Just like Arthur himself is meant to feel like a living character for players to embrace and play their role as, the world of Red Dead Redemption 2 feels ripe for exploration and unexpected sights to behold. While roaming across the landscape on horseback, I saw majestic mountain passes and calming rivers full of opportunities to hunt and fish, especially as wildlife like deer and rabbits strode by. Just before that, I had Arthur and his horse perched on the top of a hill, only to see that a storm was brewing out in the distance, watching as clouds and mist rolled over the mountains. Standing there for a few minutes, the result of the passing rains ended up being a brilliant rainbow out on the horizon, something that even caught the Rockstar reps with us during the demo by surprise.
That interaction all starts with Arthur Morgan, the game’s main protagonist, and how players will decide to take on the role of the senior member of the Van der Linde gang, and Dutch’s right-hand man. Having been a part of the gang since childhood, the outlaw life is all that Arthur has known, and most of the trailers leading up to Red Dead Redemption 2 have shown that Arthur isn’t exactly much of a „pleasant” person to be around. However, as Rockstar pointed out to us during the demo, the reason behind this is that Arthur essentially owes his life to Dutch and the gang, and he’s fiercely protective of them as a result. How fiercely his loyalty lies, however, is left up to the player to decide throughout the course of the story.
Member the games you used to play? We member. The basement at the Hardcore Gamer office has a section known as the Crust Room, with an old grey couch and a big old CRT TV. All the classic systems are down there collecting dust, so in an effort to improve the cleanliness of our work space, we dust off these old consoles every so often and put an old game through its paces, Bloom Core Genshin just to make sure everything stays in working order. We even have a beige computer with a floppy disk drive.
At the game’s beginning, a botched robbery in the town of Blackwater has deprived the gang of most of their funds and made them the top target of the law as a result. From bands of lawmen, to Pinkerton agents, to the growth of big cities like Saint Denis — the game’s stunning, New Orleans-esque urban setting — Red Dead Redemption 2 puts the Van der Linde gang’s backs against the wall, and seeing their story of survival and preserving their way of life makes for a striking contrast to what we saw from the setting of Red Dead Redemption and its depiction of the „end of the West.”
When it was first announced that GTA V would have three player characters, it seemed like a bit more of a gimmick to deviate from its previous games than a truly enhanced gameplay experience. But those thoughts were quickly silenced once players saw how much fun having multiple characters could be. Having the freedom to play with different special abilities, personalities, and intersecting stories makes this feature an absolute shoo-in for Red Dead Redemption 2 . Judging from Rockstar’s pattern of releasing larger, and larger sandbox maps with each new title, having multiple characters scattered across the map could make for a much easier and more natural way of exploring it, than simply fast traveling. The vast lands could unfold as the player uses each character from the regions of the different regions of the
For all the genre’s advancements in the past decade or more, only a few games have come close to the sort of ultimate, lofty goal of crafting an open-world that truly feels „living.” Many open-world games have aimed to become a place where players can not only have the chance to engage with a game world that is ripe with possibility and endless locations to explore, but to really immerse players inside a world and make them feel like a part of it. They want to be a place where players can influence its direction and truly feel like they have an impact on its characters and setting.
That last point, in particular, is one of the most significant driving forces behind the story in Red Dead Redemption 2 , as the Van der Linde gang’s outlaw way of life quickly comes to a head against the advances of modern life and civilization. Taking place in 1899, the turn of the century and growing government intervention into the West has Dutch, Arthur, and the rest of the gang embark on a journey to seek refuge from the forces that are seeking to eradicate them entirely.
Red Dead Redemption ’s Online component also set a new bar for sandbox multiplayer games. The ability to create and organize gangs as well as engage in intense shootouts with other skilled players set the framework for what would become GTA V ’s amazing multiplayer experience. And who could possibly forget the genre changing DLC expansion, Undead Nightmare , that turned to the American West into a zombie infested hell hole, complete with rideable demon hor
The hardcore mode in Red Dead Redemption left a lot to be desired. Instead of shifting the gameplay focus to survivalist activities, (hunting, finding shelter) it mostly just made it harder to kill enemies . A mode that would force a player to stock up his saddle with food or be prepared to hunt or steal for a long journey across the map would make for the ultimate Western experience. Simply trying to stay alive for a couple of days should be a challenge as plays fend themselves off from bandits, starvation, bobcats, and the weather. It would also make beating the game in Hardcore mode that much more rewarding. While it may come off a bit too „simulator” to some, it would offer versatile game play and better replay va