I started this game at launch in 2018 on my Xbox One X and made it only a couple hours in but restarted in Feb 2019 due to some schedule and life stuff. I then spent a year finishing it and making GIFs and taking in the craftsmanship of the game. I finally completed the story on Saturday.
It's the best game created this gen for me. It has more fully acted cutscenes, more animations, more handcrafted buildings and debris and scenery than any other open world. It's got an incredible amount of touching character moments, centered around Arthur - a complex depiction of growth and regret. It is remarkably tied to the spirit of the first game without much retreading of its arcs.
The amount of polish on display is incredible. Unlike other open world games that have scored big this gen such as Witcher 3 (with its numerous repeated homes and unimpressive city layouts to conceal its bad LOD) or Horizon Zero Fun (with its cable TV sci fi writing and lack of strong handcrafted points of interest in the map), RDR2 is sprawling, breathing, playable cinema. The horses look better than any others in gaming. The lighting is a leap ahead for dynamic environments. The rain does things you didn't even notice other games had failed to depict before.
If ever there were a game that decided you are intelligent enough as the player to meditate on and contemplate on a character arc, this is the one that tries to go there with you. A more grey and human view of turn of the century criminals than the prior game, this one had me feel for the anxieties and hopes that motivated the periods of robbery and settlement that the group was responsible for. Not everyone John Marston separated from were purely bad when you spend the time with them.
Early on the game exercises it's bravado with the full gang in high stakes crime and fleeing. They are battling elements and the law, and have a vision for ending the turmoil. But a lot of time passes on their path, and the game covers the months that go by and reveal cracks in the makeshift family structure of this gang. Not everyone is ok with the vagueness of causing more collateral to get their own freedom. Not everyone can keep up with the hard life long enough for supposed salvation.
It's a beautifully told character drama. There's no saving the world plot here like the other open world games I find overrated above. No dark army to defeat or collapsing technological safety. This is a group of people who have been losing for a long time.
I find the thing I loved most is that it offers a vulnerable cast and a protagonist you can bond with in their fears. They aren't sure they're on the right side of the conflicts. They don't know if they can pass anyone's test of what a good person in their situation is. They are not some agent of making society work or stopping a bad force of corruption.
It's not often I've connected well with a cast in open world games. I find they often sacrifice on the amount of attention to detail needed to make both the world believable for their characters and to make their characters feel like they've lived. This game magnificently made me care about it all.
It doesn't hurt that it's a graphical showcase of what open worlds can be. It's arguably the best overall example of open world technical expertise.
Some will complain about the game placing priority on its animations over control, and that's fair - the game puts a lot of time and weight into much of your movement to give a more realistically timed visual identity, but sacrificing the sense of player interaction. It also is a very long story - the amount of dialogue and story missions is rare for a game with unique cutscenes. It doesn't take the cheap route of many open world games that use a standard dialogue camera position for back and forth lines. This game has actual cutscenes whenever appropriate to its story, and that means with its dozens of missions come dozens of hours of dialogue and gameplay. Could it have been slimmed down? Almost certainly considering I was hooked a handful of hours in and there are parts that didn't change that for me. But I can't say I was one of the people who was clawing to get out. I'll take another Rockstar world any day, shortened or not.
In the end, I felt the sadness and depth of these stories (and the events that follow in Red Dead Redemption itself from the 2010 game). I felt the art and direction were powerful and moving, and I'm glad many others did too.
Sometimes a game gives you a vision worth experiencing and the time to take a breath when you get there. I'm glad Rockstar achieved that with Red Dead Redemption 2.
It's the best game created this gen for me. It has more fully acted cutscenes, more animations, more handcrafted buildings and debris and scenery than any other open world. It's got an incredible amount of touching character moments, centered around Arthur - a complex depiction of growth and regret. It is remarkably tied to the spirit of the first game without much retreading of its arcs.
The amount of polish on display is incredible. Unlike other open world games that have scored big this gen such as Witcher 3 (with its numerous repeated homes and unimpressive city layouts to conceal its bad LOD) or Horizon Zero Fun (with its cable TV sci fi writing and lack of strong handcrafted points of interest in the map), RDR2 is sprawling, breathing, playable cinema. The horses look better than any others in gaming. The lighting is a leap ahead for dynamic environments. The rain does things you didn't even notice other games had failed to depict before.
If ever there were a game that decided you are intelligent enough as the player to meditate on and contemplate on a character arc, this is the one that tries to go there with you. A more grey and human view of turn of the century criminals than the prior game, this one had me feel for the anxieties and hopes that motivated the periods of robbery and settlement that the group was responsible for. Not everyone John Marston separated from were purely bad when you spend the time with them.
Early on the game exercises it's bravado with the full gang in high stakes crime and fleeing. They are battling elements and the law, and have a vision for ending the turmoil. But a lot of time passes on their path, and the game covers the months that go by and reveal cracks in the makeshift family structure of this gang. Not everyone is ok with the vagueness of causing more collateral to get their own freedom. Not everyone can keep up with the hard life long enough for supposed salvation.
It's a beautifully told character drama. There's no saving the world plot here like the other open world games I find overrated above. No dark army to defeat or collapsing technological safety. This is a group of people who have been losing for a long time.
I find the thing I loved most is that it offers a vulnerable cast and a protagonist you can bond with in their fears. They aren't sure they're on the right side of the conflicts. They don't know if they can pass anyone's test of what a good person in their situation is. They are not some agent of making society work or stopping a bad force of corruption.
It's not often I've connected well with a cast in open world games. I find they often sacrifice on the amount of attention to detail needed to make both the world believable for their characters and to make their characters feel like they've lived. This game magnificently made me care about it all.
It doesn't hurt that it's a graphical showcase of what open worlds can be. It's arguably the best overall example of open world technical expertise.
Some will complain about the game placing priority on its animations over control, and that's fair - the game puts a lot of time and weight into much of your movement to give a more realistically timed visual identity, but sacrificing the sense of player interaction. It also is a very long story - the amount of dialogue and story missions is rare for a game with unique cutscenes. It doesn't take the cheap route of many open world games that use a standard dialogue camera position for back and forth lines. This game has actual cutscenes whenever appropriate to its story, and that means with its dozens of missions come dozens of hours of dialogue and gameplay. Could it have been slimmed down? Almost certainly considering I was hooked a handful of hours in and there are parts that didn't change that for me. But I can't say I was one of the people who was clawing to get out. I'll take another Rockstar world any day, shortened or not.
In the end, I felt the sadness and depth of these stories (and the events that follow in Red Dead Redemption itself from the 2010 game). I felt the art and direction were powerful and moving, and I'm glad many others did too.
Sometimes a game gives you a vision worth experiencing and the time to take a breath when you get there. I'm glad Rockstar achieved that with Red Dead Redemption 2.
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