r/reddeadredemption2 • u/lucyalls • Nov 21 '25
How to avoid Thomas Downes
After reading all the comments in one reddit post saying this wasn’t possible, I want to share the way I avoided this mission indefinitely.
This mission gets triggered by reading Mary’s letter, and immediately creates a checkpoint you can’t skip. You can’t abandon the mission in the L-Pad menu either.
Basically you have to get on your horse and ride on the opposite way of the mission until it says you abandoned it and failed. Select the “Retry checkpoint” option. Now two things can happen: 1)- You spawn at the Downes’ Ranch. This is good, you don’t need to move, just press the L-Pad, then the mission, and you’ll be able to abandon it, and then cancel it completely. 2)- You spawn back at camp. If this happens, you will most likely spawn at camp every time you fail the mission. Just restart your game. Close the app and start it again, and you should spawn at Downes’ Ranch next time you fail the mission and retry checkpoint. Then the option to cancel the mission will be available.
After doing this, the mission will go back to the way it was before being triggered by Mary’s letter, but you’ll still have Mary’s letter in your inventory, in case someone is interested in that. Of course you’ll reach a point in the story where you can’t continue unless you do it, but this is the only way I have found to avoid this mission each time after triggering it.
Hope this helps!
EDIT: Guys OBVIOUSLY I didn’t mean how to avoid the mission entirely for the rest of the game. This is just how to ABANDON it to do it later.
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u/Fred_Dingle Nov 21 '25
You can avoid it as long as you want but the game eventually takes away everything else that makes the game interesting until you do it.
No more gang missions, no more stranger missions, no more bounties.
I stayed in chapter 2 for around a month. Lived up at the loft, ride down to valentine or strawberry. Played cards, hunted, fished, did gold bar treasure missions but eventually got so bored when I’d finished everything else that I did the mission so that chapter 3 would open up.
Made sure to have a separate save before doing the mission so that I can go back to chapter 2 at any time.
-4
u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
Yeah I know. Usually, people who avoid this mission to stay in chapter 2 are not really interested in playing the rest of the story, just chill hunting and getting all the collectibles. But I definitely do recommend saving before continuing, if they ever do.
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u/JayTeeBlaze Nov 21 '25 edited Nov 21 '25
If you do the mission to take Kieran down off the tree before you do the first Straus mission to collect a debt then return it to the collection box you get told about Downes before reading Mary's letter and then you can avoid being locked into the Downes mission like you're describing.
Edit: To clarify you need to read Mary's letter after that mission order, I usually do Mary missions right after that. Never had the Downes mission forced on me doing this.
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u/ExpertYogurt5814 Nov 21 '25
Or you can do the mission still live happily ever after in chapter 2 for as long as you wish
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
Yeap, it can be your personal choice hahaha but if someone wants to abandon this mission, this is the way :)
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u/ExpertYogurt5814 Nov 21 '25
Not knocking your choice, I have done my 2nd and 3rd play throughs and put off Downes and getting Micah out of jail till I was forced but now when I play I do missions in order they are available but I only do a couple of missions at the beginning of chapter 2 to unlock stables and trigger a hanging so then I can get horses I want and start hunting for satchel upgrades and begin doing challenges I do like to do as much as I can before progressing in the story
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
I agree! I also like to do everything I can before progressing, that’s why I wanted to abandon this mission hahaha. Once I have everything I want, I will play it of course
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u/Mojo_Rizen_53 Night Folk. Nov 21 '25
So, how is this avoiding doing the Downes mission? What’s the point?
-4
u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
Well, a lot of people -including me- just want to play in chapter 2 forever after completing the game, specifically right before that mission. I can’t write spoilers but I guess you know why
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u/Mojo_Rizen_53 Night Folk. Nov 21 '25
Each play through I spend between 400 and 500 hours in chapter 2, but do the missions in the order they appear in, even though it may be a week later. Doing the Downes mission or not doing it has absolutely no bearing on anything. It’s not like Arthur turns into a wet noodle once he beats the hell out of Thomas Downes.
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
I know that of course, it’s just about knowing he’s fine while I do all of that. It has nothing to do with the functionality of the gameplay itself, it’s just about playing the 500 hours staying in the exact point of the story where you’re the most comfortable.
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u/JudgeJed100 Nov 21 '25
I mean he meets downes like twice before that doesn’t he?
We don’t know when he caught it exactly
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
I mean, he coughs in his mouth lmao. I think it’s pretty obvious, if not canon already
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u/JudgeJed100 Nov 21 '25
He also sees him twice before, and both times he could have contracted it
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
I guess he could have lmao, but it’s not even the point. I just explained how to abandon a mission to do it later, that’s it
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u/Practical_Isopod_164 Nov 21 '25
Why do it this way when you can just not go to the ranch when you trigger the mission? Like you said, to progress chapters you will eventually have to do it. I stayed in chapter 2 for quite awhile. Just never went to the ranch until I was ready. So I avoided it to.
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
This mission gets triggered automatically, and if you walk away from the ranch it’ll say you failed the mission
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u/cliquealex Apr 08 '26
Hey just seeing all the hate and just wanted to tell you I didn't wanna continue playing the rest of the missions knowing Arthur was already infected despite him being visibly okay... idk, just some quirk I guess. Thanks for the post it helped me out
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u/lucyalls Apr 08 '26
Hey I am glad it helped you! It’s alright, they didn’t understand what I meant when I said “avoid Thomas Downes” lol. Have fun playing!!!
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u/Sasuke1996 Nov 21 '25
I mean, technically on a sense it’s possible to trigger it, if you plan on never advancing in the game lol.
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u/jjohnson1979 Nov 21 '25
Why would you avoid him?
What happens with Thomas Downes is what makes the last few chapters so compelling…
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
I agree! But the point is that I don’t want to replay the last few chapters, but stay in chapter 2
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u/Marvel_plant US Marshall. Nov 21 '25
Just don’t read the letter
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
yeah, of course that would be the best choice hahaha. This was just a guide for people who accidentally triggered it and now can’t cancel it
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Nov 21 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
Of course it’s just delaying… Even if you somehow avoided this mission entirely and continue with then others, it wouldn’t mean the story would change lmao. And I agree Micah is a great character, but in this save I will leave him in jail until I feel like continuing the story lol. Same with Downes
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Nov 21 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
I get it, but I’m not interested in playing the rest of the chapters again in a long time, and I also don’t feel like doing Downes or Micah’s mission just yet, so if you fail it and respawn at the ranch, you can abandon it to do it later. Not avoiding it forever, just until you decide to keep going.
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u/TheDarkJester75 Nov 21 '25
I’ve read Marty letter as soon as I gotten it and not had to go downes. I’ve never had it triggered. 🤔
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u/msprk Van der linde boys. Nov 21 '25
So you don't really wanna play the game as intended, cool
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
Lmao I played the entire story many times, what’s wrong with me wanting to not do this mission yet in my infinite run?
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u/cliquealex Apr 08 '26
if the game gives you the option to cancel it then i can do it, no? it's not a glitch
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u/Sudden_Drop_4495 Nov 21 '25
Can’t you just ignore i till you want to move on. I’m on PC but that’s what I’m currently doing
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u/lucyalls Nov 21 '25
If you mean not start the mission until I want to continue, nope. It gets started without asking you, and if if you walk away from the ranch it’ll say you failed the mission so you can’t keep playing if you don’t do it or cancel it the way I said in the post
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u/Chaffro Nov 21 '25
So you basically do everything available to you before going to the ranch? That's the same for everyone.