You cannot harvest all of this animal’s parts, as you have no space to stow them. Open your Satchel and make space … to discard unwanted items.
Instead this is a powerhouse of a video game, one of the finest, built by people at the top of their game and under intense pressure, lest we forget. As it is, they remind us of what games can be, creating a majestic sense of place and time and allowing you to play your role in the way only this medium allows
There can be no doubt that this is a landmark game. It is a new high water-mark for lifelike video game worlds, certainly, but that world is also home to a narrative portrait of the wild west that is unexpectedly sombre and not afraid to take its time.
Fraught and frenetic, video games can often stress you out and leave you wired and edgy. But Red Dead Redemption II has had a calming effect, and been a place to unwind rather than get wound up. It’s a window from our complex and often dysfunctional world into a more pastoral and simple one.
“Red Dead Redemption 2” was the first time playing a Rockstar game where my reaction went past interest to investment. I cared about what happened to these people, I cared about their stories and their lives, and there were moments where I was genuinely saddened or excited by what happened to them. And as the story winds toward its various conclusions, I was completely invested in them, hoping for the best, and fearing the worst. For someone there for the story, who wanted a game to feel fun more than they wanted it to feel comprehensive, I was completely absorbed.