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"

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Your sacrifice was not in vain, Roger Clark

Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2.
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

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.

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.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.