For the longest time, it seems that everyone was waiting for another Red Dead Redemption game. Luckily Rockstar Studios gave fans just that. This specific release focuses on what happened before John Marston hunted everyone down 10 years later. Red Dead 2 is the game we never knew we needed but really are happy we got.
Upon just getting the game and setting it up, the download took what seemed like forever, for good reason of course. There is so much information within the game that relies on the sub-stories and other help mechanics is necessary. For transparency purposes, I never played the original game so everything here is fresh for me.
Set at the top of the 1900s, players get to be Arthur Morgan, a part of the Van der Linde Gang. He is second in command and grew up with the gang. After something goes wrong in the town of Blackwater, the gang is forced to keep moving west to avoid the law. With plenty of problems in the way, the gang must help each other survive as well as figure out their next move.
Visually the game is stunning. From the fur on animals to the details of photos and the snow that is plastered in epic scenery, there is a lot to get lost in. When the weather acts up and you must follow your cohorts, there is a real issue when it comes to seeing the small distance in front of you. Because of the drastic weather as well, each person reacts accordingly to being cold. Even the animals do. Rockstar Studios literally didn’t leave a detail out when creating this game and it’s nothing short of fascinating and then some.
Mechanically, the beginning was rough, at least for me. “Driving” a horse is harder than it should be. Eventually, after learning the controls a bit better, controlling the horse became easier, there wasn’t much weaving, or accidentally trying to shoot at random nothingness in front of me. This may be easier for others to handle but the tutorial of the controls (which all buttons are utilized) was simply overwhelming. Even after the tutorial, using the L1,R1, and L3, R3 buttons feels wrong. So wrong in fact that I almost changed my controls. Sadly, even if I had, I still would have used all of the buttons on the controller in one way or the other.
Shooting and fighting were actually decent. The option to target an enemy is nice but not completely necessary. Sure, this helps when on your horse, but with the sites, shooting becomes easy until you need to hit a moving target. Hunting with a bow compared to a gun can be a lot more challenging, however, but there is a specific primal instinct that kicks in for this part of the game.
Everything in the game is very realistic. For example, the wind changing in the game can affect how hunting is pursued, just like in real life. Stamina meters are almost on everything so when you overwork your horse or yourself, you’re screwed. If you get in a gunfight and get shot, you’re out. Things are a lot more difficult than a typical shooting game. Luckily, however, there is a lot of gameplay. There are numerous hours of story and a thick plot to work on too. After a couple hours of play I hardly even scratched 2%.
Overall, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a well done, plot thick action-adventure game. Even though the developers went a little heavy on giving every command a button, everything falls in to place eventually. Graphically the game is stunning and really draws players in. There is no doubt that Rockstar Studios created one of the games of the year, if not the game of the year.
9.8/10
Available on: Xbox One, PS4
