A Western Haven

 The Wild West

I've played open-world games as far back as when I first got my console, a little over 5 years ago. From the ancient wonders of Greece, in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, to the mystical realm of Tevyat, in Genshin Impact. Red Dead Redemption 2, is a thrilling tale of brotherhood, loyalty, and infamy. Set in pre-industrialized America, with vast open wilds for you to explore, and the evolving civilizations and towns sprinkled over the 5 states- New Hanover, Lemoyne, Ambarino, West Elizabeth, and New Austin. 

Rockstar Games, has outdone itself once again, arguably the best game they've ever developed, and it shows for it. Having developed for over 8 years Red Dead is filled to the absolute brim with action-packed content; spanning between 50-60 hours in playtime, just to finish the story, and almost 120 hours if not more, to earn that sweet 100%. 

The Greatest Open-World Map. 

The title isn't an understatement. Red Dead Redemption 2's world, is a haven, that spans over a whopping 31 square kilometers- already putting it on the top charts of some of gaming history's largest worlds. Set in pre-industrialized America, we explore 5 fictional states. Personally speaking, New Hanover is my favorite region in the game, scattered with rivers, rocky cliffs, rolling mountains, lush forests to get lost in, and vast open plains for your trusty horse to graze. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the world is beautiful to say the very least. Lemoyne's crocodile-infested swamps, and the industrialized city, Saint Denis; West Elizabeth's dense forests, and lakes to stargaze upon; Ambarino's dark caves, and snowy peaks to jump off; and of course New Austin's wonderful open desert, and famous Blackwater.

As you progress through the game you encounter "Legendary Beasts", who you can kill, dropping specialty items, which you can harvest like any other animal as well, and sell to a 'Trapper' to help create trinkets, that have special effects. 

Rockstar has paid attention to every single detail, the weather is absolutely beautiful to simply just gaze upon from your campsite- The blinding lightning strikes if it storms, the blazing sun if it's clear, or the dark clouds if it's windy; Personally speaking, it would be absolutely wonderful if Rockstar added Natural Disasters to the game. Weather aside, the way the wildlife behaves is reminiscent of their actual behavior in real life- Bears are coded to rub their scent on trees to attract mates, a common technique actually utilized by male bears in nature. Red Dead Redemption has a "collection" of over 230+ different species, waiting to be hunted and recorded into Arthur's trusty journal.  

Activities & Interactions

Throughout the game you're able to do almost whatever you want. It's up to you to play as either a benevolent gunslinger (two words that I never thought would follow each other), or an infamous gangster that's committed genocide multiple times. One of the greatest things I've loved about Red Dead Redemption 2, is the fact that every choice you make will have a different outcome; There's an NPC who you could come across on your travels asking for money, you can either kill him/not give him any cash, or give him some cash, depending on your choice you may or may not find someone sitting at the gun shop in Valentine, offering to buy you a free weapon. Remember, unlike any other game every NPC will remember everything you've done; if you rob a store, and revisit it later, you're likely to get a snarky comment from the store owner.

The world is sprinkled with side missions you can unlock, and whether you wait to do them after (major spoiler alert), Arthur's death, will also have a different outcome, and voice lines. It seems as though almost everything you could possibly think of has been taken into consideration, and you notice more of it as you play the game. As you progress through the game, you're able to unlock "Bounties", as the name implies you can mosey along the five states searching for region-specific bounties which can be a pain to find. Funny enough, bounties often try to get to your head with empty threats as they try to break free from the hogtie, as they flail around on your horse. 

Rockstar, does in fact have a couple "elements" per se, that are out of place in the game, or in other words, Easter eggs. Red Dead Redemption 2, has it's fair share of Easter eggs. If you explore the world, you'll come across- An experiment that uses multiple animals, Mammoth Bones, a crashed Spaceship, a UFO (you need to do a certain activity in a certain order), Zombies/Night-Folk, Vampires, and multiple more. Its a great escape from the Old Wild West to come across fantasies from different fandoms- Some may be comical, quizzical, or down-right tormenting.

Gunslinging and Mass Murder 

Often enough, people just think the combat system is just guns on a horse, which isn't too fair, sure enough it's a part of it, but there are various styles you can play. The weapon system are divided into 7 classes: Sidearms, which include your standard revolvers and pistols (probably one of my favorites to use in general; Repeaters, which are faster shooting rifles; Rifles, which are your usual mid-ranged weapons; Sniper Rifles, your trusty long-ranged weapons; Shotguns, the best close ranged weapons, and some of the most fun to use; Melees, probably the most fun weapons to use are the axes and machetes; and Throwables, sadistic or not its fun to set a cart thats minding its own business on fire. 

Red Dead Redemption, does something I rarely ever see in most open-world games. Weapons you use frequently, start diminish in quality over awhile, where stats start to go down, easily identifiable because of the greyish-black smoke that begins to escape whenever you fire a bullet, instead of your clean white- Accuracy, Power, and Range. You're able to customize your weapons any way you like, adding scopes, wraps, engravings, or even just changing the types of wood and color of metals- Some can be just cosmetic, while others will increase your weapon's stats in some way, or reduce how long it takes for your weapons to degrade. 

As I've mentioned before, some trinkets that the 'Trapper' lets you craft have special effects, some of which may increase how fast your horse's and your cores drain, as well as boost combat effects like Dead Eye, or slow Weapon Degradation. You're introduced to a certain special ability called 'Dead Eye' once again, from the original Red Dead Redemption, which slows down time and allows you to mark multiple targets that ensure your shots hit no matter what (unless they're hiding behind something). 

"Mister Arthur Morgan" and the Story

Our main protagonist for the journey, Arthur Morgan, an orphan taken in by, Dutch van der Linde, of the Van der Linde gang. Arthur, is probably one of my favorite protagonists of all time, the attachment you develop is like no other, the emotions you feel as you play along the game can shake you to the core depending on the circumstances.

The story follows the journey post the events of the Blackwater Robbery (A quick summary: Dutch van der Linde was encouraged to rob a ferry carrying over a $150,000 in cash, without the presence or approval of Arthur Morgan and Hosea Matthews; the right and left hands of Dutch; they almost got away with the robbery although they encountered the law, and eventually ended in a massacre) ending up as a disaster, resulting in the gang fleeing to the snowy peaks of Ambarino. I'm not going to spoil the story much, so the basic premise is the Van der Linde's gang goes through a series of robberies, all out gunfights, trying to evade bounty hunters and the law, all the while trying to deal with internal strife. 

Flaws (Spoilers)

Red Dead Redemption 2, may very well be one of the greatest games of all time, but it does have its flaws. While Arthur's demise is definitely one of the highlights of the game, the transition to John's Life as the epilogue is definitely not one of the best- Plus the fact that, there's almost 0 emotional attachment to John Marston, his story probably the worst part of the entire game. Next, the wanted system, you can get hunted by the law for some of the most ridiculous reasons such as "Disturbing the Peace", which honestly isn't that hard to do, and you end up with a bounty to pay, and men to evade. Over a period of time, the combat system gets repetitive, and opponents get easy to kill because their movements don't evolve. 

Closure

In my book, Red Dead Redemption 2 will still go down as my all-time favorite game, with the positives outweighing the negatives. Absolutely overflowing with content, easter eggs, some of the most visually appealing locations, and of course repetitive combat. Hands-down, Rockstar's limelight in the recent years, and years to come. 

Should you play it? No doubt about it.
Favorite Quote: "We Need More Money",- Dutch van der Linde.