#3
Red Dead Redemption 2
9.7/10
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a masterfully crafted game. Everything from the well told story to the beautiful varied environments and gameplay interactions.
The amount of details and interactions is insane. Things like being able to shoot guns out the hands of npc's, making holes in boats causing them to sink, standing still against a charging bear makes it leave you alone. Weapons losing their effectiveness if you get them wet, Corpses decaying over time,You can land on your horse if you jump onto it from a height, certain npc's taking out their gun if they see you holding yours. there's like a hundred other details like that, And every detail makes this game world feel more real and authentic. I can't imagine the amount of hours of work it took to make all these things function. They really did not need to go to these lengths to make all this happen but they did and that shows how passionate the devs are.
The horse mechanics are the best I've seen in any game. As you bond with your horse not only does it become stronger, but your horse will learn new skills while also becoming more loyal. There is a weight system which is a cool feature I haven't seen since Gta San Andreas. The dialogue system, while simple, is a nice addition giving the player more ways to interact with the world. I also like how the health system works with eating filling up your health cores that you use to regenerate your main health bar. There are a good number of activities to take part in and encounters to see and all are well done.
I just want to say I greatly enjoyed the story in this game. I know there are some people who dislike the way Rockstar designs their missions and say that they need to be more open ended and allow more player agency. But the missions are designed that way intentionally to add more urgency to the story and create interesting and meaningful interactions between characters. I know not everyone is into that. But that's the kind of game RDR2 is as trailers showcased. It's not meant to be a game where the story takes a back-seat to the gameplay. And seeing how the story turned out I wouldn't have it any other way.
I loved Arthur Morgan as a character and I liked how the different members of the outlaw gang are people of various ages and backgrounds, and i enjoyed seeing how each one develops throughout the story. I became more invested in the narrative watching as their situation gets more dire as they are forced to move from area to area as their leader Dutch slowly loses himself. It's a well crafted narrative and one that paces itself well.
The soundtrack is actually quite good as well. I was surprised by how many tracks stood out to me. this one in particular was a favorite of mine.
The only things I'd say that are negatives are the game forcing me to walk inside camp, and having to take my rifles off my horse saddle repeatedly because the game keeps unequiping them from my inventory. but those are minor annoyances.
To me Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of Rockstar's best games. it's up there with GTA San Andreas for me. And it is simply one of the greatest of all time. And it makes me excited to see what they accomplish with GTA VI.
