Stuff and Things with Jon

This past New Year’s Eve, with no plans to celebrate in place (and honestly, what’s to celebrate?), I decided I was going to stay in, crack a couple beers, and play some video games. I wanted to try playing something new that would really suck me in, but instead ended up browsing my existing game library and settled on a game that I had previously beaten a few years back.

That game is Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2.

Instead of completely starting over for about the 5th time, I jumped back into a previous save file that was already about halfway through. And I’m very glad I did.

Released in 2018 originally for the PS4 (and whatever inferior console Xbox had out at the time), this western is set in the late 1800s and was actually a prequel to the critically acclaimed Red Dead Redemption.

For most of the game, you play as Arthur Morgan, a complicated and conflicted man and a member of Dutch Van Der Linde’s gang of misfits and outcasts. The gang lives paycheck to paycheck, always looking for the next big score so that they can finally escape the law for greener pastures in Tahiti, both literally and metaphorically.

So since the title of this episode is a bit of a spoiler of what’s to come, and there are spoilers to come, I’ll get right into why I think that Red Dead Redemption 2 is the greatest game I’ve ever played.

Visuals

For a game that released over 7 years ago, it’s very easy to be immediately impressed with the way the game looks and feels. Maybe it’s cheating a little bit since I was playing on PS5, but the attention to detail when it comes to character models, landscapes, buildings, weather, etc. are all something to marvel at.

Riding through the vast plains, bustling towns, and steep mountains, both the weather and time of day are constantly changing in real time. You can feel the humidity in the swamps of Lagras and the chill in the air riding through the Grizzly mountains. The rising sun illuminates the fog rolling through the trees. The long grass is flowing in the wind as wild animals prance around. It’s breathtaking.

But what I think stands out the most is how each area you travel to has it’s own unique look and feel. Early in the game you end up in a town called Strawberry. They have their saloon and general store and jail, as well as some ongoing construction. If you return later in the game, you can see that some of that construction has since been completed and new buildings have been erected. Pretty cool!

But the thing about looks…they aren’t everything.

Story

Mannnnn the story that unfolds playing this game.

The gang moves from town to town, hideout to hideout, as they avoid the law, rival gangs, and anything else that comes through their path. The game features an honor system where your actions impact how people view and interact with you. Help strangers who ask for your assistance and your honor increases. Shoot them in the face and loot their camp, and your honor goes down.

Arthur, constantly conflicted by what is right and what is wrong, has to navigate relationships with the gang as well as the dozens of strangers you interact with throughout your travels. More on them later.

As tensions grow between Dutch and the rest of the gang, loyalty and motives are questioned. Who’s side are you really on? Is everyone working together to achieve the same goal? And when the Pinkertons start finding you a little too conveniently, is there a rat in the gang?

The main story is so incredibly fluid and transitions you through the massive open world. Even if you’ve seemingly burned bridges in certain towns, the story takes you back there to face your demons.

But one of its biggest strengths is the pacing. After big shootouts, bank robberies, and train heists, you come back down from the exhilarating high with fishing trips and debt collection, only for things to ramp back up again. Can’t run away from the law forever!

But no good story is truly good without…

Characters

First, let’s look at the Van Der Linde gang. Dutch has picked up a real rag tag group of misfits along the way that believe and him and his vision. As you linger around the many camps you inhabit, you can interact with them and listen in on conversations. Everyone seems to bring something different to the table, but you can also see them grow and develop over time.

Early on the in the game, spirits are mostly high. I mean, they can only be so high when you’re constantly on the run. Small wins and safe travels are celebrated. But later in the game when things start to get tense, you feel that in the camp.

Like in any good story, new characters are introduced and it’s always interesting to see how they fit in to the group. Early on, you meet probably my favorite character in Sadie Adler. Now a widow after the death of her husband, the gang takes her in and she attempts to assimilate into the group. Not “womanly” enough to maintain the camp with the other women and not “manly” enough to go out on heists with the other men, she questions her role in the gang. Eventually she proves that she can run with the guys and ends up becoming one of the stronger characters in the end.

But with gain, also comes loss. As you begin to build bonds and familiarity with characters, they can be quickly taken away from you. And how the gang responds to loss is also telling.

But the thing that makes this game stand out from others is the litany of interesting strangers you meet along the way. See, told you there would be more on this later!

You could innocently be riding your horse along the road and hear someone shout out to you. Maybe they were bitten by a snake or stuck in a trap and need your help. Maybe they’re a diversion and you’re quickly surrounded by a rival gang.

In my travels, I would find myself seeking out smoke, because when there’s smoke there’s fire. And when there’s fire, there’s usually someone you can interact with. And when you have someone to interact with, you NEVER know what’s going to happen. There are so many hidden interactions throughout the game with makes every playthough interesting and unique.

But how can I talk about characters without getting into Dutch Van Der Linde. I mean, he is the game. Every action and reaction from all members of the gang go through him. Is he a genius or is he a madman? Does he have the gang’s best interest in mind or are his lofty goals simply too lofty?

I also have to give credit to the voice actors across the board because every single character feels relevant and interesting no matter how critical the are to the story. It’s just so easy to get completely sucked into this world.

Conclusion

Alright so I would venture to guess that most people reading this have already played this game and is very familiar with everything discussed above. But for those who aren’t, I implore than you play this game.

You can go through all the missions and progress the story, or you can spend hours hunting or playing poker, both of which I’m guilty of doing.

You will fall in love with the characters. You will want to do “just one more thing real quick” and lose track of time. You’ll go out on excursions with your trusty horse and see what kind of trouble you can get into. There are also countless numbers of youtube videos with hidden secrets and theories that will send you down the rabbit hole, so there’s plenty to explore.

After just completing the epilogue for the second time just moments ago, I’m already itching to start it back up again.