Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)

This will be my first review on this site. I’m glad I found Grouvee, as I’d wanted a place to collect all my games and put down my thoughts, so this will be a rambling post. I’d been on a hiatus from gaming when I picked up RDR2 in summer of 2023, and it was this game that propelled me to become much more invested in seeking out narrative driven, open world games. So far, RDR2 remains my absolute favorite gaming experience.

PS5 says I have 166 hours in the game. This does not include the ~55 hours in have in Red Dead Online.

Setting

Starting in late spring, 1899, the game presents a microcosm of North America in the very late 19th Century. The landscapes blend together beautifully, and this is aided by the relatively slow player character movement, almost always by horse or on foot. New Hanover reflects parts of the American Midwest, the mid-Atlantic coast, and Appalachia, the latter complete with dark hollers and isolated villages of suspicious hill folk. Lemoyne is host to small southern towns, alligator-filled swamps and misty hamlets, dense live oak stands with drapes of Spanish moss, and the largest city in the game, which is a faithful recreation of New Orleans. Ambarino to the north hosts the highest mountain peaks and harshest weather, as well as the best vistas in the game, recreating the scenes throughout the Rocky Mountains and America’s national parks. While riding through Ambarino, the relaxation encouraged by the views is occasionally broken by the distant calls of a Grizzly bear, one of the most frightening creatures you can encounter. To the southwest is West Elizabeth, where the developers very convincingly transport the player to Sequoia and Yosemite national parks, as well as rugged Montana. Finally, the US Southwest states of New Mexico and Arizona inspire New Austin. While this desert area is left relatively empty due to time constraints in the final development stages, it is wonderfully atmospheric to ride along the analog of the Rio Grande to glimpse Mexico and the red landforms beckoning in the far distance. Filling this gorgeous map are hundreds of NPCs, many of whom will have special interactions with the player, including some rare special encounters. The honor system encourages you to interact with everyone you meet, and choose to be kind or coarse, depending on your play style. I have not played a ton of open world games, but the level of detail put into the little lives of each NPC is remarkable. You very much get the impression these could be real people, going about their lives. Only rarely is an NPC seen just standing there, doing nothing. Even just sitting by a fire has the dynamic feel of a romantic painting from the wild west. And they can be found almost everywhere, with people living out where you’d not expect to find a soul. It really encourages you to look in every corner of the map. If you pay close attention, you will see real world historic events reflected in the world, from suffragettes calling for voting rights, to presidential elections and American foreign policy initiatives discussed in the papers, and encounter social issues that are still reflected in our own time.

Characters

Arthur’s past is revealed at a very engaging pace, through main story and side quests, each putting his life and world view into perspective, and almost all giving the player the opportunity to choose his path. I do not want to get into spoiler territory, but every fan of this game loves Arthur very much, and you will too. His capacity for feeling, humor and reflection are not expressed just in words. The supporting cast is excellent, and this is reflected in the very strong feelings the player base has about many of them. When an NPC is loved dearly, or universally reviled, the writers have done their jobs. This is aided by absolutely fabulous voice acting, from the top of the cast, all the way down to random cowboys in the saloon.

Music

I am listening to an ambient music and soundscape playlist as I type. Deeply atmospheric when it needs to be, and grandly cinematic at the height of action, the sound design is outstanding. The original score and songs tied into critical story moments stand on their own, and I was surprised by some of the voices I heard while playing. When it comes to atmosphere, riding through northern New Hanover at night, with distant thunder, the ambient music keeps me delightfully on edge and jumpy. Other times, I get the urge to put the game down and Forrest Gump run over to Yosemite National Park because the ability of the game to instill wander lust is remarkable.

Gameplay

Movement is very slow! This is intentional, but can be a sticking point for a lot of folks. I really liked it, as it keeps one locked deep into the setting and scenery, but if it gives you trouble, I recommend sticking it out, because I do not feel like getting around the map is a chore or time sink. It’s part of the experience. Combat is highly varied, with many handguns, rifles, shotguns and other ranged options, as well as melee combat. You can be as stealthy as you like, or go guns blazing. Some quests may ask you to be stealthy, but generally your approach can be whatever you like. I tended to stick with guns, but people develop great proficiency with the bow, thrown weapons, etc and make it a big part of their load outs. It is encouraged to get very good at using Deadeye, but I admit I preferred shooting manually. When you do nail a slick deadeye takedown, it is very satisfying. Too many quests in the game lead to a big shoot out. I did not get bored of this, but some do. I love the horse mechanics, the variety of horse breeds and tack you can obtain. Bonding with and maintaining my horse by grooming her and finding the best feed options to keep her healthy and happy really attached me to her. Your horse can die! Mine did! She fell off a waterfall and that was it. It’s tragic, but also emotionally engaging. There are tons and tons of outfits, gun belts, weapons and accessories to collect and customize. You could spend your whole time playing just doing that if you wanted. So much opportunity to customize. Outside of main story and side quests, the arguably bigger part of the game is the huge amount of side content, from hunting, taming all the horses, learning all the recipes and crafting, fishing and collecting rare artifacts. Some folks stop advancing the story around part 2 and put hundreds of hours into this content. I cannot imagine how long it would take to 100% the entire game.

OPEN-WORLD ACTION - Arthur Morgan and the Van Der Linde gang do whatever it takes to make enough money to leave America in order to start new lives in a far-off country.

PROS:

++ Arthur Morgan. What a phenomenal protagonist! Easily found him much more likeable than John Marston from RDR1, and he probably ranks up there as one of my favourite characters in gaming. His dynamic with each member of the gang, his inner struggles, his personality, his loyalty, etc. made him such a great character to play as! Made his death hit even harder!

++ Van der Linde gang. One of my gripes with RDR1 was that many of the side characters were uninteresting and mostly forgettable. I'm glad that they fixed this in RDR2. The Van der Linde gang's dynamic with one another felt so organic and believable. They all had roles to play, and defining personality traits that made them unique. Even though a majority of them were not developed upon, I still enjoyed spending time at camp with most of them. Dutch was a charismatic leader that turns into one my favorite antagonists. Micah was a despicable but memorable rat. Sadie Adler who was a damsel in distress but becomes a phenomenal gunslinger herself. John Marston & Charles Smith, two of Arthur's most reliable brothers. Not to forget Hosea, Lenny, Bill, Javier, Sean, and all the others. The Van der Linde gang's initial camaraderie and their eventual descension is one of the main reasons why this game resonated with me so much. I truly was emotionally attached to many of the gang members.

++ Visuals. Not much needs to be said. This game is drop-dead gorgeous. The amount of screenshots that I took while playing this game is nuts. Doesn't matter what time of day, the world looks utterly beautiful!

++ Well-realized world. The world just seems so believable. Each region of the map is visually and structurally different. And I feel like the main story does a good job of showcasing this world. The snowy mountains of Chapter 1, the forests of Chapter 2, the backcountry roads of Chapter 3, the industrial city of Chapter 4, the tropical islands of Chapter 5, and the plains and desert of Chapter 6. The varying regions, along with the game's visual prowess and all the random encounters, made for a world I wanted to explore.

++ Worthwhile side content. Side quests weren't an afterthought and had the same level of quality as the main campaign. And there are also tons of other side activities that I found fun.

++ Phenomenal attention to detail. So many times while I was playing this game, I was left impressed and in awe of how dedicated they were to paying attention to the smallest of details.

++ Great epilogue. I loved the epilogue! Not only does it explain the transition from RDR2 to RDR1, but I loved the time I spent playing as John Marston. The epilogue also wrapped up Arthur's story well, and also made me love and appreciate John more.

CONS:

-- Mission structure. This is my biggest gripe with any Rockstar-developed game. The mission structure is the same it's always been (ride to mission start, starting cutscene, walk/horse ride while following somebody with exposition, gunfight, end cutscene). Because of this, it makes the experience often tedious and feel repetitive and rote. This is why I prioritized unlocking the fast travel option in order to minimize the time spent tediously riding to the start of missions.

-- Stale combat & sluggish movement. This is one of the cons of aiming for ultra-realism in games. Because of Rockstar's commitment to realistic animation, the combat & movement felt quite sluggish and slow. I found myself often running into things because Arthur wouldn't change directions fast enough. In terms of gunplay, it got quite stale by the end of my playthrough. Don't get me wrong, popping headshots and using deadeye is fun, but combat in the first hour is the exact same as the combat in the last hour. It's incredibly mindless (but still fun).

-- Some inconvenient design decisions. Just some miscellaneous things I didn't like: Forcibly slowing the player's movement when in camp or in certain places. Having to tap X in order to sprint on horseback. Looting animations are slow. Weapons get randomly chosen for certain missions. Weapons getting randomly unequipped, leaving you with only a revolver in a gunfight. Missions are too linear and offer minimal/no freedom.

-- Chapter 5: Guarma. This chapter was pretty forgettable, and I didn't like it as much as all the other chapters. Almost seemed unnecessary.

I've been holding off on this one for a bit because I read again and again how Rockstar went completely overboard with trying to make this game as realistic as possible. Looting, skinning animals and merely picking up objects has you waiting through lengthy animations that can take several seconds. I'm a very impatient person and wasn't sure I could handle that, so it went down low on my list of games I want to play soon - even though I loved RDR1. But oh boy, what a dummy I was. This is easily one of the best games I've ever played, period. Patience wasn't a problem at all for me in this game, and it's kinda hard for me to explain why - I really enjoyed the realism that the developers went for. This world is just so... reactive.

I love how Breath of the Wild lets you pick up items at the push of a button without delay, but the way RDR2 handles this kind of stuff has its own appeal. Especially since this design philosophy permeates through every aspect of the game. For instance, most times right after you started a mission, you'll have to take a ride to your destination that could take quite a while, but it (almost) never annoyed me, because riding is just plain fun, the scenery is always amazing, and you'll get to hear a lot of well-written dialogue that fleshes out the characters you're growing to like. But the game also knows exactly when a ride is too long or when the last trip wasn't long enough ago, so you'll get a nice, shorter cutscene instead.

There are a lot of aspects that are great about this game - the nature, narrative, characters, towns and cities, the very creative missions that'll have you do all kinds of things instead of just shooting up people. I'm not gonna get into all of that, but I just want to say that the pacing and overblown realism issues that people complain about might not be as bothering to you as you might expect. You might unexpectedly love exactly that aspect. If you're really interested in this game, just give it a shot when it's on sale, and don't let this specific complaint stop you. Like I said, this is coming from an extremely impatient person. You might miss out on one of your new favourite games.

This. This is the game I wanted from TLOU2.

A beautifully heartbroken tale of loss, love, and redemption. A broken person changes for the better or worse. They loose family. Loved ones, and so much more.

It made me feel broken at points, and depressed. But I never not wanted to play. I always wanted to crawl back onto that saddle and ride off to the next thing. To keep chasing that sunrise till Arthur saw his last one.

And what a pleasure that whole journey was.

Red Dead Redemption II is Rockstar's most mature game to date, it's also the slowest and most impressive game i've ever played. The amount of detail and work put into this game is truly staggering, it's the first time i feel, like i exist and matter in a game's world, it's organic and alive, you can almost touch it, feel it and smell it. This review could be, just me gushing over this game's presentation and the countless times my jaw was on the floor. The vast open vistas , the huge variety of fauna and flora, the use of music, constant change of weather and mood, it all brings Wild West to life.

The story is actually really simple, it's very well written and extremely dense, filled with rich characters that have their own personalities, motivations and ideologies... and they don't stop talking,... like ever, this game beats every RPG with just how much dialogue there is, you can spend literally hours, just talking to people in the camp and have conversations, drink booze and listen to campfire songs... or you can go hunting, make some enemies and shoot some people, if that's your thing.

Now, in my opinion the most important and interesting part - Arthur Morgan, the beating heart of the game, probably the most layered protagonist in video games, through his lens we get to explore themes like: meaning of life, mortality, loneliness and the sense of not belonging to the world. As Arthur was changing and questioning his place as did i. With my playstyle and choices, i was projecting my feelings and behaviour onto him, somehow it felt like we understand each other, his ark became my ark, and by the end, it all made sense. When the game was finished, i felt complete and satisfied, i was happy to put away my controller, that was getting too heavy for me and leave these characters alone, in peace...

RIP - my horse 'Cecillia' - you were the best <3

I finally beat it. Playing this game felt arduous at times, I'm not going to lie. There were a few times when I wondered, "Jesus when the fuck is this game going to end." I know that is a common critique of the game, and I see why now. Let's break it down.

Pros

• Soundtrack: They won awards for the soundtrack in the first game and it only got better in this game. I absolutely cannot wait for the soundtrack to be released in a few weeks because it is WONDERFUL.
• Horseback riding: I know a lot of people complain about how much horse riding there is, and yes I agree the fast travel elements have been a consistent flaw in the RDR games, but I often found it soothing. I love the bond you have with your horse and riding my horse is a genuine treat. I felt relaxed whenever I had a long ride a head of me, and most of the time I didn't mind the long rides.
• Combat: The combat, as usual, is excellent. I didn't feel overwhelemed, nor did I feel like I wasn't being challenged enough. I enjoyed the fact that you could self aim, but if you wanted to you could hit the left trigger again and it would focus on that enemy. I also GREATLY appreciated the fact that if you died three times, you could skip that specific checkpoint. Sure it may seem like cheating, but I greatly appreciated it and I think it doesn't alienate the beginner players from the ones who have played this before or who play shooters regularly.
• Characters: I. LOVE. ARTHUR. MORGAN. I LOVE LOVE LOVE most of the characters in this game, and as per usual, the writing is beautiful. Except for Dutch and Micah. They can go shoot themselves in the balls. But I thought all of the characters except for them were well thought out and a joy to interact with.

Cons

• Sims? : I am one for realism as much as the next person, but I didn't play RDR2 to take care of Arthur like a sim. Especially because it felt more like a chore than it was adding to the game. It didn't seem to matter how much fucking food I ate, Arthur was ALWAYS underweight. It didn't add anything to the game and it honestly felt more annoying than anything. The only point I saw in eating was to re-boot my stats, and when they were solid, why would I waste my resources like that when I needed them for shoot outs? I appreciate that they did this for the horse, but for Arthur, it didn't add anything.
• Take out a chapter...PLEASE: The game could have done without a chapter and a half. Personally didn't see how Chapter 4 added anything to the story, except to be like "Look! We added more areas aren't we cool!" and to make the game longer. It really was one too many failed jobs. I get that Arthur has ridden with these guys for a long time, but three completely failed heists seems like a lot before you start doubting. I was getting completely annoyed with Dutch, but it was also making me annoyed with Arthur for still going along with his bullshit.

I want to give this game five stars, but the cons were big cons for me. Four and a half!