Another spooky location can be found North of the Grizzlies, just above the „N” in Ambarino. Searching the woods around there reveals an apparently abandoned shelter that appears to have previously housed a witch. One that has not been abandoned for too long, either, because inside is a seemingly fresh cauldron full of some sort of bubbling liquid. If you’re capable of mustering the courage required to take a swig, you’ll black out and reawaken a distance away from the cauld
Of course, many of those strong character moments especially revolve around Arthur Morgan, one of the senior members of the Van der Linde gang and the character who players will take control of throughout their journey in Red Dead Redemption 2 . As a man that has essentially been raised since childhood as an outlaw, Arthur owes his life to Dutch and that experience has shaped him into a fierce protector of the rest of the Van der Linde gang, though Arthur has plenty of his own conflicts and backstory that players will discover over the course of the game. While Arthur has his own proclivities towards violence and conflict out in the world, how far he is willing to push things is left for the player to decide as they control Arthur throughout the story and take action, and that’s all in part from the Honor system at play throughout the game’s world.
While it’s great that Rockstar is probably creating a whole new map for Red Dead Redemption 2 , it would be a lot of fun to revisit a location from the previous game to see how it’s changed. While it’s still unclear whether or not Red Dead Redemption is a prequel or sequel, either way it would be fun to see how towns like Blackwater and Armadillo have changed. If it’s a prequel, maybe players could see the early settlements of Blackwater, or a time when Thieves Landing wasn’t just filled with brothels and, well, thieves. If it’s a sequel, it would be amazing to see how a town evolved, like Armadillo, either grown to a hustling town like Blackwater or turned to a ghost town by bandits. Getting to explore areas that players did before would not only be a fun shout out to the original game, but help cement the world that Rockstar is trying to cre
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a long game and there’s a lot to do in it. The main campaign alone, along with a good number of Stranger missions, took us just under fifty hours to complete, which is exponentially longer than its predecessor. That’s barely even participating in the various other activities, such as hunting, gambling, bounty hunting and more. The Stranger missions are one of the bigger draws as they are once again whacky, over-the-top scenarios that fill out the world. Arthur may not have the sarcastic, comical timing of John Marston, but he still lends to each situation with his confusion. Sadly, I never saw a damsel tied up on a railroad track that needed saving. Speaking of Stranger missions, you’re also able to make choices that may affect scenes in the main story. For example, I met one woman earlier in the campaign and she appeared as a prostitute later on, which lead to a bounty immediately put on my head. Another was a surprisingly lengthy scene with a nun who I randomly bumped into once, and Arthur opened up to her. Your choices through the campaign do hold some weight as they can affect where specific people end up in the future and might even expand upon Arthur’s character more.
They also don’t say how old Dutch was. Hosea, on the other hand, looks like the appropriate age to be a father figure for Arthur. Who knows, maybe Dutch dies his hair black. I’m sure they had dye back then, ri
Outside of that, Rockstar has created an engaging system that allows you to rob shops, stagecoaches and even trains full of people at any time. All you need to do is put on mask (if you don’t want to get caught) and start demanding the goods. If you do most of the story, you won’t need to do this all that often as you’ll be rolling in dough, but it’s a fun way to de-stress. The Wanted system is also back, as the more heinous of crimes you commit and people witness, the higher the bounty is put on your head. You can change your disguise or grow your hair and facial hair out to avoid being recognized, but you’ll probably want to pay it off the fee to avoid bounty hunters coming at you in the wild. Alternatively, if you catch up to a witness, you can threaten them, or if a police officer sees it taking place, you can defuse the situation if it’s not too damaging of a crime. Occasionally it can be a confusing why you’re immediately pinpointed as the perpetrator, though, as we’ve had a number of instances where we killed someone, a pedestrian comes across the body while we’re nowhere to be found, tatooine Quest and yet a bounty is set on our character. Overall, though, the system works fine and can even be entertaining to chase witnesses down as they plead for their lives.
As for the main story, it’s entertaining but far from revolutionary. It has its highs and lows, the lows being the lack of development outside anyone who’s within the Van der Linde gang. You get to meet a plethora of characters through Arthur’s journey and yet most of them only appear in one or two missions, outside of a couple of exceptions. Red Dead Redemptions 2 moves at an incredible pace to the point that most people in the world are disposable and sometimes unnecessary, making me wish there was more of a focus on specific story beats as it’s spread too thin in spots. With that said, outside of the phenomenal core cast, what Rockstar does right is create exciting scenarios. This is something the company is known for, crafting well-designed and often comical heists that are sure to go awry. Whether it’s robbing a train or a stagecoach, or simply walking through town, each chapter has a handful of standout missions that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Granted, the other missions are mostly broken up into your standard affairs, but at least they’re kept lively thanks to Arthur generally being assisted by another member of the gang.