Red Dead Redemption 2 is about to celebrate its first birthday. On this occasion, and with the announcement that the game is coming to the PC platform, it is worth revisiting the Rockstar epic about renegades.
I had been planning to write a text about Red Dead Redemption 2 for a while, a year after the game was released. Now that the big Rockstar hit has been confirmed for PC, I think the time is right. Specifically, I rated the game a year ago at 95 and later noticed that a certain part of the players did not agree with such a high score. The game's user rating was 93, slightly lower than my rating, but the comments could have been different. So I had to ask myself, did I, as a reviewer, at least crush, succumb to the hype and easily go over some of the flaws.
It was a tremendous challenge for me to review RDR 2. We got the game about two weeks before its release, and at that time I was the only one playing in this area, which was a great honor. I played it marathon, neglecting almost every other job on the portal. I had never been so engrossed in a game before and consumed it so masochistically. However, in the end I did not remain completely blinded, and in my review I pointed out that the game has certain problems, primarily in the economy and providing challenges.
However, individual players' dissatisfaction did not explicitly relate to these things. For many, the amount of riding in the game was controversial. Not riding as such, but traveling from point A to point B. Riding was ultimately a thing that blended open-world freedom with linear sequences (missions), and this gameplay design is actually a hard-boiled Rockstar formula from GTA games. You come up with a mission and then your mission is to go somewhere and do something. And so in 90% of cases. The truth is - you get bored with that over time.
The reason I last looked at Rockstar here through my fingers is the high-end narrative that is most often played through dialogues when riding, and in RDR 2, these dialogues are interactive to some extent. When you think about it, there is actually nothing more or less riding in RDR 2 than in Zelda or Witcher, which we most often take as examples of world-class achievements in open-world games. The only difference is the amount of story these games try to throw at the player as they move from one point to another.
Looking more closely at the gameplay itself, RDR 2 is an extremely scripted game that you must play by its rules. There is not a lot of experimentation in gameplay, most of it is directed scenes. One might think that rating 95 should not reward a game that dictates its entertainment conditions so much, but I think it's unfair to condemn RDR 2 as the foremost game that does such a thing. All games take us by the hand and offer us guidance, some more some less, and I believe that games can and should be more than just a sandbox to play.
We remember games primarily by stories - either those we create ourselves or those we witness. I believe we all have a story about our favorite game and that just confirms the great value of the narrative aspect in games. Because of this, I don't care if the game is rated 90 or 95 as long as I can tell it's something to remember. And Red Dead Redemption 2 really does. You may have to devote yourself fully to the game to recognize them, you may have to go over some of the flaws to see them, but the fact is, these quality things are there.
If anything wears Red Dead Redemption 2 in his single-player campaign then it's the phenomenal Arthur Morgan, one of the best characters the Rockstar team has ever designed. Arthur perfectly represents the part of man's nature that drives him to contend with the spirit of time, however futile it may seem. His story is a beautiful dash of existence in which the eternally disadvantaged has some charm, perhaps even a point that ultimately leads to a desire for redemption. Best of all, this summarizes the following dialogue - don't worry, it doesn't spoil anything that standard trailers won't reveal to you:
This is complemented by the perfect in-game music. Red Dead Redemption 2 is worth playing and just because of that music, you don't need any other motive! Of course, you can also listen to music on YouTube, but for the right context and experience you still need to play for the game. I've written before about how the game breaks with the help of music, but my favorite thing is actually "said the Way It Is," a lightness that with its melody simply gives some consolation whenever a person is in the throes of life.
That's how it is with Red Dead Redemption 2, and a year later. I have not changed my attitude and I definitely believe that this is one of the best games of this generation. There are some issues with gameplay, but that's why I'm looking forward to the PC version coming out and modifying the game to the liking of the user. Too much riding? There will certainly be a modification that fixes this. You have nothing to spend all your money on in the game? It will be fixed, too - just trust the community of modders who have done wonders with the GTA titles as well.
If you are on a console and cannot hope for modifications, you can find comfort in the fact that the game at discounts can be found at half the price, and for 35 dollars you will certainly not find a better adventure in the Wild West.
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