Like virtually every modern video game, Red Dead Redemption 2 employs an auto-save feature. That means that the game saves players' progress semi-constantly, and especially after doing anything major in the game like completing a story mission. However, some players may still want to know how to manually save, especially if they plan on messing around in the open world with some of Red Dead Redemption 2's cheat codes (which deactivate story progress and achievements).
To manually save in Red Dead Redemption 2, press the equivalent of the start button for PS4 or Xbox One, and that will bring up the pause menu. From here, go down to Story, and that will bring up all of the options for saving the game, loading previous saves, starting a new game, and exiting the game to the main menu. Some video games have known to get corrupted save data if players just turn them off without going to the main menu, so it might be a good idea to do this before ending any session of Red Dead Redemption 2 anyway.
Considering the sheer size and scope of Rockstar's open world western, knowing how to manually save will come in handy. For one, it makes sure that players will be able to resume from the exact point they want once they reload their save later, and secondly, it will let them use cheat codes without having to worry about ruining their progress on their main save file.
Manual saves can also help players return to older sections of the game and resume their adventure from a different point if they did something that they regret, like wasting all their money. Something else players may want to erase by loading an old save is the death of their horse, especially since horses permanently die in Red Dead Redemption 2.
There are many reasons to manually save the game in Red Dead Redemption 2, and now that players know how to do it, they can have some peace of mind instead of relying solely on the auto-save feature.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is out now for PS4 and Xbox One.