Points of Interest are the places where Red Dead Redemption 2 quietly asks Arthur or John to stop riding and look. An Inspect prompt focuses the camera, opens the journal, and adds a hand-drawn landmark to the map. Some are ruined buildings. Others are fossils, strange experiments, old burial sites, or references that make more sense after playing the first Red Dead Redemption.

Story Mode has 50 inspectable Points of Interest. The Total Completion menu only asks for one, so players chasing Best in the West can finish this requirement in a few minutes. The full list is for anyone who wants every journal sketch and the parts of the world that story missions never explain.

The Fastest Point of Interest for 100 Percent

  • Mysterious Hill Home: Ride northeast of Bacchus Station in Grizzlies East and look for the grass-covered house built into the foot of the mountain. Walk to the front and hold Inspect. One completed sketch satisfies the Points of Interest line in Total Completion.

No reward is given for inspecting all 50, and there is no in-game counter that presents them as one formal quest. The reward is Arthur's or John's journal and a map filled with drawings. Use this checklist state by state, and confirm each location finishes its sketch before moving on.

New Hanover: 17 Points of Interest

  • Abandoned Trading Post: Travel to the far northeast of Roanoke Ridge, west of Brandywine Drop. Enter the collapsing building and inspect the old post from inside.
  • Brush Fire: Search west of the N in New Hanover for burned trees, blackened grass, and a destroyed wagon. A nearby lockbox also holds supplies and the Volatile Fire Bottle Pamphlet.
  • Fossilized Man: Follow the railway near the New Hanover-Ambarino border, northeast of the Tiny Church. The body is embedded in the lowest ledge of the ridge north of the tracks.
  • Manmade Mutant: Ride west from Van Horn to the abandoned house beyond the railway. Climb the cart, roof, and upper window to enter the sealed second floor.
  • Meteor House: Search the northeastern woods of Roanoke Ridge for the damaged cabin. Enter through the front and inspect the hole and remains left by the impact.
  • Meteorite: Continue west of Meteor House into the forest and look for a circular crater among flattened trees. The meteor fragment can also be picked up.
  • Oil Derrick: Go to the abandoned derrick in the southern Heartlands, between the A and R on the map. Inspect the structure, then climb down its ladder for a Dinosaur Bone.
  • Old Tomb: Ride west of Deer Cottage and north of the first N in Annesburg. The Viking tomb sits in a shallow stone depression near the road fork and contains unique equipment.
  • Old World Scripts: Travel northeast of Annesburg and inspect the carved writing on the southern face of a large rock near the map boundary.
  • Register Rock: Search southwest of the H in New Hanover and north of the nearby road. The writing is cut into the southern side of a large rock among small trees.
  • Serpent Mound: Ride southwest of Van Horn and south of the wooden fire tower. Inspect the large snake-shaped earthwork from the open side of the mound.
  • Trading Post: Find the tiny abandoned building east of Flatneck Station. Step inside to trigger the sketch and collect the supplies left on the shelves.
  • Trail Trees I: Start west of the Kamassa River near the road bend and wooden bridge between the V and E in New Hanover. Inspect the first group of bent trees.
  • Trail Trees II: Continue north from the bridge, directly west of the final R in Kamassa River. The next marked trees stand on the left side of the route.
  • Trail Trees III: Stay on the northbound path until the small bend west of the R in Kamassa River. Inspect the bent trunks on the right.
  • Trail Trees IV: Climb the hill northeast of the third group, west of the second A in Kamassa River. This final set completes the trail.
  • Warped Tree: Ride south of Larned Sod and the H in New Hanover. The huge twisted tree stands alone on top of a grassy hill.

The Heartlands locations are the easiest to combine with early story travel. Roanoke Ridge takes longer because several prompts sit above or below the road, and the four Trail Trees are close enough to blur together. Inspect each group before following the path north.

Arthur Morgan moving through a wooded area in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Most Points of Interest only reveal themselves when Arthur is close enough for the Inspect prompt. Rockstar Games, via PlayStation.

Lemoyne: 9 Points of Interest

  • Abandoned Church: Ride east of Braithwaite Manor and past Bolger Glade. Clear any Lemoyne Raiders around the ruined church, then inspect the building from the front.
  • Bolger Glade: Walk through the old battlefield east of Braithwaite Manor and inspect the ruined trenches, trees, and abandoned artillery.
  • Braithwaites' Secret: Search the western edge of the Braithwaite Manor grounds for a locked outhouse. Look through the opening to inspect the person hidden inside.
  • Gray's Secret: Return to Caliga Hall after the relevant Chapter 3 events and search the rear side of the main property for the hidden family evidence.
  • Painting in Cabin: Visit Bayall Edge in the western swamp several times as the painting changes. The completed Point of Interest and final journal entry are available to John in the epilogue.
  • Phonograph: Go to the middle of Bluewater Marsh, around the W on the map, and enter the stranded houseboat. Inspect the phonograph sitting on the table.
  • Pleasance: Follow the road west of Bluewater Marsh to the abandoned town. Approach the condemned church and inspect the settlement from its front.
  • Tiny Church: Ride into the wetlands north of Saint Denis and west of Lakay. The miniature building is easy to miss among the trees, but the front entrance triggers the sketch.
  • Withered Arm: Search the larger swamp island halfway between Shady Belle and Saint Denis. Inspect the body lying face-down in the mud.

Most Lemoyne entries fit around Exotics routes. Painting in Cabin is the exception: the image at Bayall Edge develops over several visits, and the completed journal entry belongs to the epilogue. Players using Arthur can see the cabin change but cannot finish that specific sketch normally.

Ambarino: 9 Points of Interest

  • Barrel Rider: Ride north of Bacchus Station and find the waterfall below the cliff beside the Dakota River. Climb down to its base and inspect the body in the barrel.
  • Defaced Grave: Go to the northern edge of Barrow Lagoon near the small cabin. Inspect the opened grave and the message cut into its marker.
  • Face in Cliff: Travel northeast of Three Sisters and directly north of Moonstone Pond. Climb toward the carved face until the Inspect prompt appears.
  • Frozen Settler: Follow the trail to the top of Mount Hagen and continue slightly north. Inspect the frozen body beside the rocks and collect the Morion Helmet afterward.
  • Mammoth: Search the snowy ground north of Lake Isabella, where Deadboot Creek and Spider Gorge approach each other. The bones blend into the snow from a distance.
  • Meditating Monk: Climb the mountain north of Moonstone Pond and east of Fort Wallace. The monk sits silently on the cliff edge above the landscape.
  • Mysterious Hill Home: Find the moss-covered house built into the mountain northeast of Bacchus Station. This is the safest early choice for the official 100 percent requirement.
  • Strange Statues: Enter the hidden cave east of Donner Falls and inspect the ring of statues. The room also contains a separate puzzle with a gold-bar reward.
  • Strange Statues Cave Painting: Inspect the mural at Window Rock, south of Cotorra Springs. The figures in the painting provide the clue for the statue puzzle.

Bring winter clothing for the western half of Ambarino. The Frozen Settler, Mammoth, and Defaced Grave are surrounded by snow or ice, while the eastern locations involve steep climbs. Save before descending to the Barrel Rider because the path beside the waterfall is narrow.

The Van der Linde gang riding together through open country in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Several landmarks are far from roads, so clear each state as one exploration route. Rockstar Games, via PlayStation.

West Elizabeth: 11 Points of Interest

  • Circus Wagons: Search near Manzanita Post in Tall Trees for two abandoned circus wagons. Inspect the wreck and the unusual remains inside.
  • Faces in Trees: Follow the western side of Owanjila and inspect the group of faces carved into tree trunks along the wooded path.
  • Flying Machine: Ride to northwestern Big Valley near the western map boundary and Little Creek River. The broken machine and its pilot lie on the wooded slope.
  • Giant Remains: Climb the high ridge along Mount Shann and northern Big Valley. Inspect the enormous skeleton laid out near the top of the mountain.
  • Hermit Woman: Find the isolated cabin in far northwestern Big Valley. Survive the hostile encounter, then inspect the site and search the house.
  • Hidden Tunnel: Travel to the far western border of Big Valley, northwest of the W in West Elizabeth. Inspect the cave entrance before exploring the tunnel inside.
  • Native Burial: Search southwestern Big Valley between Black Bone Forest and the north shore of Owanjila. The large burial site is visible once the trees open.
  • Obelisk: Ride northwest of Owanjila to the western edge of the map. Inspect the tall stone monument; it also begins the Landmarks of Riches treasure hunt.
  • Pagan Ritual: Search the woods west of Owanjila and south of the Obelisk. The ritual site is arranged inside a stone circle near the map boundary.
  • Whale Bones: Explore the high ground west of Owanjila in Big Valley. The large skeleton lies far inland among rocks and trees.
  • Wickiup: Go southwest of Aurora Basin in Tall Trees and inspect the burned shelter. The discovered point may appear as a plain black dot instead of a full map drawing.

The northern West Elizabeth landmarks are available during the main story. Tall Trees is safer in the epilogue, when John can reach Manzanita Post and Aurora Basin without the southern map restrictions placed on Arthur.

New Austin: 4 Epilogue Points of Interest

  • Crashed Airship: Ride northeast of Odd Fellow's Rest in Cholla Springs and inspect the pair of ruined wings. The machine references Charles Kinnear from the first Red Dead Redemption.
  • Donkey Lady: Search the ranch ruins southwest of Armadillo in Cholla Springs. Inspect the unusual skeleton tied to the old animal-riding glitch from the original game.
  • Jesuit Missionary: Travel to the far western cliffs of Gaptooth Ridge. The body appears near the edge of the map, looking out over the desert.
  • Sperm Whale Bones: Ride southeast of Tumbleweed into Rio Bravo and inspect the huge skeleton lying improbably far from the ocean.

New Austin opens normally during the epilogue. There is no reason to force Arthur across the border for these four sketches. John can collect them in one westbound ride from Armadillo through Cholla Springs, Gaptooth Ridge, and Rio Bravo.

How to Know a Location Registered

  • Watch the journal animation: A completed inspection focuses the camera and opens a sketch. Seeing the landmark without this animation does not count.
  • Check the world map: Most Points of Interest leave a small drawing where they were found. Wickiup may only leave a black dot because its normal icon can fail to appear.
  • Return at a different story stage: Painting in Cabin develops over repeat visits and finishes in the epilogue. Gray's Secret can also be easier to inspect after the Chapter 3 story has moved on.

What Counts Toward 100 Percent

Players interested only in Best in the West can inspect Mysterious Hill Home and stop. Completionists should treat the 50 locations as a separate exploration project. Clear one state, check off every bold name, and let the journal prove which strange corners of the map were actually found.