Red Dead Redemption 2 Review

8 / 10.  An emotional and truly immersive, realistic game. Some controls are not quite fluid *MINOR SPOILERS*

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a Wild West action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games, the third entry in the Red Dead series and a prequel to Red Dead Redemption (2010).

In 1899, Arthur Morgan strives to survive in this fictional version of the West, mid-West, and Southern USA. As a member of the notorious Van der Linde gang, he becomes embroiled in skirmishes with law men, government agents, Pinkertons, other gangs and conflicts within the Van der Linde gang.

The game also features, as a secondary playable character, fellow gang member John Marston, the protagonist of Red Dead Redemption.

As Arthur you roam the sprawling Old West in the open world gameplay, encountering linear main and side missions including shootouts, heists, hunting, hijacking wagons, horseback riding and controlling Arthur’s honour rating through action decisions and moral choices. This is a major factor in the game and affects parts of your personal playthrough. Morally good and bad actions both have their own rewards.

The game is presented through both first and third-person perspectives and there are many towns and settlements to encounter.

The bounty system is affected by what Arthur and the gang do and can make things pretty hairy once you commit enough crimes to become wanted, dead or alive, and relentlessly hunted by law enforcement and bounty hunters.

Arthur can break in wild horses in the game;  which you can name, and continued use of a horse (brushing, feeding and petting it), will bond you with it, acquiring advantages from doing so.  I lost one horse, Vincent, halfway through and was sad, but not as devastated as when I lost my second horse, Hector, towards the end of Arthur’s story arc.

I enjoyed being immersed in this emotional Wild West epic, and I mean epic, I didn’t do 100% of side quests, etc, and racked in 90 hours. 

I enjoy open world games and prefer the fluidity of gameplay in the Far Cry or Assassin’s Creed series, but RDR2 was calming and enjoyable.  As much as I loved the satisfying pop of a slowed down head shot with the dead shot, constantly refilling the gauge amidst sometimes lengthy gun fights was a headache and took a long time to master.

Spanning a North America made up of invented but familiar states, and some time in Central/South American locations, covering many years, I felt invested in the characters’ lives. Aspects of the game were very realistic, i.e. hunger and fatigue affecting you and your horse.

The characters were detailed and individual with their own strong, nuanced personalities. I felt attached to Dutch’s gang and really felt for Arthur, and later John, and really hated *SPOILER* for what they did.

The voice acting is fantastic, especially Roger Clark and Rob Wiethoff as Arthur and John respectively, and the soundtrack was really beautiful.