Where to start? If you’re reading this and you game, you already know. Red Dead Redemption 2 is already one of the biggest games of all time. That’s not just one category. That’s including buildup, rollout, release, critical reception, and ambition. This is a massive game that’s hit a massive audience. The biggest question with a game like this is, “How does it actually hold up to the pressure?” Is it really as good and everyone is making it out to be?
Ok I know I said it’s massive, but here are a few examples of just how ambitious RDR2 really is. First of all, it’s been well documented how it has the biggest download size of all time for a base game at a whopping 105+ GB across all platforms. The main story mode itself takes a minimum of 60 hours to complete. The map is about 29 square miles; which is mainly all traveled on horseback with minimal fast travel options. There is so much to do. It’s truly incredible.
Players take control of Arthur Morgan and his gang of criminals who’re on the run after a job that went south. Morgan is to the Van der Linde gang what a Capo is to the mafia; a higher up who makes calls and follows order loyally all the time. Dutch is the boss of the operation. He’s a charismatic leader who gets his hands dirty when it benefits him the most. The rest of the crew are a hardened group of men and women who are looking forward to making it out West where the outlaw life is still the way of the land. The Van der Lindes have worn out their welcome and the Pinkterton’s (America’s earliest police force) are hot on the trail.
The single player campaign is something for the ages and we haven’t even seen what is sure to be an online community as booming as a saloon on a Saturday night. Rockstar Games has kept a tight lock on any information about Red Dead Online, although there have been reported leaks and rumors. If the leaks are true, they’ve got a game changer on the way. Even with the completely false narrative that single player gaming is being pushed away, the developers have chosen to again make a game that delivers an industry leading single player and multiplayer experience.
Back to what makes the game great. It really all comes down to the attention to minute detail. The story starts during a winter blizzard that’s really hitting the gang hard. Modern Americans forget how tough it was to survive before things like electricity and other modern technologies. Players will notice the freezing temperatures affect your body temperature, causing a shaky hand in a gun fight. The few-feet-deep snow has prints from you and your horse as real as you could ever imagine.
When you come down off the high mountain, you make your way to your new campground through the bright green foliage. You have you remove your winter clothes and shave and shower, just as you’d prepare for the changing of the seasons if personal hygiene came as few and far in between as it did back then.
The Wild West was unforgiving, and RDR2 shows just as little mercy. If you like your horse, you better take care of it, because when they’re gone, they’re gone for good. Saving is just as rough. Auto saves are scarce and manual saves aren’t available as you’d like. Leisurely activities are the highlight of the experience for me though. If you’re the gambling type, you can lose yourself in a game of poker as if it were a major focus of the game.
Hunting and fishing is as real as we’ve ever seen in any type of game, let alone an RPG. True hunting and fishing simulation games don’t even capture the thrill of the chase like Red Dead can. Legendary animal hunts are the most rewarding as you’re tasked to take down beasts of lore in the wilderness using cunning and patience like a real trapper. My first encounter with a Grizzly was terrifying.
So for all of the hype, is the game perfect? No. It has it’s faults. It’s terribly slow moving a lot of the time. You’ll spend 80% of your first few hours of gameplay on a house chatting on your way to a mission. Horseback is the main mode of travel and the wilderness is lonely for a bandit most of the time. Gameplay mechanics are rewarding when mastered, but they’re clunky if you aren’t precise with your movements. Following trails requires attention or you’ll wind up hurt on your back with an uset horse after running straight into a tree. Shootouts are aided with the Dead Eye feature, which enable players to slow time and focus their shots on the fly. A necessary feature when you’re running for your life. Graphics are perfect, especially for those using an Xbox One X which is really the definitive Red Dead experience as it’s the highest quality resolution with no frame rate drop throughout the whole game. The detail on my TV is jar dropping at times.
So does it live up to the hype? Not for me. The game is better than good. Great even. I can’t say it’s perfect though. That’s because I truly felt like I played a perfect game earlier this year with God of War. To me, Red Dead Redemption is as close as any game has been this year, but still has its flaws that are big enough to affect the overall experience. Yes, it’s worth the money at full price. I’m even glad i shelled out the extra $20 for the special edition which comes with free guns, a badass horse, and most importantly, a hideout for my gang. This may sound blasphemous to some, but I give Red Dead a 9. The mechanics issues were frustrating far too often to make this game perfect, and isn’t something that can be settled with a patch. 
If you’re looking for the definitive Wild West experience, RDR2 is the closest mankind will ever come until Westworld is real. The new question that arises after getting your feet wet is, “Is full immersion what we really want?” Maybe this level of immersion is too much.. What do you think?
