One Terminally Ill Fan Got An Early Look At Red Dead Redemption 2

A cowboy rides across the prairie in Red Dead Redemption 2.

While Rockstar is hard at work getting ready for the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2 on Oct. 26, some members of the studio took a break from crunch in order to visit a terminally ill fan and give him a sneak peek at the game. This is the third such story to be reported in about as many weeks, each tale straddling the line between heartwarming and heartbreaking.

In this latest instance, Gamersnet (via Comicbook) is reporting that Red Dead Redemption fan Jurian received a special visit recently from members of team Rockstar. Jurian has been living with Type 2 Neurofibromatosis since 2014 and, according to the initial report, after fighting the disease for years, he's "done now."

Jurian's family was aware of his love of Red Dead Redemption and the fact that he has been eagerly anticipating the upcoming sequel. A resident of the Netherlands, his family decided to reach out to the local Rockstar studio to see if there was any way Jurian could get his hands on the game a bit early. Once the team got the necessary clearances, members of Rockstar visited Jurian and spent a day with him, letting him check out the game. Apparently, this visit came within a week of the family first reaching out, which is a pretty amazing turnaround considering what was being asked.

For their part, Rockstar apparently never attempted to make this information public. It was Jurian who decided to reach out to the press, as he saw a similar story run online and wanted to make sure everyone knew what Rockstar did for him.

The story that inspired Jurian to share his own tale took place in late September, when Nintendo visited a terminally ill patient to let him get his hands on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate well in advance of its December launch. Series fan Chris Taylor reportedly noted on social media that he was afraid he would not be able to actually play the game and, once Nintendo caught word of the situation, they delivered a demo build of the game for Taylor and his friends to play for three hours. Similarly, it was Taylor who wanted to share his story with the world, as Nintendo has kept mum on the situation.

At about that same time, Bethesda visited a 12-year-old boy diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma to let him play Fallout 76 well in advance of the game's launch. In this instance, Bethesda assistant director Matt Grandstaff and a couple other members of the team hit the road to visit the youngster, Wes, personally. Similar to the other stories, Bethesda was only able to let Wes play the game for a number of hours, but his parents said the impact was immeasurable. They also delivered a Power Armor helmet signed by studio head Todd Howard.

Ryan Winslett

Staff Writer for CinemaBlend.