems out of place and uses slang words that Arthur hasn't heard of, like "hooch." Sinclair needs you to track down ten peculiar rock carvings. He won't say why he needs them, but he'll pay handsomely.
Once you locate all ten rock carvings throughout the game world, head to the nearest post office and mail the news to Sinclair. After two days pass in the game, you'll receive an invitation to return to the cabin. When you arrive, this time you'll find the door is unlocked. You'll goes inside to find a wall covered in odd scribblings that seem to reference time travel. Then, a young woman with a baby enters. The baby has the same red hair and birthmark as Francis, and the young woman reveals herself to be his mother. The implication here is that the adult version of Francis was most likely a time traveler.
What this has to do with GTA 5
All of this is a reference to The Epsilon Program, Grand Theft Auto's in-game cult that's a parody of Scientology. GTA 5 includes a questline that requires Michael to locate the Program's 10 Epsilon Tracts in a specific order. There's also an in-game website that lists the 12 Tenets of Kifflom, which are the program's beliefs. According to Tenet 8, "Aliens exist and are present on earth. If you have a birthmark, you may be descended from Kraff, the famous Emperor of the 4th Paradigm." Francis seemingly has the exact same birthmark covering his right eye.
Further, Tenet 5 says that "everyone is related to everyone else, except people with red hair." Baby and Adult Sinclair both have red hair, which would perhaps indicate he's not of human origin. According to the Tenets, that means he's either a child of the alien god Kraff, or perhaps even Kraff himself.
Finally, The Epsilon Program website states that "The Epsilon Program does not exist in just one time or place." That would mean the Program exists in Red Dead Redemption 2 as well as GTA 5. As for what Francis Sinclair is doing in the old west or why he needs the rock carving location, it's hard to say. It's not even clear Sinclair himself knows.