Blurbs’ Viral Mod Forces You to Watch Viewer-Written NPC Backstories in Red Dead Redemption 2
Blurbs, a Twitch streamer and former engineer, made a Red Dead Redemption 2 mod that forces the player to watch short flashback scenes when an NPC dies. The twist: those backstories were written by viewers, and a short clip of the mod went viral.
Mod overview
The mod replaces the usual aftermath of killing an NPC with a short, framed cutscene that reveals the NPC’s life — often in ways that are intentionally absurd. For example, one viral clip shows an NPC revealed to be a *war veteran*, *father of a newborn*, and someone who tries to speak to a dog. Reaction online focused on how the scenes were both oddly touching and deliberately ridiculous. In fact, a Reddit user wrote, “This is actually incredible, it’s like you’ve invented a new mechanic,” which helped the clip spread further.
Blurbs has been making oddball mods for a while, including a Red Dead tweak and a long-running series where viewers suggest horrible mods. For reference, one earlier community project was posted to Reddit as a Deadeye-only groin-shot mod; you can read that discussion on that Reddit post.
How it works
To collect writing from viewers, Blurbs built a chatbot that lets people submit scripts straight through Twitch chat. Then, he chose and assembled the submitted ideas into playable flashbacks. Because these were viewer-written, Twitch’s moderation filters helped keep content in check.
The cutscenes themselves are not procedurally generated; Blurbs said he put them together by hand. Consequently, the mod relies on pre-written scenes and specific spawning areas, which imposes gameplay limits. He also tweaked animation values and camera zoom to make the flashbacks feel cinematic, and the mod switches to black-and-white for dramatic effect.
Making-of details
Production required digging through the game’s animation library and framing scenes precisely. Blurbs described parts of the process as painstaking: “It was extremely tedious and I actually wanted to have more scenes but couldn’t bring myself to make more than what we ended up with (around 6).” He also had to place NPCs and props carefully so the flashbacks would play correctly.
Some tests produced clear reminders of why mods are a gamble. For example, a development test once showed a headless version of an NPC after Blurbs had shot their head off. Babies and animals were also tricky: the toddler NPCs sometimes spawned in odd places, and animals like bears disrupted scenes entirely.
Reception and next steps
The short clip of the mod spread across social platforms, drawing attention to Blurbs’ channel and the project. View counts for the clip reached far beyond the streamer’s typical live audience; despite that, Blurbs still averages under 100 viewers per stream even after the viral moment.
On future plans, Blurbs kept it simple. He told reporters: “Once the YouTube video is out, we immediately start work on whatever the next horrible mod will be,” and added, “The reception to the clip has been incredible.”
Where to watch
The longer video that shows how the flashbacks were built runs about 13 minutes; the viral clip is a short excerpt from that full video. You can also find Blurbs’ other mod work — including a Skyrim run of viewer-suggested mods — in older uploads:
If you want to follow Blurbs directly, check out his channels on Twitch and YouTube. For live streams, visit Blurbs on Twitch. To see more edited uploads, visit Blurbs on YouTube.
